1.The Structure of an Essay
Your essay should start with an introductory paragraph.
There are actually many different ways to begin an essay; therefore, the
format of the introductory paragraph is flexible. Often, essays begin
with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an anecdote,
description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your thesis, etc.
Beginning this way, you will use
the first few sentences to prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis,
and use the last sentence of the first paragraph to present your
thesis. However, your thesis statement can be anywhere in your introduction.
In a longer essay, you can even wait to present your thesis until the second
paragraph or later. Also for a longer essay, you should begin to introduce a
few supporting ideas in the first couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas
should be the topics that you will discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For
a short essay, presenting supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.
Your second paragraph generally
begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of
the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph
should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea
(the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to
discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of
these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to
draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next
paragraph.
Your next two
body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body
paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting
ideas, but the three
paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you
will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this
format.
The form of your conclusion, like
your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a
paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that
reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then
you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well
you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves
a strong impression and provokes further thought.
The Essay
To define
the essay briefly, one can say that it is a piece of writing usually short (3
to 10 pages), written in prose, and that may be on any subject. The essay is
generally based on other people's statements. In the essay you can include your
personal opinion, and some examples to illustrate your point of view. It is
written about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay
is too long and too complex to discuss it in one paragraph. Therefore, you must
divide the topic into several paragraphs, one for each major point. In
general, essays have three basic parts: introduction, body
and conclusion.
1.The
Introduction
It is the first section of your essay. This makes it extremely
important, because first impressions are often lasting ones. It consists of two
parts: a few general statements about your subject to attract
your reader's attention, and
a thesis statement, that states
the specific subdivisions of your topic and/or the "plan" of your
paper. The introduction then, begins with remarks to interest people. As it
progresses, it should present general ideas or facts to orient the reader.
Then, it will narrow its focus, and move from general to specific facts
smoothly and logically.
2.The body Paragraphs
They are the longest section of you essay. In a short
essay there are usually three body paragraphs,each
one considering in detail one aspect of the essay's controlling idea.
This is called a three-point essay.
At the beginning of each of your support paragraphs, there is a topic
sentence that tells what
the rest of your text is going to be about. This sentence should direct your
readers back to the controlling idea and indicate which aspect of it you are
going to discuss. Once you present your topic, you need details and
facts to support it. It is not enough to state your position; your
reader needs to be convinced that your point of view is valid an accurate.
There is not any rule that determines how long a body paragraph should be. The
more relevant detail you can bring in to support each of your topic sentence,
the clearer your points will be.
3.The Conclusion
The ideas in this part must be consistent with the rest of your
essay. In it, you should restate the controlling idea. This restatement is
usually more effective when it is
located at the beginning of the conclusion. It reminds your public about the
major points you were trying to make, and it indicates your essay is about to
end. Many writers like to end their conclusion with a final emphatic sentence.
This strong closing statement will make your readers think about the
implications of what you wrote. You do not introduce your points in your
conclusion.
