The Short Essay Companion

By Kevin Litton

If you are looking for model, or sample, short essays for yourself of for students, then this is the book for you. These are straightforward, easy-to-follow essays that cover all the basic essay types. Not only that, but each type of essay is presented in at least two or three lengths: short medium, and long. The essay lengths run from about two hundred and fifty words to almost one thousand words. Some essays are voiced casually while others are more formal or "academic".

 

The essays tend to be fairly formulaic, using a basic essay format that includes an Introduction with a "Hook", a "Bridge" and a Thesis Statement, as well as a Conclusion.

 

There are also worksheets to help build essays from scratch and lists of basic essay language: Transitional Phrases such as, "One example is…"; Qualifying phrases such as, "it seems that"; and Quantifying phrases such as, "A significant number of…".

 

This book is meant to used by both teachers and students.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin Litton
• Release date: May 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223643180

Book preview

The Short Essay Companion

28 Model Essays Plus Worksheeets and Essential Phrases

Kevin S Litton

Kevin S Litton

Copyright © 2023 Kevin S Litton

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: Kevin S Litton

Dedicated to my mother,  who corrected my spelling mistakes on my postcards from summer camp and stressed the importance of enunciation.  She also taught me to always be a mensch.

Preface

Thank you for purchasing The Short Essay Companion. This book was created for the many teachers who feel it is important to provide example essays to students, particularly those students with little or no experience, but either don’t have the time to prepare their own or cannot find essays of the right length and complexity for the level that they are teaching.

The objective of this book is to provide to teachers and students a collection of the basic essay types in various lengths, ranging from just under three hundred words, the typical length for a short, one-page essay, to about one thousand words. Some are voiced casually while others are more formal; some are for beginners and others are for more experienced writers. There are many examples of essay language - words and phrases that alert the reader of the connections and relationships between pieces of information within the essay - and very clear-cut paragraphs with discreet information in each.

Disclaimer

It is not the objective of this book to relate new information in a manner that is informative or entertaining per se, but rather to demonstrate how to present information in a logical, organized manner within the structure of a particular essay type. There is no claim made here as to the accuracy of the information or opinions contained in the essays herein. There are few references in these essays and no bibliographies. Furthermore, we assume no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this book. The information contained in this book is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Disclaimer

Introduction

Notes About Essay Types

Essays

Advantages: The Importance of Breakfast (246 words)

Advantages: Living in the Suburbs (339 words)

Advantages: Living in the City (459 words)

Advantages - Disadvantages: Living in a House (399 words)

Advantages - Disadvantages: Part-time Jobs for Students (505 words)

Advantages - Disadvantages: Online Shopping (652 Words)

Advantages - Disadvantages: Studying Abroad (859 words)

Compare - Contrast: College vs Vocational School (383 words)

Compare - Contrast: Earth and Venus (403 words)

Compare - Contrast / Now and Then: (627 words)

Compare - Contrast: Socialism and Communism (917 words)

Narrative: My Weekend (294 words)

Descriptive: Durian (266 words)

Descriptive: Times Square (607 words)

Descriptive: Yosemite’s Four Seasons (815 words)

Process: Planting Tulips (332 words)

Process: How Rain Forms (516 words)

Process: Bills Becoming Law (816 words)

Argument / Persuasion: Anti-Vaxxing (309 words)

Argument / Persuasion: Space Exploration (501 Words)

Argument / Persuasion: Learning to Write Essays (675 words)

Problem - Solution: Lack of Sleep (454 words)

Problem - Solution: Anti-Vaxxing (675 words)

Problem - Solution: Climate Change (981 words)

Cause - Effect: Lack of Sleep (380 words)

Cause - Effect: Deforestation (761 words)

Cause - Effect: Obesity (914 words)

Appendix

Introduction

Essay types in this book:

•       Advantages

•       Advantages - Disadvantages

•    Compare - Contrast

•    Narrative

•    Descriptive

•    Process

•    Argument / Persuasion

•    Problem - Solution

•    Cause - Effect

The essays in this book are fairly straightforward and formulaic so that what stands out is the format and the organization of information. Each essay begins with an introduction paragraph that includes a Hook, a Bridge and a Thesis Statement, and ends with a Conclusion. This book can be used as a handbook for essay writing, a refresher, or a tool for teachers and/or students.

Included in this book are the following:

•       Twenty eight essays

•   A list of common transitional words and phrases used between paragraphs or between ideas within a paragraph:

Example: One advantage of…is…

•   A list of phrases for citing information from other publications:

Example: According to…

•       A list of qualifying words and phrases. These are used to avoid over generalizing, to show that things are not always black and white nor 100% true of false all of the time.

     Examples:

NO:     Americans prefer living in houses.

YES:  "A significant number of Americans prefer living in houses."

NO:    "The best example of this is…"

YES:   "The best example of this may be…"  

• For one of the essays, Living in a House, I have included a blank outline that can be used to deconstruct, or reverse engineer this essay, that is, to extract the basic pieces of information and view them in an A,B,C-1,2,3 format. The answers are on the last page of the Appendix. This will help students learn how to make their own outlines and to organize their ideas while they gather