Creative Writing: Craft Essay

• Creative Writing encompasses writing a craft essay for the 4th quarter of the year.

Essay Defined

• An essay is a structured piece presenting a writer's ideas, arguments, or reflections on a topic.
• They are used in academic settings, literature, journalism, and personal writing.
• The word "essay" originates from the French "essai," meaning "attempt" or "trial."
• This emphasizes the essay as an exploration of thoughts and ideas.
• A scientist conducts experiments to test a hypothesis, while an essayist attempts to organize thoughts.
• An essayist challenges existing ideas or proposes new viewpoints.

Types of Essays

• There are 5 types of esssays

Narrative Essays

• Narrative essays tell a story based on personal experiences or real-life events.
• It includes a plot, characters, and setting, similar to a short story, with a focus on a central theme or message.

Descriptive Essays

• Descriptive essays focus on painting a vivid picture of a person, place, event, or object.
• Sensory details (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) are used in this type of essay.

Expository Essays

• Expository Essays presents facts, explains ideas, or provides step-by-step information.
• This does not include personal opinions, focusing instead on clear, logical explanations.

Argumentative Essays

• It takes a stance on a specific issue and provides evidence and reasoning to support your position.

Reflective Essays

• Reflective essays involve analyzing and understanding experiences.
• This reflects on lessons learned or successes and expressing emotions, realizations, and new perspectives.

Structure of an Essay

• An essay has a three-part structure: introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Each section serves a purpose and organizes ideas clearly and logically.

Introduction

• The introduction grabs the reader's attention.
• It provides background information.
• It presents the main idea or argument.
• A strong intro starts with a hook like a thought-provoking question ("Have you ever wondered how technology is changing the way we think?")
• Or a surprising fact or statistic ("Studies show that 90% of ocean plastic pollution comes from just ten rivers.")
• Could be a relevant quote ("Nelson Mandela once said, 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.")
• It could be a short anecdote or story ("As I walked through the crowded streets of Manila, I noticed a young child selling sampaguita, a reminder of the growing issue of poverty in the country.")

Body

• Body paragraphs contain the main points, arguments, and supporting evidence.
• Each paragraph focuses on a single idea connecting back to the thesis statement.
• A body paragraph includes: the topic sentence, explanation, evidence, analysis, and transition.

Conclusion

• The conclusion summarizes the essay's key points and reinforces the thesis.
• It gives closure and may provide a final thought or call to action.
• Restate your thesis in different words.
• Briefly highlight the main ideas discussed in the body.
• End with a final thought by providing a reflection, call to action, or thought-provoking statement, ("If we reduce emissions and adopt sustainable practices, we can still protect our planet for future generations.").