Fundamentals of Writing an Essay There are many reasons for writing an essay (sometimes called a “paper”). You may want to –instruct, –inform, –impress or – persuade.

An essay A short written composition. In most cases, there are three parts to the essay –Introduction –Body –Conclusion

The Introduction Describes content and scope using the essentials of –Who –What –When –Where –Why It is typically no less than one paragraph. It may provide a brief list of the topics to be covered.

“This paper will summarize my trip to the FAA control tower at Kirtland Air Force Base on October 22, Cadets from Village Academy participated in this field trip. The primary purpose was to familiarize the cadets with the physical layout, function, and purpose of this facility.”

The Body contains the descriptive and analytical part of the essay. Each major point is contained in a separate paragraph and may be several paragraphs long. You may find it helpful to list the main points that you want to write about before you even begin to compose your sentences.

“We were first introduced to the Tower Chief (Mr. Schroeder) who provided a brief description of their physical layout. There was a small one-story building that housed offices. It was connected to a very tall tower (probably 200 feet) which had stairs. At the base of the tower was the TRACON room while at the very top of the tower was the “cab”.

The TRACON room was very dark as it had many video displays that showed radar positions of the aircraft I the immediate area of Albuquerque. Each of the aircraft were identified on the display with their “call sign” such as “AA322” which stood for American Airlines Flight 322.” It is a job that I might enjoy doing as I like to work with computers, but I’m not sure about spending my day in a dark room.

The Tower cab had about six people who had different jobs. One was responsible for providing landing and take-off clearances to the airplanes. Another helped direct planes to and from the active runway. A third provided clearances for departing airplanes and a fourth was the tower supervisor. From the cab you could see all of the airport and it was a bit scary for some to look down.”

The conclusion summarizes the main points and should leave the reader with a strong impression of the topic.

“This was a very interesting trip because I had no idea that these people were helping to safely move air traffic into and out of Albuquerque. It is a good paying job and is something that I will keep in mind.”