Essay Writing for Civil Service Exams

The essay is an area, which most students forget. It may not be possible to concentrate on essay writing due to lack of time. It’s fine. Even then you can be attentive ‘not’ to lose marks by making simple avoidable mistakes.

To talk about the essay,

First choose a topic you know. There may be proverbs or phrases you aren't clear about. In that case avoid those topics. The examiner may not be amused if you bluff an entire paper (essay paper only one question is to be answered!).

Another thing is to cover all aspects on a subject. The issue should be seen from all angles, before you reach a conclusion. Eg: In an essay on Sustainable development – the social, political, environmental view of the subject can be discussed.

It won’t be possible to start writing the essay straight away. You can create a good plan for essay before writing the actual essay. The upsc answer sheet is a big bundle with enough pages. You can do the rough work of the essay on the pages towards back.

Our idea is to create the essay which means we gotta make a Intro, body, and conclusion. That doesn’t mean that we will put “Introduction” or “Body” in writing when we start.  Take some time and make the Intro interesting. The examiner is seeing tonnes of paper, and he has to feel –“this is cool” or “hmm..OK”

There are many ways in which you can begin an essay. The way you can start essay depends on the topics. Eg:Through a small story with two people – one who enjoys its fruits and another who has been hit hard by the same. This works in topics like Eg: Globalization, Public-Private-Partnership etc. Thus the two views would be put in a subtle manner.The beginning must be attractive, well written and mistake free. Else the reader (examiner) will lose interest. 

After the intro comes the body part. The body must go into the subject – analyse the aspect from various angles.

Eg Essay on sustainable development there may be social, political, environmental views.

Social – how the uncontrolled destruction can lead to disaster. Here the touching story of uttarakand  or any flood can be written to highlight the issue

Political – how the international players are discussing the issue,what steps have been taken etc.

Environmental- how destruction of species, or monoculture can affect balance of nature

Each angle of thought can be made into paragraphs, thus the reader can watch how our thought on the subject unfolds.

I have always used  diagrams in essays, but i don't think its a common practice. 

In the conclusion part, you can bring your take on the subject. This conclusion should be in sync with your body. It would be bad if you preached nuclear energy to be an evil in the body of essay in full force and then ends with praise for the same.

Book Review: Climatology by D S Lal

The Climatology is one of the most important segment in studying Geography. The D S lal’s Climatology book is a book popular among geography optional students.

In General: The book is written in lucid style. The images, description is able to generate interest in the subject.

The geography is a subject where imagination generated in our mind can simplify the process of learning. D S Lal is able to do exactly that in many of the chapters.

Pros

Atmospheric equilibrium: Stability and Instability is an area which many geography authors mess up. The understanding of the concept requires thorough understanding about certain physics laws. The author has written these areas with lot of illustration and patience. He has begun from the basics and slowly built up the concepts.

“Air masses” is another chapter where he has written brilliantly. He has written elaborately on the way air masses change their nature with time and place. The “ Frontogenesis and Frontolysis “ chapter is also really good. The illustrations are simple and easy to replicate in exams.

Another area which D S Lal has shown written well is regarding Applied Climatology and Global warming. He has delved into all the details needed for an ias aspirant in these chapters. The imaginary continent diagram is something that has been repeatedly used by D S Lal. We can use this diagram in other areas of geography too.

Cons

An area which disappoints the reader in most Geography textbooks is “Climatic Classification”. Here I cannot say he could do full justice to the area. May be the classification is too complicated subject or may be it’s due to lack of space. The Koppen’s classification has been dealt well in most books including this one.  

Readers would have loved the book more if more illustrations could be brought in chapters like “Climate types and their distribution”. The geo cheong leong book is good in this area.

The illustrations in chapter “Air pressure and winds” too seems bit complicated for beginners. I would prefer illustrations of Savindra Singh over D S Lal for this chapter.

Summary

The D S Lal’s Climatology is a well written book. The chapters will stay in mind if we read it slowly giving importance to the concepts. A basic knowledge of terms like “change of state”, “evaporation” etc are needed for following this book. It’s desirable to have other references for chapters listed in the ‘cons’ segment. Overall it’s a good book recommended for geo optionals. 

*The book is reviewed thinking of ias aspirants as its readers. The review may not be applicable to readers whose purpose may be different (eg: studying for degree). Most books undergo change in content and presentation style every year, which may not be covered in this review.