Conventions of essay writing

Ms Browning's tips for writing an analytical essay

The conventions of essay writing

This lesson

This self-paced lesson will remind you of some of the conventions of essay writing.
The information covered will quickly focus on important basics before moving on to more complex ideas.

This lesson is differentiated. It is up to you to decide if you have mastered the basics and feel ready to move on to the advice regarding extension. If you're unsure, check with your teacher.

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First, we'll look at formatting and structuring an essay.

• An essay usually has five or six paragraphs in total. Leave a single empty line between each paragraph.

• There is no need to indent your first line of your body paragraphs.

• When writing by hand, write in blue or black pen.

• When typing your essay, write in a standard font, size 12 and use 1.5 line spacing.

Formatting your essay

Essay structure

The standard structure of an essay includes: an introductory stage, three arguments and a conclusion. This is a widely accepted and very useful structure. All analytical essays should have these important basics.

Students developing their skills in essay writing are encouraged to use the TEEL acronym when writing their body paragraphs. TEEL works well as an introductory guide to the essential elements of a body paragraph.

Standard essay structure

Moving beyond the essential basics

Students in senior year levels may sometimes feel the need to write four or five body paragraphs in order to fully answer the given essay question. While 3-4 is achievable under exam conditions, 4-5 is more likely in take-home tasks.

Students who have mastered TEEL may find that this rigid structure is restrictive. Those who understand the important elements of TEEL are encouraged to move beyond this structure once they are ready.

Essay structure

• An introduction usually includes the text's title, text type, creator's full name, year of publication, the premise of the text, a thesis statement (response to the question) and a brief summary of what the body paragraphs will focus on.

• TEEL stands for 'topic sentence', 'evidence', 'explanation' and 'linking sentence'. There are a variety of other similar acronyms that provide student with a guide for how to structure their body paragraphs. There is no need to use sub-headings in an analytical essay focused on a text or texts.

• A conclusion usually restates the thesis statement (but in different words) and ends with a relevant comment (a comment related to the essay question) about overall authorial intent.

Essay structure

A note about introductions
Unless you're writing in response to a character question, your introduction will usually not focus on characters or textual evidence. Most of the time, you'll signpost body paragraph arguments that focus on universal thematic arguments related to the essay question (i.e. 'Macbeth suggests that those who are moral are not always rewarded for their morality' as opposed to 'Moral characters like Duncan and Lady Macduff are killed').
A note about body paragraphs
Students who are learning how to write essays are likely to structure their essays by writing about one character per body paragraph. While this structural choice is clear and focused, it is more sophisticated to focus on a thematic argument and then include analysis of a variety of characters, events or literary techniques that illustrate this point. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 should aim to move away from focusing on one character per body paragraph.

Essay structure

Fluency
Use linking or transitional phrases to aid the fluency of your writing.

In the opening of your second and third body paragraphs, you should include words or phrases like 'also', 'similarly', 'in contrast' to aid the flow from one paragraph to the next.

Also use phrases like this to help the internal structure of your body paragraphs (when moving from example to the next).

Lastly, ensure your body paragraphs are in a logical order.

Essay structure

Students who have mastered TEEL are welcome to move beyond this structure. Those ready to do so understand the purpose of each element of TEEL and can break these rules while ensuring that their body paragraph still functions as it should.
The advantages
Extending yourself in this way could help you to develop a less methodical writing style, and you may learn to write with more flair. Some students also find that TEEL is restrictive and hampers their attempts to write more complex ideas. It is also possible for one body paragraph in an essay to follow TEEL (if it works well for a particular argument) and for another body paragraph from the same essay to diverge from this structure.
The disadvantages
When learning to break these foundational rules, students often make mistakes when first attempting to extend themselves. At times, their writing lacks structure and can be confusing. That is part of learning!

Essay structure

If you would like to try to move beyond TEEL, there is no set structure for you to follow. Part of the appeal of TEEL is that it provides students with a formula. Moving beyond a structure like this requires students to tailor each body paragraph to each particular argument.

If you'd like to experiment with new structures but to do so tentatively, you might open your body paragraphs with references to contextual information or a quote from a relevant literary theorist.

You might also practise writing about two examples at once and then analysing both. 'Both of instances characterise the novel's protagonist as...'


Speak to your teacher if you feel ready to be extended in this way.

Get ready to test yourself on the information covered so far.

Multiple Choice

The five paragraph essay (with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion) is...

• widely accepted as an effective structure for argumentation.

• only used in secondary schools.

• only used in the English classroom.

• a foundational structure that you should move beyond as soon as you're ready.

Multiple Choice

Only students who ? TEEL should move on to other ways of structuring body paragraphs.

• dislike

• don't understand

• master

• have not studied

Multiple Choice

You should leave a clean blank line between each body paragraph. There is no need to indent the first line of your body paragraphs.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

When you're learning about how to write essays or building your confidence in structuring essays, it is okay to focus on one character from a text per body paragraph.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

You should use sub-headings to introduce different body paragraph arguments and to aid the fluency of your writing.

• True

• False

The next slides cover a range of generally accepted rules for writing analytical essays.

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Let's go over some of the standard conventions of essay writing.

Referring to the texts

• When typing an essay, write the title of longer texts in italics (i.e. William Shakespeare's Macbeth) and when writing an essay by hand, underline the title of longer texts (i.e. William Shakespeare's Macbeth). These longer texts could include novels, feature length films, plays and the title of a collection of poetry.

• When writing about shorter texts (for example short films, short stories or poems), use single quotation marks to indicate the title of the short text. This is the case whether you're writing by hand or typing your essay. (i.e. Simon Armitage's poem, 'About his person' is from his poetry collection Book of Matches).

• Be sure to refer to the correct text type (novel, not book and film, not movie).

​Standard conventions

Referring to the text's creator

• When writing about the text's creator, use the specific metalanguage related to their craft. For example, do not use the term 'writer' to refer to a poet. The creator of a play is the playwright, the creator of a novel is an author, the creator of the film is a director, and so on.

• In your introduction, you should include to the creator's full name (i.e. William Shakespeare). For the rest of the essay, you can use the creator's surname only (i.e. Shakespeare). Never refer to the creator by their first name only. To add variety to your writing, you can swap between the name and the creator's role (i.e. swap between 'Shakespeare' and 'the playwright').

​Standard conventions

Use a formal register

• Use a formal register when writing. Avoid colloquial language (slang) or casual and vague wording such as 'things', 'stuff' or 'vibe'.

• Do not refer to yourself in a formal essay. This means, do not write: 'I will argue, 'my next point is' or 'as I mentioned earlier'. Similarly, do not write, 'This essay will argue that...'. Simply write your ideas without a preamble.

• When referring to the text's impact, do not refer to readers or audiences as 'we' or 'us'. If referring to a written text, use 'readers'. If referring to a visual text, use 'viewers' and if referring to a performed text, use 'audiences'.

​Standard conventions

Embed short sections of your chosen quote

Most of the time, you'll include quotes in your essay by embedding short sections (anywhere from one word to ten or eleven words) of the quote into your own sentence. This ensures that including evidence does not interrupt the flow of your writing.


When you include longer quotes, go to a new line and indent the full quote
Occasionally you'll need to include a longer quote. For example, if you're analysing the use of enjambment or rhyme in a poem, it may be necessary to include four lines of the poem. While you can embed short quotes into your sentences, if the quote you've chosen runs over more than two lines of your paragraph, you should indent it.

Incorporating quotes in your essays

Get ready to test yourself on this information.

Multiple Choice

When writing an essay by hand, how should you indicate the title of a longer text (for example, a novel, play or feature length film)?

• You should write the title in italics.

• You should underline the title.

• You should use single quotation marks to identify the title.

Multiple Choice

When typing an essay, how should you indicate the title of a longer text (for example, a novel, play or feature length film)?

• You should write the title in italics.

• You should underline the title.

• You should use single quotation marks to identify the title.

Multiple Choice

When writing about a shorter text (for example, a short film, short story or poem), how should you identify the title of this text? (Note: the answer is the same whether you are typing an essay or writing an essay by hand).

• You should write the title in italics.

• You should underline the title.

• You should use single quotation marks to identify the title.

Multiple Select

When writing a formal essay, you should avoid... (choose ALL that apply)...

• Referring to yourself using 'I' or 'me'.

• Using slang or generic word choices (like 'things' or 'stuff').

• Referring to the essay ('This essay will argue that...')

• Using inclusive language like 'we' or 'us'.

Match

Match the text type to the creator's title.

• Play

• Film

• Novel

• Poem

• Short story

Playwright

Director

Author

Poet

Author

• Playwright

• Director

• Author

• Poet

• Author

Multiple Choice

On the rare occasion that you choose to include a longer quote in your essay, you must move the quote to a new line and indent this quote if...

• the quote is an example of direct speech /dialogue

• the quote is longer than two lines of writing in your paragraph

• the quote includes rhyme

• the quote is from a play or line of poetry

You have finished this self-paced lesson.

If you have any questions about any of this information, be sure to speak to your teacher.