Example Essay Structures

Example Essay Structures However, you must equally avoid an essay consisting only of argument â€" you must not make unsubstantiated claims. For everything you say you must have a supporting fact or example â€" otherwise your essay will be just so much hot air. If you introduction is multiple paragraphs long you have more flexibility where you place the thesis. Essentially, a conclusion consists of three main objectives. Firstly, it must summarise the arguments or information that has been presented in the body of the paper. Try to synthesise your evidence into each body paragraph in order to substantiate your points. Whenever you do use evidence you should follow the referencing guidelines that have been specified by your tutor or lecturer. Now let's try and identify the essential elements to a paragraph by looking at an example taken from our assignment question. You’ll notice the first sentence is the topic sentence which clearly states the theme of the paragraph. This is followed by the explanation or argument and then substantiated through the integration of evidence and demonstration of examples. More importantly, your plan will ensure that you actually answer the question. Everything you write must be related to the question, and without a plan it is all too easy to lose focus and write irrelevant nonsense. This will be immediately obvious to anyone reading the essay and gain you a few marks. The purpose of the conclusion is to consolidate or integrate the various issues or researched data that have been covered in the core of your paper. Then, it must restate the key points that have been presented â€" and reiterate the thesis statement. In a previous online tutorial video we introduced you to a real-life assignment question and talked about how to structure the introduction to an essay. Notice the keywords including academic learning and literacy centres and the most effective approach. It’s very important to ensure that you fully analyse and understand the question before you start writing. One of these points is that you are writing an academic essay, and as such, are required to use a reasonably formal style of writing. This does not mean that you should be obscure, or use impossibly long sentences with multisyllabic words, but you should avoid being overly colloquial. Often you will be given a word limit, or suggested length for an essay. Use this information to gauge the level of detail, and degree of coverage that is expected. This balance between analysis and supporting detail is what makes up the skill of' essay writing, and takes time to learn. This is without doubt the most vital part of writing an essay. It is your plan that determines what approach you take to answering the question. If you have written your plan properly, you will know exactly what your answer is going to be â€" this is not something that should be decided while you are writing your essay. Read the question several times to make sure you understand what it is asking. Technical considerations will teach you how to avoid the most common errors that writers make when creating essays. First and foremost, you must fully understand what you're being asked and in how much depth you're required to answer the question. Michael says that one of the biggest problems students face when it comes to essays is squarely addressing the topic. The thesis is a succinct statement of your overall argument. Obviously, an essay of 1500 words will have a narrower focus and will require greater summarizing skills than one of 3000 words. Note that markers will penalize essays that are too long. Keeping to the limit tells the marker that you understand what is important in your argument. You may already be quite comfortable writing essays and if so, you will have a definite feel for what works for you. You should pay special attention to Section 4.3 on stylistic conventions, as there is little scope for flexibility on these matters within a particular academic discipline. Ultimately, your conclusion must demonstrate that you have fully answered the question. Please keep in mind the keywords ‘in red’, which we will identify in our sample conclusion in a moment. Always recall the essay question as you write and continually link your body paragraphs to the essay question. To ensure your writing is cohesive and coherent - use linking words.