Essay Structure and Organization

Essay Structure

What makes an essay?

​Let's look at the big picture first.

Then we'll get into detail.

1) Introduction

2) Body

3) Conclusion

​Essays have 3 key parts:

​Introduction paragraphs include...

• a general start, typically with a hook to get readers interested

  • what might be a way to interest readers?

• essential background information

  • what does the reader need to know now?

• thesis statement

  • what is my main point of the essay? what is my opinion? how will I explain this?

​This is an EXAMPLE of what you can do in a body paragraph:

​Conclusions ...

​wrap up the essay by...

• restating the thesis (same ideas, different sentence

• summarizing the most important ideas (no details; no new information)

• commenting --> bring the reader out of the essay to the bigger picture.

​It reverses the flow of the introduction. Now we move from specific to general.

​Keys to Clear Writing

Clear writing requires...​

• Focus: effective main idea statements to make the point of the essay and each paragraph clear to the reader

• Organization: logical order; logical paragraphing

• Support: any claim you make needs to be explained; evidence will strength claims

• Flow: logical movement from sentence to sentence

• Appropriate Language: precise & accurate word choice; effective sentence structures

​A Note about Thesis Statements & Topic Sentences

Both thesis statements and topic sentences play a part in creating a clear focus throughout the essay.

• Thesis statements = the main idea of the entire essay (broader focus)

• Topic sentences = main idea of one body paragraph within the essay (more specific focus taken from the thesis)