Essays

Essays

What is an essay?

An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone or something or to simply inform the reader about a particular topic. In order for the reader to be convinced or adequately informed, the essay must include several important components to make it flow in a logical way.

Open Ended

What do you think are the main parts of an essay?

• Introduction

• Body

• Conclusion

Multiple Choice

How many paragraphs do you think make a standard short essay?

• 2

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

 In a standard short essay, five paragraphs can provide the reader with enough information in a short amount of space. For a research paper or dissertation, however, it is essential that more than five paragraphs are present in order not to overwhelm the reader with too much information in one paragraph.  

Multiple Choice

If we talk about essays in general, it is possible to use all these logical order strategies in body paragraphs. However, which one do you use most if you are writing an opinion essay?

• Chronological order

• Spatial order

• Emphatic order

• Chronological order---order of time, good for narratives   

• Spatial order-good for descriptions of locations; top to bottom, e.g. 

• Emphatic order-least important to most important; most common for college writing

Open Ended

This is an introduction for a 5-paragraph opinion essay.

And... Introduction has THREE important purposes. Can you name them? What is the writer trying to do?

Since Edward Jenner introduced the first successful smallpox vaccine by injecting an eight-year-old boy with cowpox pus in 1796, vaccines have been an important part of public health care around the world (“Edward Jenner”). Yet today, many parents choose not to vaccinate their children. Because vaccines are widely supported by research, have few side effects, and have proven successful in halting the spread of disease, I believe it is important that all parents continue to vaccinate their children.

Multiple Choice

Introduction paragraph goes

• from general to specific

• from specific to general

Open Ended

What is the topic of first body paragraph?

Open Ended

What is the topic of the second body paragraph?

Open Ended

What is the topic of the third body paragraph?

Open Ended

What is the writer trying to do in the conclusion?

Multiple Choice

Conclusion goes

• from general to specific

• from specific to general

Multiple Choice

So how do you decide how many body paragraphs there will be in your essay?

• it is all in your mind

• by your thesis statement

• you feel it deep in your heart