Essay Writing

"An essay is a piece of writing that methodically analyses and evaluates a topic or issue. Fundamentally, an essay is designed to get your academic opinion on a particular matter."

Rules for essay Writing

Always use 3rd person pronouns like he,she,they,him,her,them.If you have copied something from some other source then cite your sources, for this use quotes and names of the sources. Use correct grammar and punctuation.

Different kinds of Essays

Descriptive essays
Cause Effect Essays
Argumented Essays
compare contrast essays

Essays should have introduction with a thesis statement.There should be atleast three body paragraphs that support the thesis statement

Introduction Part

Use hooks and funnels in the intro part of the essay.Hooks(from the name its meaning is clear "HOOK" that is used to catch something) are used to attaract the attention of the reader.To create interest in the reading and making the reader to be continue.We can use surprising statement, an anecdote as a hook.Or we can ask a question but make sure the question should be relevant to your essay and reader has not heared it before.Or we can use a statistics as a hook but it sometimes may be a boring hook.For example "Researchers have found that there are 1.22% more deaths from car accidents in rural areas than in urban areas in US."

Funnel is like a physical funnel that is wider at the top but as we go down it becomes narrower. Similarly in your essay first there should be general statement then more specific statement and last is the thesis statement.

Thesis statement

It has two parts viz. Topic+Controlling idea.There are certain things that we must avoid while using thesis statement.First is do not announce your thesis statement that is do not say "i would write about..." "this essay says about.....".Second is do not write a fact.Your thesis statement should be your own opinion and it should not be an obvious opinion or popular opinion.You need to say something fresh.There are some sample thesis statements.

Iceland is a beautiful country to visit to learn about a new culture

Eating a vegetarian diet improves health and extends life

The American government should provide health care to all of its citizens

In the first thesis statement "Iceland is a beautiful country" is the topic and "to visit to learn about a new culture" is the controlling idea.

What's wrong with these thesis statements--

It's important to change it because it will protect the environment
(In this statements too much pronouns are used, what's it?)

I will give four reasons why Germany won the world cup
("I will give" is an announcement So do not use)

People should stop smoking because it is dangerous for health and is dirty habit
(This statement is an obvious opinion)

Saving money is important
(This statement has no controlling idea.Saving money is important for whom and for what purpose?)

Body Statements

For developing body paragraphs after introduction part there are certain basic rules.Topic Sentence--->Supporting Idea#1---->Details and examples.Similarly there may be three or four supporting statements for the same topic sentence. And at last there will be a conclusion of the topic sentence.Topic sentence also has two parts topic and controlling idea.And topic sentence must support thesis statement.For Example

------------------Topic Sentence----------------

Thesis::                  Every citizen should learn to speak a second language

Topic Sentence#1:: First speaking another language broadens a person's viwe of the world.

Topic Sentence#2:: Another reason is that learning a second language opens job opportunities

Topic Sentence#2:: Finally learning a new language improves mental function

-----------------Supporting idea----------------

Topic Sentence:: First speaking another language broadens a person's viwe of the world.

Support#1:: They become aware of different cultures

Support#2:: They think about subjects they have never thought about

Support#3:: They learn about different countries

----------------Details nd Examples-------------

Support::       They think about subjects they have never thought about

Detail::       New vocabulary gives insight into the country that speaks that country

Example::       A language spoken only in hot climates may not even have a word for snow

Example::       The vocabulary also teaches the learner aboutnew foods of the related culture


Sample essay is attached herewith

How to prepare Math for GATE?

1.Read any local author book first(GATE gives much importance on topics like calculus,linear algebra which we have learnt in our higher secondary.So refer these topics in NCERT 12th maths book) 2.Another suggestion is Erwin Krezig but it focuses too much on conceptual understanding.
3.Refer 'Higher engineering mathematics' by B S Grewal.

Helpful websites for practising GATE

http://www.gyanpal.com
http://www.satishkashyap.com
http://www.gatepaper.in
http://nptel.ac.in
http://www.gatemitra.com/

मुझे धक्का किसने दिया था…

एक बार की बात है , किसी शहर में एक बहुत अमीर आदमी रहता था. उसे एक अजीब शौक था , वो अपने घर के अन्दर बने एक बड़े से स्विमिंग पूल में बड़े-बड़े रेप्टाइल्स पाले हुए था ; जिसमे एक से बढ़कर एक सांप, मगरमच्छ ,घड़ियाल ,आदि शामिल थे . एक बार वो अपने घर पर एक पार्टी देता है .बहुत से लोग उस पार्टी में आते हैं. खाने-पीने के बाद वो सभी मेहमानों को स्विमिंग पूल के पास ले जाता है और कहता है - ” दोस्तों, आप इस पूल को देख रहे हैं, इसमें एक से एक खतरनाक जीव हैं , अगर आपमें से कोई इसे तैर कर पार कर ले तो मैं उसे १ करोड़ रुपये या अपनी बेटी का हाथ दूंगा…” सभी लोग पूल की तरफ देखते हैं पर किसी की भी हिम्मत नहीं होती है कि उसे पार करे….लेकिन तभी छपाक से आवाज होती है और एक लड़का उसमे कूद जाता है ,और मगरमच्छों , साँपों, इत्यादि से बचता हुआ पूल पार कर जाता है. सभी लोग उसकी इस बहादुरी को देख हैरत में पड़ जाते हैं. अमीर आदमी को भी यकीन नहीं होता है कि कोई ऐसा कर सकता है ; इतने सालों में किसी ने पूल पार करना तो दूर उसका पानी छूने तक की हिम्मत नहीं की ! वो उस लड़के को बुलाता है , ” लड़के , आज तुमने बहुत ही हिम्मत का काम किया है , तुम सच- मुच बहादुर हो बताओ तुम कौन सा इनाम चाहते हो। ” अरे , इनाम-विनाम तो मैं लेता रहूँगा , पहले ये बताओ कि मुझे धक्का किसने दिया था….!” , लड़का बोला. मित्रों ये एक छोटा सा जोके था। पर इसमें एक बहुत बड़ा सन्देश छुपा हुआ है – उस लड़के में तैर कर स्विमिंग पूल पार करने की काबीलियत तो थी पर वो अपने आप नहीं कूदा , जब किसी ने धक्का दिया तो वो कूद गया और पार भी कर गया . अगर कोई उसे धक्का नहीं देता तो वो कभी न कूदने की सोचता और न पूल पार कर पाता , पर अब उसकी ज़िन्दगी हमेशा के लिए बदल चुकी थी … ऐसे ही हमारे अन्दर कई टैलेंट छुपे होते हैं जब तक हमारे अन्दर कॉन्फिडेंस और रिस्क उठाने की हिम्मत नहीं होती तब तक हम लाइफ के ऐसे कई चैलेंजेज में कूदे बगैर ही हार मान लेते हैं , हमें चाहिए कि हम अपनी काबीलियत पर विश्वास करें और ज़िन्दगी में मिले अवसरों का लाभ उठाएं।

Thirsty don't fall prey to negativity

When the train stopped on a railway platform, a boy, who was selling water, passed by. A man sitting by a window called him, "Come here boy." The boy came running. He filled a glass from crock, served it to the man. The man asked," What is the price?" "25 paisa", the boy replied. The man inquired, "Will you give it to me in 15 paisa? Listening to this, the boy smiled lightly, poured water back into his crock and walked away. A saint, observing this incident was perturbed by the boy's enigmatic smile. He was rattled and felt rustled. He got down and started walking towards the boy. He asked, “Hey boy! Wait. Tell me why did you smile?” The boy replied," That man was not thirsty. He just wanted to know the price of one glass water. I couldn't suppress my smile" "But what makes you say so that he wasn't.” The boy calmly replied, “O sire, those who are thirsty don't negotiate for rate. They take glass first, drink water and later ask how much to pay? If they ask rate first, they aren't thirsty." Those who are thirsty don't fall prey to negativity or absurd questions. If you don't trust something don't talk about it. And if you trust it, there is no reason for absurdity.

Your pick pocketer brother

I got down from my bus and slid my hand through my pockets. Something was amiss. I quickly checked all my pockets and realized some pickpocketer picked up my pocket taking advantage of the crowded bus. Not that I had lots of money in my pocket but 1,200 is not a small amount for an unemployed person. Also gone was my letter to my mother. First of every month I would send Rs. 3000 to my mother to help her with her expenses. This month I had no heart to tell her that I lost my job and she would have to make ends meet on her own. I was carrying this letter addressed to my mother with me for last three days. I was trying to put together all my courage to break the news to my mother but failed to do so for last three days. With everything falling apart, I cursed myself for my bad luck. After two days, I received a letter from my mother, "My little son, you are so nice...you always take care of me so nicely, you never forget to send me money on time. Your old mother is lucky to have a son like you. Love and blessings, Your mother" I was confused, shocked, amazed but bit relieved. Two days later, a letter with its text in crude handwriting came to me and answered all my queries, it read "Dear brother, I read your letter and I added Rs. 1,800 on my own and I have sent Rs. 3,000 to your mother. You don't worry at all. A mother is mother, be it yours or mine, why should she be hungry. Your pick pocketer brother"

Innocence of a little girl

One day, a little girl stood outside her school, waiting for her mom to pick her up as usual. Her mom was running late that day stuck in some urgent work. She hurried through her work , but as the clouds grew darker and darker and as the sky filled with monstrous thunders, she drove as fast as she could, worrying about her child. As she was drawing near to the school, she saw her kid walking on the road in her direction. She paused there , watching her child with a sudden amusement. The little girl was slowly walking and whenever the sky thundered, she stopped ,looked at the sky and gave a bright smile. When the sky was dull again, she continued with her walk. Her mom got out of the car,walking in her direction looking puzzled. It thundered again, the girl stopped, smiled at the sky and then continued her walk. Her mother walked to her and asked what was she doing, smiling that big to the sky. The girl replied with all her excitement that god was taking her pictures from the sky and that she wanted to look pretty,so she smiled each time the sky flashed.

You Can Do it.......

There lived two kids A and B in a village. 4 years and 8-year-old respectively. They were good friends. Once they were playing near a well away from the village. B falls off into the well. A throws a rope down and asks B to hold it. It's very tough for any kid of age 4 years to lift up 8-year kid from that well. He tried. And tried. And tried. Finally, he makes it. He saves his friend. When they repeated this story in their village they laughed at them and thought they r joking. A wise man who was also listening to them understood their expressions and felt they are telling a truth. He explained the phenomenon to other villagers: When the kid A was trying to pull up the kid B there was no one there to tell him "You can't do it" And this story inspires me a lot. And it's a self-explanatory story that we can relate to many situations in our life

The most beautiful wall

I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice, Italy, the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat at an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order saying, “Two cups of coffee, one of them there on the wall.” We heard this order with rather interest and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. When he left, the waiter put a piece of paper on the wall saying “A Cup of Coffee”. While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had two cups of coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he put a piece of paper on the wall saying, “A Cup of Coffee”. It was something unique and perplexing for us. We finished our coffee, paid the bill and left. After a few days, we had a chance to go to this coffee shop again. While we were enjoying our coffee, a man poorly dressed entered. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, “One cup of coffee from the wall.” The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this, as the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the trash bin. Now it was no surprise for us – the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town made our eyes well up in tears. Ponder upon the need of what this man wanted. He enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-esteem… he has no need to ask for a free cup of coffee… without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of coffee to him… he only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left. A truly beautiful thought. Probably the most beautiful wall you may ever see anywhere!

Stay connected to the roots

Father is flying a kite. His son is watching him carefully. After some time son says "Dad. Because of the string the kite is not able to go any further higher." Hearing this, the father smiles and breaks the string. The kite goes higher after breaking of the thread and then shortly after that it comes and falls on the ground. The child is very dejected and sad. The father sits next to him and calmly explains: "Son, in life we reach a certain level of prosperity and then we feel that there are certain things in our life that are not letting us grow any further like Home, Family, Culture, Friendship etc. We feel we want to be free from those strings which we believe are stopping us from going higher." "But, remember son. Going higher is easier than staying at the higher level." "And friends, family and culture etc are the things that will help us stay stable at the high heights that we have achieved. If we try to break away from those strings our condition will be similar to the kite." Moral "Never go away from culture, family, friends and relationships as they help keep us stable while you are flying high." Life is Beautiful.

Who is poor and who is rich?

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of whatwould be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "Howwas the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learnfrom the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: *. "I saw that we have one dogand they had four. *. We have a pool that reachesto the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. *. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they havethe stars at night. *. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. *. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. *. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. *. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. *. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are." Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder whatwould happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. Appreciate every single thing you have

Success and Failure

Dear friends, we have read many success stories so far. It is nice to read success stories of people and finally you will get the names of the books they referred, coaching institutes they joined, gods they prayed, hours they prepared, pens and pencils they used etc... It will not help us unless and until we realize and evaluate ourselves (Why do we compare ourselves with some X or Y by the way ? we don't know their levels after all). We read their success stories and finally we end up saying.. dude, S/ He is lucky... So S/He got the job... Whats the reason behind this ? Because we don't know about their failures!!! We don't know how hard they tried for that success, how many sleepless nights they spent for that success...... Friends, behind every successful story there is an embarrassing failure.... which brings a struggle in mind, few sleepless nights and... finally.... the zeal to win...

Lets make an agrrement.

Friends there should be goal in life.In life especially during study period ample problem will come,dont be despondent rather play a jest on them They will tactically go out. :-) Spirituality really matters in life and chant almighty Lord's name, It will never make you feel solitary and be skeptical while study something and think you dont know anything and by using power of the words clear your doubts by asking questions.And dont complain about your goal,sources,system etc.