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How do you write a theme based essay?

When writing an essay, is it better to write based on the asuumption that your audience is ignorant or...?

  • ...that they're educated? Like let's say you're writing an analysis, and you mention that in line 24 of So-and-So's poem, they used a metaphor, would you perhaps put in parenthises "(a metaphor is a...)" or some other form of explaining what a metaphor is *or* would you go on writing without explain what a metaphor is based on the assumption your audience is educated and therefor already knows? Sorry for the crazy run-on sentence right there^^ :3

  • Answer:

    I'm guessing that this is for an English essay? In that case, according to the way I was taught, then you should assume (and rightly so) that the markers know what a metaphor and so on are. You are writing an academic piece for an academic audience, so those terms are all implied knowledge. Just think of it this way - you are writing an essay discussing the literary terms used in a piece of writing. Therefore your audience is aware that you are writing an essay analysing the figurative language used in a piece of writing. Therefore, you can assume that they know what the devices mean. One lesson I was always taught in essay writing, which is the most important lesson, in my opinion, is that you are not retelling the story, but analysing and critiquing a piece of writing to meet a certain criteria (or essentially, answering the given question). Only provide an overview of the plot of the piece you are analysing. It is not your task to describe the book or poem (that's what a review is for), it is your job to analyse and respond to key aspects of the book or poem and use that as a launching pad for further discussion. Don't bog yourself down with over-explaining things (plot, definitions, etc.). If you feel a particular item is in dire need of an explanation, then you can always use a footnote. It may sound great in theory as it helps you reach your word count, but your teacher will not think highly of your essay, and you will lose their interest in attention, even if it is well written, researched and critiqued. And that is the last thing you want to have happen.

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Write an essay assuming that your audience is educated. There is no reason to "dumb down" an essay unless you are writing for a certain audience that would better understand the dumbed down version. Ha, I mean you could write the definition of a metaphor, but I don't think it is necessary AT ALL. Just my two cents.

Never underestimate the intelligence of your reader. If you start explaining what a metaphor is, you're going to lose them. Assume they already know. If they don't they can look it up in a dictionary. But do be sure you don't use unexplained acronyms - they can drive your reader nuts, and rightly so!

old lady

I remember talking about this last year, but I can't remember what my teacher said about it, haha, and it was probably specific to that teacher anyways. [By the way, I'm assuming that we're talking about English :D] Normally what I do, is I give some context to the work or novel, but I don't explain anything widely known about literature or English [though it never really occurred to me, to be honest]. I think what my teacher said last year was, pretend they haven't read the book, but they know English. So I'll say, "When Harry first met Sirius Black, his godfather whom he had previously thought was a murderer who betrayed his parents...." So I guess I assume the audience is educated, but give some context of the book I'm referring to, in case they haven't read it or something. But honestly, the only people who read my papers are fellow students, my teacher, and my mom :)

chlover

Write it without explanation, and put a definition page in the end for whoever doesn't know

Naf Buro

You're asking a rather vague question. The number one thing for any writer is to know the audience. Are you writing for your peers? Are you all pre-med? If you're all pre med you all have a college level vocabulary along with terminology of the field. Expect for them to be on the same level as you and little to no explaination of vocabulary is needed. Are you writing for 8th graders while you are either a few grades (in reality or intellectually) higher than them? If so you want to make sure that the writing is more simplified for their vocabulary. One great way to get around some of this is to rephrase things. Instead of saying metaphor state the definition in it's place. Or another way is to just put down footnotes if you are not sure. This give the reader the option to look it up if they need to. Hope this helps.

celestialwriter

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