The Structure of Essays Our topic for today Essay structure:
Essays can be in all sizes but their structure is always the same.
Style and format can be different from faculty to faculty but there
are some basics that are universal to all essays.
In order to write a good, incisive essay we need to establish a
certain procedure and bear a few things in mind.
These are the basics we will covering today.
Essay Structure Topic and sourcework
Thesis statement
Essay outline or skeleton
•  Introduction
•  Main Body
•  Conclusion
Cohesion and flow!
Topic When choosing a topic for an academic essay there are some
things to bear in mind:
- The nature and length of the essay
- The writerʼs knowledge and interests
- General knowledge of the subject
- Availabilty of source material
- Requirements of the essay
Sources When writing an academic paper the writer has to use various
sources to back up his claim
Some subjects and topics require more documentation than others
Important to allocate plenty of time to prepare your writing as
well as looking for sources
Necessary to define your topic so you can systematically go
through sources to find what is useful to you and what is not
Defining your topic At first the topic might lack definition
Writer trying to figure out what is most interesting or what is the
easiest topic to investigate further
In the latter stages of writing definition of your topic is crucial!
If the topic is too broad in scope the discussion becomes ineffective
and superficial
Thesis statement To define your topic you should develop a thesis statement
The essay is supposed to be answering a thesis statement and
substantiating a claim
Anything that does not concern your thesis statement does not
belong in the essay
Essay outline or skeleton The outline of an essay (or a skeleton) is how we make a draft of the
chapters for the essay
A good outline is necessary for any essay
This is the stage where you see:
-what is important and what you should leave out
-how the chapters should be set up
-where you need subchapters
An outline helps with the flow of the essay
From the outline we start our draft!
Five paragraph essay Outlining:
Why is pizza the greatest food in the world?
•  1. It is versatile
•  2. It is healthy
•  3. It is round Outlining an 5 paragraph essay Why is pizza the greatest food in the world?
•  1. It is versatile
-Eaten all over the world
-Different kinds of dough
-A lot of toppings available
•  2. It is healthy
-Whole wheat or spelt dough
-Contains all the food groups
•  3. It is round -People gather to eat it
-Everyone gets a same size slice
Introduc?on, main body and conclusion Academic essays are made up of an introduction, main body and a
conclusion.
The introduction and conclusion are however only a small part of
the essay
A long essay requires a table of contents for the reader to have some
perspective of the essay Introduc?on The introduction is a map of the essay for the reader.
An introduction should contain:
A general introduction of the topic
A thesis statement
Main results/findings of the essay
In longer essays it is desirable to have a summary of specific chapters
An essay is not a detective story - we do not try to surprise our
reader!
Main body The main body is the bulk of your essay.
The main body should include answers to your thesis statement
and arguments for those answers
The main body is made up of chapters and paragraphs
The main body concludes with the results of your essay and a
concise answer to your thesis statement Conclusion The conclusion is where you summarize your main results or
findings
Also the place to point out unsolved issues or further research
where applicable
The conclusion should not contain any new information or new
ideas! Cohesion and flow For an essay to be clear and concise it has to be broken into
suitable chapters and paragraphs
A new paragraph is defined by indentation or increased spacing never both!
Well-built paragraphs make an essay more readable!
Cohesion and flow Each paragraph has to be suitably long.
Paragraphs are generally 5-15 lines
Correlates to 2-5 paragraphs on each page
Excessive paragraphs make an essay seem incoherent!
Too few paragraphs make a text hard to read..
- Finding the golden mean is crucial Cohesion and flow Separate chapters have to connect among themselves so the essay
forms a whole/ is complete.
A good connection between paragraphs equals a good flow in an
essay!
-use of linking words/transitions
-Stay focused and on topic
-do not jump from one thing to another Linking words -­‐ transi?ons Transitional/linking words can create powerful links between ideas in
your paper and can help your reader understand the logic of your
paper.
Addition – to add an idea
•  additionally, and, also, apart from this, as well (as), in
•  addition, moreover, further, furthermore, too..
For comparison – to show how things are similar
•  correspondingly, equally, for the same reason, in a
•  similar manner, in comparison, in the same way, on
•  the one hand, similarly, too..
Condition – to provide a condition
•  if, in that case, provided that, unless..
Linking words -­‐ transi?ons For emphasis – to put forward an idea more forcefully
•  again, in fact, interestingly, indeed, it should be noted
•  (that), more importantly, most importantly, to repeat,
•  (un)fortunately, unquestionably For illustration – to provide examples
•  a further instance of this is..., an example of this is…,
•  for example, for instance, such as, thus, as follows
For contrast – to show how things are different
•  alternatively, although, but, conversely, despite, even
•  so, even though, however, in contrast, in spite of,
•  instead, on the contrary… Longer essays Longer essays, i.e. BA or MA, are set up similar to shorter ones.
.
Usually these projects require students conduct an independent
study to answer their thesis statement.
A theoretical chapter introduces general knowledge about the
topic and previous research relevant to the thesis. .
The same rules apply though! -Stay focused and on topic
-Do not jump from one thing to another
-Answering a thesis statement and arguing a case
-Disregard anything that does not concern the thesis statement -Logically arrange chapters and paragraphs
-Connecting all the elements so the essay forms a whole Thank you!