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Topic : Is it really hard to write an essay? I'm a BS student and my major is computer science. I like to know more about this major. I mean that i like to read professional essays about different - selfpublishingguru.com

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I'm a BS student and my major is computer science.
I like to know more about this major. I mean that i like to read professional essays about different topics in computer science. But the problem is that i don't know where to start ! My question is not just about computer science. I've asked from my professors at university but they always say somethings that disappoint me.

For example they say you should be sure that no-one has ever wrote something about your topic. How on earth can i do that? I can't just go and read every essay that the world wrote about a specific topic ! that's crazy right?! How can i be sure that i've read every essay about a topic?
Another problem is that they say you should write about a brand new thing ! Maybe i want to write about my experiences of Web design. There are many companies and many people who know how to design a website. But i have my way and i think my method is useful for others. My point is that for example designing a website is not a new thing that i invented !! But i know the issues about it. So, is this not a good topic?
The third problem is about the products that i made relating to my major. For example i can write a new software. This software is not unique ! I mean there are other softwares like it but they all have their differences comparing to each other! Is it not acceptable that i write an essay about my software?

Note: Please consider this question as a general question. I mentioned my major just because i wanted to clarify my points.

Thanks in advance.


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The difficulty of writing an essay largely depends on the type of essay (Narrative, Descriptive, Expository, and Persuasive being the main types) and the writer’s experience with the topic. Writing an effective Persuasive essay is usually the most difficult. Before determining which type of essay to write, you need a thesis statement (topic sentence, if you prefer), which is just a statement of your Topic with a Controlling Idea. The Controlling Idea will help you to deduce which type of essay would best present your message.

Google your thesis statement to see whether other publications exist. If they do, then read them to determine whether your experience is different and worth writing a complementary or contrasting essay (citing those pubs). Modify your Controlling Idea to accommodate this. You can find ideas for a thesis at Stack Overflow; try the “hot” page.

I recommend The Craft of Research, by Booth, Colomb, and Williams, as a reference for writing essays of science and engineering research (not to be confused with Technical Writing--different objectives).


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Your professor wants to protect you from wasting your time with writing something nobody will be interested to read.

About points 1 and 2: Your work should not be redundant. There is no point in writing the same thing someone else has already written. When you do proper research before writing your essay (academics call that "literature review") you should easily find works about the same topic. When you take a closer look at them you might find out that your way isn't actually unique. Likely other people have already tried the same thing, found out the flaws about the method and improved on it. Then your contribution wouldn't really add anything to the discussion.

You can't prove a negative, of course. When you can't find anything despite doing a thorough research, that work might exist but be too obscure or behind a paywall, so there might in fact be demand for a more available essay on the issue.

About point 3: Every software should have an essay written about it which explains what it's good for, how to use it and how it works. It's called a documentation. But it is unlikely that this document will have much value for people who don't directly work with the program. There are few software projects where the techniques used to develop them are so revolutionary and unique that it is worth writing an essay just about that. Chances are that your processes and patterns are already described by existing literature. In the unlikely chance that you indeed found some revolutionary new way to develop software, then I (as a professional software developer) would still not be interested in reading about that until you have a history of multiple successful projects where your methods have proven to be useful.


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