Have you ever thought what writers have in common with architects and builders? It doesn’t seem at first that there are many similarities between writing and building. These two processes appear to be as far from each other as the east is from the west. If you take an author and builder or architect for comparison, these people seem to be doing something completely different. The truth of the matter is that writers are very much alike builders and architects who carefully plan every single process and make sure the final outcome both complies with all regulations and is attractive for other people’s eyes. Maybe you have never thought in this way but the processes involved in building a house and writing an essay are very similar. More than that, knowing how houses are built may help you understand the process for writing an essay. The patterns for building a house can serve a great example on how to approach essay writing regardless of what kind of assignment you have. So if you think you would like to know how it all comes together then keep on reading.
Building – Writing Analogy
Every builder has a set of tools to construct a house. It would be impossible for the team of builders to build a solid house with a hammer only. Wood, stone, nails, hammer – these are all important tools in the building process. Writers have their own set of tools for creating an essay paper: words, word combinations, various literary devices, writing techniques, etc. An expert builder knows how to use the variety of tools in order to build a good house so does a good writer know how to utilize all literary tools and techniques available to produce a good essay paper. Foundation. We all know how crucially important a foundation is to any building. You don’t need to be an expert to understand that no matter how pretty the house is from the outside it won’t last long without a solid foundation. The building will collapse very soon without a good foundation so will the essay without a strong idea. No one starts building a house without laying a good foundation because it makes no sense. Unfortunately, there are so many students that are constructing their written strongholds having no clue what kind of things they are building (which is practically the same as building a house without a foundation). Nobody starts building the main part of the house and then at some point goes back to foundation; this is the first thing builders work on. If we are talking about writing an essay, a thesis statement is a good analogy for a solid foundation.
The thesis statement is usually one sentence that summarizes the entire idea of the writing. Everything you choose to include in your essay should revolve around (be built on the foundation of) the thesis. This is where it all should start. Prior to taking your pen or opening your new word document on your computer, you should think everything through. Just like builders know he/she should build a good foundation first, students need to know what the essay is going to be about beforehand. One has to be very careful when writing a thesis statement as it should be debatable and allow for strong evidence to be presented. Weak thesis will inevitably lead to poor essay paper outcomes just like a bad foundation will result in a ruined house. Now having a well prepared thesis is like laying a strong foundation: when you do it right then the whole thing will stand firm. Plan. Even before laying a foundation architects have to develop a plan following which everything else is built. A blueprint is all about laying out the whole structure in advance showing how it is going to be constructed. There is no as much place for creativity when building a house if compared to the essay writing process. All creativity is to be utilized when developing a specific plan. There are very few things that can be changed in the process of building as soon as the project is launched so the plan should really include all creativity. Writing an essay allows more space for creativity obviously but it doesn’t mean that the plan isn’t necessary. Quite the opposite, an essay should also have a blueprint – an idea of how the structure of your essay is going to look like. It is usually presented in the form of statement that outlines how you are going to prove your thesis. It helps both the writer and reader to understand where the essay is going and how it is going to end up at the final destination point. Having read your essay “blueprint” at the beginning of your document, readers will know what to expect. It will also help the writer himself/herself to organize one’s thoughts carefully. Keep in mind, this is something you work on prior to the writing process occurs. Structure. Having a written blueprint and laid foundation is a good thing because it allows you to get to the building part. Now as you probably know builders don’t start from the roof or windows. There has to be the main structure built that is meant to support the entire house. This is sort of a skeleton of the building that consists of supporting posts and beams that make up the main structure of the house. Only after they are through this stage, the builders can move on to constructing walls, windows and roof, which if taken the anatomy analogy resemble the skin of a human body. Writing an essay again is very similar to building and this stage of constructing the supporting structure should be a great example of how the points of your essay are to support your thesis. The points you are making in your essay are those supporting posts and rafter beams. And the stronger they are, the more solid your essay is going to be. Like the strength of a house is tested by the winds and storms so is the points of your essay is tested by the waves of criticism and feedback. If you work hard on developing your key points then your piece of writing will weather the storm of any feedback. Strong supporting structure have always been among the decisive factors for determining the reliability of the house. The same principle stands for writing an essay. The entire argument depends on the points you make throughout the document. A simple essay would contain 3-5 reasons why your thesis statement is true. These reasons (points) are to be valid (strong) in order to make your entire essay look solid. If you did your homework and researched the topic well it won’t constitute a big problem for you to come up with those reasons. Keep in mind that literary devices are all good and they help to make your essay better but without having a blueprint, foundation, and good supporting structure they don’t do any good at all. Those nice words and complex devices are like beautiful building color that doesn’t really matter when it all falls apart.
Final Remarks
Now that you know how many things writing and building have in common you can keep this whole analogy in mind when writing an essay. Having clear images of building a house in your mind will help you understand what you should do in order to produce a good piece of writing.
