Elements of an Essay

It appears after the topic sentence in a body paragraph.

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

• thesis statement

• introduction

• concrete detail (evidence)

It is the last sentence of a body paragraph.

• topic sentence

• thesis statement

• concluding sentence

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

It states the main idea of the body paragraph.

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

• topic sentence

• thesis statement

• concluding sentence

It is the first paragraph of an Essay.

• conclusion

• thesis statement

• introduction

• body

It is usually the first or last sentence of the Introduction.

• thesis statement

• concluding sentence

• topic sentence

• concrete detail (evidence)

It states the main idea of the entire essay.

• topic sentence

• concluding sentence

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

• thesis statement

It adds additional information to the concrete detail

by explaining or interpreting the concrete detail.

• concrete detail (evidence)

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

• concluding sentence

• body paragraph

It is the middle part of the essay.

• introduction

• body

• conclusion

• thesis statement

It ties up the ideas in the body paragraph.

• topic sentence

• commentary (opinion/analysis)

• thesis statement

• concluding sentence

It is the last paragraph in an Essay.

• body

• introduction

• conclusion

• title