Virtual University Course ENG101- English Comprehension Lecture No 36 Dr. Surraya Shaffi Mir

1. ENG 101
Lesson -36

2. Lesson 36 - (Choosing the Essay Topic)
(Analyzing Essay Titles)
( Note Taking for Essay Writing)
Students are asked to write essays on all the
subjects they study. It is part of your academic
work. You write essays for English, Statistics,
Psychology, Economics, etc. So do not think
that essays are written for English only. You
will be required to write essays for other
subjects as well.

3. Today’s lesson is divided into three parts. First
we shall deal with choosing the essay topic,
second with analyzing essay titles and last with
taking notes for essay writing. Students are
usually handed a list of essay topics to write by
their teachers. Since a lot of energy and interest
is invested in essay writing, it is important to
choose your topic carefully.
When you first look at the essay topics you
initially only separate those which immediately
attract you from those which do not.You will do

4. this initial sorting mainly on the basis of the
content of the questions. If you are a student of
literature and your teacher has set a question on
the course that has been prescribed, you ask
yourself, do I want to work on the play or the
novel? Or if it is for the subject of economics,
you ask yourself, do I want to work on licensing
systems or the gold standard? This is only part
of the task facing you.
The content of the essay is governed by the
special purpose and emphasis of the essay topic.

5. Are you being asked about your knowledge of the
novel (Let’s say ‘The Old Man and the Sea –
(Hemingway) to explore the nature of tragedy? Or
the effectiveness of the minor characters and the
fish in developing plot and character, or their role
in the creation of dramatic tension?
Your teachers word essay topics with care. They
know what ideas and what content they want you
to cover in you reading and your thinking about
the topic. They may even help and guide you the
way in which they expect you to develop your
material. Now this does not

6. mean that you should think that there is only one
right way of answering the question. The word
‘essay’ has its origin in the French word
which means ‘to attempt’ or ‘to try out’. And
when you write an essay you are ‘trying out’ your
ideas. What I want you to remember is that there
are limits on the ways you can handle the essay
topic. Therefore, you should from the very
beginning analyze what is it that the topic
demands. This can save you from working hard
over an essay only to have it criticized as
“irrelevant”. In today’s lesson you will learn to

7. develop an approach that will enable you to read
and to make better notes. In this way you will
learn to refine your thoughts as you learn more
about the subject you are writing on.
Characteristics of Academic Essays (4)
Most essays in the Social Sciences share certain
general characteristics. There are 4 such
characteristics.
1. First you are seldom asked merely to explain
or describe a process or event. The task is more
complex as you are nearly always asked to
combine description with

8. analysis. For example, look at this history topic:
Choose any one day’s working session of the
Report on The First Round Table Conference.
Identify the speaker and discuss the issues and
attitudes revealed in that speaker’s speech?
How would you handle such a question. Would a
summary satisfy all the demands made in the topic.
2. Second, you will find that your essays require
you to relate general concepts, ideas and theories
to particular materials, events, texts, etc…. Or you
may be required to move from specific events

9. and instances to a more general interpretation of
their significance. For e.g. take the following
essay topics.
ii. Laughter can range from good-humored
banter to cruel mockery – How would you
describe the nature of the comedy in Henry
IV (parts I & II) and V ?
iii. Can the life of the tall Dingas of the southern
Sudan living with their cattle be described as
a case of symbiosis between man and
animal?

10. Here you will notice it is the relationship
between the general and the particular which
you are being directed to explored.
3. The third characteristic of most college
essays is that they require you to gather
ideas and information from printed sources.
Remember some weeks ago I old you that
you get idea from reading books, magazines
and journals. It is from printed sources that
you will get idea.

11. 4. Finally, you will find that essay topics
will involve materials that can be interpreted
in more than one way. There may be a
problem or a controversy you are asked to
analyze and make an attempt to resolve. For
example if you get a topic like the
following: “Who is freer ? The master or
the servant”? It is obvious that you are not
being asked to explain in a conclusive way
the nature of freedom.

12. Characteristics of Academic Essays
1. Combine description with analysis
2. Relate general concepts to particular and
vice versa.
3. Gather ideas from printed sources
4. Consider various aspects of a problem

13. But you are being asked to consider various
aspects of a problem, select the approach
which seems appropriate to you and to
develop it according to a well thought-out
plan. So what would be your immediate
concern when choosing an essay topic. Ask
yourself: what is the essay about? In all
respects, it would be CONTENT, i.e. what
has to be put into it. There are a number of
different aspects that you will have to
consider: content, concepts, judgement,
knowledge.

14. 1- First you need to check the general area
of content defined by key words in the topic.
e.g. To what extent does environmental
pollution affect global warning? The topic
is about global warming, environmental
pollution and not about the Indus dolphin or
the Houbara bustard or any other near
extinction species.
2- Second, you should identify the specific
concepts on which the topic is focused.

15. e.g. To what extent does environment and
life style of the Hunza people affect their
longevity. Here the essay is about the
relationship that exists between three
concepts: environment, social organization
(life style) and health.
3- Third, you are asked for judgement. In
the light of your reading and your
knowledge you are asked to say something
about the topic - pass some judgement / or
opinion.

16. The term “To what extent” implies that
there may be some truth in the relationship
suggested. The terms “Why” “How far you
think this is true…” allow room for you to
deny the whole basis of the question asked.
It is clear that in academic essays there is
considerable room for difference in
judgement / opinion.
4- Lastly, I am sure you are aware that
essays are usually about different bodies of
knowledge, I.e. disciplines.

17. There are some topics that are very broad.
e.g. Photography, Inflation, Happiness,
Travel, Discipline, etc…. One of the major
difficulty occurs in actually defining or
limiting and wording your topic. You should
not expect that you will be able to settle on a
precise topic at once. You will need to read
extensively and to talk with your tutor
before you can narrow down the subject or
topic to a specifically manageable focus.

18. So the first step must be to analyze your essay
topic - i.e. analyze the ways in which you are
being directed. Look first for the key words
which direct how the content is to be handled. e.g.
what are the key directional words in the
following topics:
- In the past twenty years (developments) in the
field of electronics have (revolutionized) the
computer industry
- The (causes) of inflation
- Discuss important (religious and national
holidays) in (Pakistan)

19. - The important (milestones) in my life.
- The (Hazards) of driving (small) cars.
-The (quality) of education in Pakistan high
schools has (declined).
The task in most college essays is to ‘describe’ and
‘analyze’ the task of describing may be identified
by directional words such as ‘explain’, ‘review’,
‘outline’, ‘enumerate’, ‘list’, ‘summarize’, ‘state’,
words which direct you to analyze your
material include ‘assess’, ‘compare’, ‘contrast’,
criticize’, ‘analyze’, ‘discuss’.

20. NOTE-MAKING FOR ESSAY WRITING
Note making is a skill and it is also a
peculiarly personal affair. You will find
plenty of advice from a lot of people on how
to take notes or make notes. I hope you’ve
noticed the difference between note-taking
and note- making. To take notes suggests a
passive procedure of recording words
verbatim - /v3:beitim/- which means words

21. for word, exactly as spoken or written, like a
secretary does while taking dictation from
the boss. To make notes demands your full
attention. It requires you to be alert to the
pattern of thought, its direction and
development. You also have to distinguish
between what is important and essential and
what is not. And it is this active involvement
on your part that makes note-making
difficult: This is what makes note-making
valuable.

22. As I said at the beginning note making is a
personal affair. How often you have found
your fellow students who have borrowed
your notes complain, that they cannot follow
them and vice versa. This is because you
recorded information and ideas which you
decided suited your purpose. Therefore what
you select and how you record it one
matters of personal choice. You may pick up
a few useful tips from working at other
peoples methods,

23. but ultimately you must develop your own
system, which must be flexible enough to
meet may different purposes.
Why Do You Make Notes?
Think for a moment of the role note-making
plays in the process of writing your essay.
Why spend time recording material which is
already available in printed form? There are
practical and intellectual measures for this.
No. 1 Notes are aids to memory. If you are
reading for writing a long essay, then you

24. must have some system of sorting and recalling
information you will need when you finally come
to writing the essay.
No. 2 Your notes are the raw material on which
you will work: facts, figures, direct quotations will
be quickly available.
3. The process of note-making forces you to:
- Summarize ideas and arguments
- select points relevant to your purposes
-Understand and interpret the original source
-Continually clarify and adjust your perception of
your essay topic in the light of your increasing
understanding of the material.

25. So note making is an important stage in your
understanding of your essay topic. It is the
notes that you make that will provide the
basis for your thinking and the materials for
your essay.
What do you note, and how much? The
content and volume of your notes are
governed by 3 things.

26. 1- The writer’s intention: you have to sift the
information and ideas being presented by the
writer to meet your own specific intentions. The
writer presented his ideas according to his
interests.
2- The discipline / subject in which you are
working. If you are working on a literary or
historical topic you may need to include many
direct quotations. You must copy them with great
accuracy.
3. Your own purpose in relation to your essay
topic. Do not take down everything - that is just
not possible you would be wasting your time.

27. Your notes will be more useful if they are
shaped from the beginning to suit the
demands of your essay topic.
How do you take notes?
Your notes will develop their own format
depending on your purpose and on the
nature of the sources. There are 4 general
principles which apply to all methods of
note-making.

28. 1. Clear Identification:
You should record the author, title, place of
publication, publisher and edition and even
the year of publication. And next to each
key point or direct quotation you must note
the exact page reference.
2- Develop a flexible system
Record your notes in such a way that it is
easy to rearrange them for the purposes of
your essay: if on loose-paper, then
remember to number the pages.

29. 3- Leave room for your comments.
Leave wide margins. They are useful for writing
your own comments, adding cross-references,
etc…
4- Develop an abbreviation system
Common symbols can be used: such as
e.g. for example
re concerning w. with
& and = is equal to
= not equal to
> greater than or became
< lesser than or came from
.. therefore.

30. Use abbreviations for common words. agr
for agriculture, govt.. for government, sci
for science, C18 for 18th century, C 19 for
19th century. Abbreviate names that recur
frequently: Q for Quaid-e-Azam; Shak for
Shakespeare, etc… be careful not to create
so many symbols and abbreviations that you
confuse yourself !

31. The techniques of outlining and note making are
related whatever method you choose for
keeping notes their form should clearly show
the relative importance of ideas and their
relationship. An outline, with its indention
and numbering system helps you to visualize
the way each idea is related to the others.

32. Practice: Read the following passage. Then read
the 2 sets of notes and compare them.
In this discussion of art history, we give
special emphasis to three basic factors. First,
the background: the religious, social, and
economic conditions that make art possible in
any period. Second, the foreground: the work
of art itself, its style and its variation form
other styles. Third, the contribution of the
individual artist, revealing his inspirations
and the extent of his gift.

33. There are two wrong ideas we must guard against.
First, art history is not a development from
primitive beginnings in the past to final
perfection in our own period. Styles change but
artistic quality is more constant. Superior works
of art occur in many periods. Second, often one
style of art is the characteristic expression of one
period. It is useless to attempt any evaluation
between styles that have little in common. We
should compare a work of art only with work of
the same period, as we must recognize that each
period posed its own problems and arrived as its
own unique solutions.

34. Now read the following sets of notes examples A &
B. Compare them. Which one is better?
Example A : The author says that there are three
basic factors to be considered in art history. The
first is the religious, social and economic
background. Then there is the style of the art
itself. And finally the contribution of the
individual artist. But there are two wrong ideas
about art history. It is not a development through
history: “superior works of art occur in many
periods.” Since each period in art history has its
own problems and solutions, we cannot compare
works of art form different periods.

35. Example B:
I. Three basic factors in art history
A. Background: religious, social,economic
B. Foreground: the art itself, its style &
variation
C. Contribution of the individual artist
II. Must guard against two wrong ideas
A. Art history is not development
through time; superior works in many
periods, from primitive to present
B. Cannot compare works of different
periods

36. Notice that both examples contain identical
information. The only difference is the
arrangement. The main ideas and supporting
details are set out clearly in Example B. This
form makes it much easier to recognize the
important ideas at a glance.

37. Practice in Note Making:
Make notes on the following passage by writing
an outline on the lines given at the end.
The ancient Greek Olympic Games
lasted for five days and included
4 different athletic contests. First,
There was “stadion” (from which
we get the word stadium). This was
a foot race covering a distance of
About 607 ft. Second there was the
“pentathlon,” a contest in which
each contestant had to excel in five
different events: foot races, jumping,
Wrestling, throwing the discus, and
throwing the javelin.
I._________________________
A._________________________
B.__________________________
1._________________
2._________________
3.__________________
Grk Oly. Games - 5 days
Incl. 4 athletic contest
‘Stadion’ = stadium foot race 607
Pentathlon – 5 events
foot races
jumping
wrestling

38. Practice in Note Making:
Make notes on the following passage by writing
an outline on the lines given at the end.
The ancient Greek Olympic Games
lasted for five days and included
4 different athletic contests. First,
There was “stadion” (from which
we get the word stadium). This was
a foot race covering a distance of
About 607 ft. Second there was the
“pentathlon,” a contest in which
each contestant had to excel in five
different events: foot races, jumping,
Wrestling, throwing the discus, and
throwing the javelin.
I._________________________
___________________________
A._________________________
B.__________________________
1.__________________________
2.__________________________
3.__________________________

39. Third, there was boxing. In this
contest, the boxers fought with
bare fists, and the match continued
until one or the other was knocked
out or admitted defeat. The final
event included horse racing, both
races with four-horse chariots and
races with the contestants riding
bareback
4.___________________
5.___________________
C._________________________
1.___________________
2.___________________
D.__________________________
1.__________________
2.__________________
throwing discus
throwing javelin
Boxing
bare fists
knock out / admit defeat
Horse racing
4 - horse chariots
riding bareback

40. Third, there was boxing. In this
contest, the boxers fought with
bare fists, and the match continued
until one or the other was knocked
out or admitted defeat. The final
event included horse racing, both
races with four-horse chariots and
races with the contestants riding
bareback
4._________________________
5._________________________
C._________________________
1.__________________________
2.__________________________
D.__________________________
1.__________________________
2.__________________________
( Study Skills for Students of English 2Ed, Richard C.Yorkey, McGraw
Hill International)

41. ALLAH HAFIZ.
We covered the following topics
in this lesson:
Choosing Essay Topic,
Analyzing Essay Titles
Note Making for Essay Writing.