Step 5: Writing an Essay

Remember: In a composition the writer assembles facts and in an essay he expresses his own ideas, opinions and feelings. In an essay the task is to give an individual interpretation of facts. Thus the interpretation of a subject is different, depending on whether you are required to write a composition or an essay.

Exercise 1: Study very carefully the rules of writing an essay in Reference Section of this book.

Exercise 2: Choose the topic from the list below. Think over the plan and the beginning of your essay. Mind that there are many ways to begin an essay – general reflection, giving a definition and thus immediately introducing the subject, a quotation or a proverb – but whatever the form of the opening, it should make the reader hungry for more.

Exercise 3: Collect notes on the subject. Select the information you need and arrange material in the order of presentation according to your plan. Write down the main topics (topic sentences, key sentences) of each paragraph. Under each topic indicate the development.

Exercise 4: Make a rough draft of your essay.

Exercise 5: Think over expressive means of your essay. Correct the rough draft and make your final copy.

Topics for Your Essays

1. The historical background and its influence on the Renaissance.

2. “The Baroque art as the art of the nobility and the art of the common man”

3. Motion, violence, spectacle and sensuality of the Baroque art.

4. Art as an efficient means of promoting social or political ideas.

5. Unity, Indivisibility, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity – the political ideals of the Enlightenment.

6. The Romantic Age is an age of many conflicting reactions, a violent reaction to Reason.

7. Napoleon, the Romantic hero-brilliant and bold, breeding, temperamental.

8. “Changes” of the 20-th century as driving force of art.

9. What kind of men were the Romantics?

10. An artist and his time.

11. What makes a work of art immortal?

12. Trends in the 20-th century art.

PLATES

Plate 1

Plate 2

Plate 3

Plate 4

Plate 5

Plate 6

Reference

SECTION

1. Writing technique

1.1. How to Start to Write

The trouble with writing starts right at the beginning. There you sit, pencil in hand, a blank sheet of paper before you, and you don't know how to start. Maybe you have some ideas you want to express, some words and sentences you want to use, but what you have in mind just isn't ready to be put on paper. Don't think there is anything unusual the matter with you. The kind of trouble is common among people who haven't done much writing.

Well, how does one start to write? The most important thing is this: don't just start! Take your time. Slowly work out in your mind what you are going to say. In other words, make a plan. A piece of writing, like everything else you do, has to be planned. Think of a weekend trip, for instance; you can't just blindly go ahead on Saturday morning, not knowing what's going to happen. Instead, during the week, you make plans. You make up your mind when you want to start and when you want to be back; you decide where you want to spend Saturday night and what you want to do on Sunday morning; you get yourself a map and find out which route to take; you spot a place to eat lunch and another to eat dinner; and you work out a different route to go back on Sunday afternoon and evening. When you are through, you have a plan: you know where to start, where to go first, second, and third, and where to end.

Writing works the same way. The thing to do is to plan ahead. And since you are planning for something that is made of words, make sure your plan is in words. Write your plan out. Put down on paper the start, the main in-between, stops, and the end. Only in this way can you be quite sure that you have a plan.

Then, with your sketch in hand, you can go ahead and work out your piece of writing, step by step and without any danger of losing your way. That's the way all speakers, lecturers, and writers work. So before you start to write:

1. Take your time and think about what you are going to say.

2. Put your main ideas into words.

3. Work out what order your ideas should be in.

4. Put this plan on paper.

5. Never start to write without a plan.