Trent University
MyTrent
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Graduate Programs
    • Trent Online
    • Summer Courses
    • Continuing Education
    • Study Abroad
    • Academic Calendar
    • Academic Timetable
    • Academic Skills Centre
    • Academic Advising
    • Library
    • Centre for Teaching and Learning
  • Admissions
    • Undergraduate
    • Thinking of Applying
    • Already Applied
    • Received an Offer
    • Accepted My Offer
    • Graduate
    • International
    • Indigenous
    • Returning to Trent
    • Transfer
  • Services & Support
    • Academic Advising
    • Academic Skills Centre
    • Administrative Departments
    • Alumni Services
    • Athletics
    • Campus Security
    • Careerspace
    • Colleges
    • Communications
    • Conferences
    • Financial Aid
    • Financial Services
    • Health & Wellness
    • Indigenous Services
    • Information Technology
    • International Students
    • Learning Support
    • Parking
    • Printshop
    • Recruitment
    • Registrar's Office
    • Residence & Housing
    • Student Clubs
    • TrentU Card
  • Research
    • Research at Trent
    • Research Centres
    • Find an Expert
    • Resources
  • Give to Trent
  • About Trent
    • About Trent
    • Careers
    • Giving to Trent
    • Governance
    • How to Find Us
    • Media
    • News & Events
    • President's Office
    • Staff Directory
    • Trent Facts
    • Contact Us
  • Campus Locations
    • Peterborough
    • Durham GTA
    • Online
  • Future Students
    • Undergraduate
    • Thinking of Applying
    • Already Applied
    • Received an Offer
    • Accepted My Offer
    • Graduate
    • International
    • Indigenous
    • Returning to Trent
    • Transfer
  • Current Students
  • Alumni
  • Trent Forward: COVID-19 Info
  • Apply
  • Visit
  • Give
  • Map
  • Careers
  • Directions
  • Library
  • Site Map
  • Bookstore
Skip to main content Home
  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
  • Online
  • MyTrent
MENU
Trent University

Academic Skills

  • Welcome
  • Appointments
  • How To Guides
  • Documentation Guide
  • Programs & Events
  • Contact
A student studying on the floor

Academic Skills

  • Welcome
    • Information for Faculty
    • Information for Graduate Students
    • Tutor Board
  • Appointments
  • How To Guides
    • Transition to University - Advice for First Year
    • Level Up: Resources for Upper-Year Students
    • How Do I Protect My Academic Integrity?
    • How to Study
    • How to Learn Online
    • How to Manage Your Time
    • How to Write in University
      • How to Approach Any Assignment
        • Writing Essays
        • Writing the English Essay
          • Developing a Topic and Thesis for the English Essay
          • Drafting the English Essay
          • Using Secondary Sources in an English Essay
        • Creating an Annotated Bibliography
        • Writing Article Summaries
        • Writing Academic Reviews
        • Writing Reflection Papers
        • Writing Literature Reviews
        • Writing Policy Assignments
        • Writing Business Reports
        • Preparing and Delivering Oral Presentations
        • Creating Poster Presentations
        • The Art of Powerpoint
      • Planning Your Assignment
      • Developing an Argument
      • Writing Introductions, Conclusions, and Body Paragraphs
    • How to Succeed in Math and Science
    • How to Use Sources
    • How to Edit Your Writing
    • Academic Skills Online Resources Index
  • Documentation Guide
  • Programs & Events
  • Contact
TRENTU.CA / Academic Skills / How To Guides / How to Write in University / How to Approach Any Assignment / Writing the English Essay

Writing the English Essay

Understanding the English Essay

  • Understanding The English Essay
  • Developing a Topic and Thesis for an English Essay
  • Drafting the English Essay
  • Using Secondary Sources in an English Essay
  • Glossary of Common Formal Elements of Literature
  • Documenting Sources in MLA Style (Modern Languages Association)

Understanding the English Essay

  • What is an English Essay?
  • The Formal Elements of Literary Works
  • Considering Theme
  • Considering the Formal Elements and Theme

What is an English Essay?

An English essay is an organized and analytical discussion and interpretation of a work or works of literature in English. There are many approaches to writing the English essay, but most start with you closely and actively reading, responding to and thinking about the text(s) being written about. You, the reader and essay writer, must ask and try to answer questions about what the work means, how it makes meaning, and how the author’s choices affect meaning. An English essay is built around what the essay writer thinks about the text(s), and the most important evidence and support in the essay will come from the texts themselves. Many English essays, then, are not research essays and require no use of secondary sources.

There are many approaches to the study of literature. We can

  • consider the work in relation to its background or in relation to its author or its original readers or viewers
  • think about and reflect on the themes in the work
  • consider how the work is constructed and how it creates the effects it does
  • read from a particular theoretical perspective
  • examine the work in terms of its genre.

When we write an English essay, we, can approach the work or works in different ways. We might

  • consider what the work means
  • consider why the author made a particular choice
  • consider what the central theme(s) of the work are
  • analyze how parts of the work relate to the theme or themes
  • consider the "craft" of the author (the author's use of language).

The Formal Elements of Literary Works

Many English essays analyze how the formal elements of a literary text work together to create meaning or affect the reader. The term formal element is used here to refer to the different techniques and tools writers have at their disposal. Essay writers must pay attention to the ways authors can arrange and pattern words, their medium, to create effect.

Often the essay topics assigned by professors focus on these formal elements; for example

  • “What is the relationship between setting and character in 'The Painted Door'?"
  • “How does the imagery of 'The Waste Land' contribute to our understanding of its themes?”

For a helpful explanation of the most common formal elements you will encounter in a literature course, see the Glossary of Formal Elements.

Considering Theme

When an essay focuses on a literary work’s theme or themes, it is focusing on the major or central ideas that the work seems to be considering or expressing. The assumption is that a work of literature is about ideas and preoccupations of the “real world,” and through its story, plot, characterization and formal elements, it not only entertains but is saying something meaningful and important about central preoccupations all people share: Love, Duty, Right, Wrong, Justice, Friendship, Death, God etc. Literary works may also be thematically concerned with political, social, religious and psychological concerns of the work's particular place and time.

Considering the Formal Elements and Theme

English essays often seek to uncover and clarify what the major themes in a text are and what the writer seems to be saying about them. When we study and write about a literary work, we may study it for theme, but we must also look at how a work's themes are being expressed and conveyed with the tools, the formal elements, unique to literature and the particular literary genre or form.

Remember, writers love words and what they can do with them. In a literary work, the words have been chosen and arranged to make meaning, create effect, and to make you feel, think, and interpret. The best English essays never forget that the plot, characters, setting etc do not really exist but have been created by the writer using words arranged in certain ways and using all the tools at their disposal (the formal elements) to create effect and express meaning (themes).

Other English essays have an even broader focus than the formal elements of a particular work in relation to its theme or themes. They may focus on the relationship among works by an author, or the relationships between the author’s life and work or the political, historical, or social context of the work(s).

It is important to be aware of what you are doing or what your assigned topic is asking you to do. If your topic’s focus is on the formal elements of a work or its theme(s), your primary, perhaps only, source will be the work; for essays with a broader focus, secondary sources may be necessary.


  • Developing a Topic and Thesis for an English Essay
  • Drafting the English Essay
  • Using Secondary Sources in an English Essay
  • Documenting Sources in MLA Style (Modern Languages Association)

How To Guides

  • Transition to University - Advice for First Year
  • Level Up: Resources for Upper-Year Students
  • How Do I Protect My Academic Integrity?
  • How to Study
  • How to Learn Online
  • How to Manage Your Time
  • How to Write in University
    • How to Approach Any Assignment
      • Writing Essays
      • Writing the English Essay
        • Developing a Topic and Thesis for the English Essay
        • Drafting the English Essay
        • Using Secondary Sources in an English Essay
      • Creating an Annotated Bibliography
      • Writing Article Summaries
      • Writing Academic Reviews
      • Writing Reflection Papers
      • Writing Literature Reviews
      • Writing Policy Assignments
      • Writing Business Reports
      • Preparing and Delivering Oral Presentations
      • Creating Poster Presentations
      • The Art of Powerpoint
    • Planning Your Assignment
    • Developing an Argument
    • Writing Introductions, Conclusions, and Body Paragraphs
  • How to Succeed in Math and Science
  • How to Use Sources
  • How to Edit Your Writing
  • Academic Skills Online Resources Index
Trent University logo
Challenge the Way You Think

Trent University respectfully acknowledges it is located on the treaty and traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg. We offer our gratitude to First Peoples for their care for, and teachings about, our earth and our relations. May we honour those teachings.

Peterborough

1600 West Bank Drive
Peterborough, ON Canada, K9L 0G2

Toll Free: 1-855-MY-TRENT

Campus Map

Durham Greater Toronto Area

55 Thornton Road South
Oshawa, ON Canada, L1J 5Y1

Phone: 905-435-5100

Campus Map

Social Media Directory
  • Contact
  • Directions
  • Site Map
  • Accessibility
  • @ Copyright 2023 Trent University