GOAL!
An Example
Question
Write a short essay in which you discuss how children relate to their parents as they grow older.
Answer
To be happy, children should be emotionally close to their parents but independent and able to think for themselves.
First, closeness is important because children are not born knowing how to behave with other people, and it is through close contact with their families that they learn how to conduct themselves. Thus, parents show them what is right and wrong, and it is easier for a child to learn from someone they love and trust.
In addition, children who are close to their parents are bound to be happier. The reason is that a close relationship helps them feel valued, understood, and loved, all of which make people happier. Naturally, a close relationship is no guarantee that a child will be happy, but a child will not be happy without such a tight bond to a parent.
However, closeness does not imply dependence. It is also important that children learn to be independent and think for themselves because in Western society, children eventually leave home and start a life for themselves, and they will have difficulty with this if they are dependent. For example the daughter in “She Left” says, “I love you, but I need to live my own life.” That is to say, she feels she cannot be her own person at home because they do not give her the room to be independent. Thus, not only is independence practical, it also contributes to a child’s happiness to know that he or she can function without parents or others.
For these reasons, it is important for children to distance themselves somewhat from their parents—not emotionally, but in terms of making decisions about their lives. Finding this balance is part of what it means to be a happy adult.
Conclusion
The conclusion should be quite similar to your thesis statement: It is an opportunity to restate your main point in new words or with a slightly different emphasis. You should never bring up a new topic in your conclusion.
Connecting Words
Use connecting words throughout to make the essay clearer; these links can include for example, by contrast, moreover, etc.
Evidence from Text
Essay
Relate your essay to the text on the exam (the fiction question always demands this explicitly). You can do this in several ways. You could make a general point and use the short story as evidence for your point. For example, you might write an essay in which you argue that soldiers do not receive adequate psychiatric care, and support this with an episode in which a soldier, who has returned from war, cannot reconnect with his family.
Arguing
The body of your essay must give the reader reasons to agree with the opinion you state in your thesis statement, reasons that are based in evidence and that are stated in an orderly way. These reasons can be of various kinds: your interpretation of the text, common knowledge, common values, logic, science, etc.
Thesis Examples
“Write an essay in which you discuss to what extent young people today are free to choose how to lead their lives.”
Options:
- Young people today have too much freedom to choose how to lead their lives.
- Young people today do not have enough freedom to choose how to lead their lives.
- Young people today have too much freedom to choose how to lead their lives in big cities and not enough in rural areas.
A Good Thesis
A Good Answer
The thesis statement sums up the opinion that you argue for, and the essay question itself can help you to write your thesis statement because it asks you to discuss an issue, and in so doing suggests several opinions you could argue for. For instance, if you are asked to discuss the need to break away from childhood surroundings, the question suggests several possibilities:
- Breaking away is necessary.
- Breaking away is unnecessary.
- Breaking away is necessary for some but not for all.
Thesis Statement
Start with a thesis statement that
- States your opinion
- Is relatively short (20-40 words)