HOW
W TO STRUCTURE YOU
UR ESSAY: A
AN OUTLINE ADEMIC WR
RITING CENTTRE HANDO
OUT ACA
Com
mpiled by: Jeess Furney, AWC Tutorr in 2015‐6
Introductio
on
•Purpose: provvides contexxt, sets scen
ne for essay.. •KEYY (towards eend of section): Thesiss Statementt
• Provides a r
P
roadmap for where thee essay is go
oing to go. O
Outlines maain points wiithout giving away your argumentt. • E.G. You're w
E
writing an eessay on wh
hy dogs are better than
n cats. Let's say your three main po
oints are: do
ogs are friendlier than cats, fluffieer than cats,, and smartter uld be: Dogss make bettter pets thaan than cats. Theerefore your Thesis Staatement cou
nd intelligen
nce.
cats because of their frieendliness, fluffiness, an
• Main Point No.1 ‐ Topic Se
entence
G. While catt owners may value their cats' ind
dependencee, dog owne
ers take prid
de • E.G
in their pets' friendlinesss and argue that this m
makes a bettter househo
old pet.
Main Poin
M
nt No. 1
• Bo
ody of the EEssay: Madee up of Main Points and
d Section Paaragraphs. TThink of it aas a ssandwich filling ‐ the bread being the Introdu
uction and C
Conclusion.
Discuss your aargument w
within each respective main point.. A benefit o
of outlining yo
our essay is you can gro
oup your ressearch into big categorries and use
e these to form your Maain Points.
• Main Point No. 2 ‐ Topic Se
entence (KEEY: link to M
Main Point N
No. 1)
• E.G
G. Along witth their amicable nature, canines usually havve soft fur and enjoy be
eing petted, often moree so than caats.
Main Poin
M
nt No. 2
• Secttion Paragraaphs
• * No
ote: Any maaterial cited needs to illustrate its relevance to
o your argu
ument
• Main Point No. 3 ‐ Topic SSentence (lin
nk to Main Point No. 2)
Main Poin
M
nt No. 3
• Secttion Paragraaphs
• While the Intro
oduction introduces thee idea and ssets the stagge, the Conclusion givees overall view of the argu
ument and w
wraps up an
ny loose straands. an o
C
Conclusio
on
• Resttate (in diffeerent wordss/terminolo
ogy) your maain points aand utilize yyour argumeent to provide an o
overall view of what you've written
n within thee body of th
he essay.