An essay is a piece of writing which represents the ideas, emotions, or
arguments of the author. It’s
not enough to just write a good essay. One of the most important skills to
develop is writing a good essay efficiently. And the foundation of
that skill is knowing how to structure an essay. With a template for the basic
essay structure in hand, you can focus on what really matters when you’re
writing essays: your arguments and the evidence you’re using to support them.
Take a look at the basic essay structure below and see how the parts of an
essay work together to present a coherent, well-reasoned position, no matter
what topic you’re writing about.
Types
of Essay
Definition
Essay
As the name
suggests, a definition type of essay defines different things, ideas, and
perceptions.
Narrative Essay
A narrative essay
is a narration like a short story. It is, however, different from a short
story in that it is written in an essay format.
Descriptive
Essay
A descriptive
essay describes something to make readers feel, smell, see, taste, or hear
what is described.
Expository
Essay
An expository
essay exposes things in detail to make readers understand without any
complications.
Persuasive
Essay
A persuasive
essay is meant to convince the target audience to do something
or not do something.
Argumentative
Essay
An argumentative
essay is meant to present arguments in the favor of something. It has an
additional fourth body paragraph that is meant to present opposite
arguments.
Analytical
Essay
An analytical
essay analyzes something, such as in literature an analytical essay
analyzes a piece of literature from different angles.
Comparison and Contrast Essay
A comparison and
contrast essay makes either a comparison, a contrast, or both between two
different or similar things.
Cause
and Effect Essay
A cause-and-effect
essay makes readers understand the cause of things and their effects on
other things.
Critical
Essay
A critical
essay is written on literary pieces to evaluate them on the basis of their
merits or demerits.
Process
Essay
A process
essay outlines a process of making or breaking or doing something that
readers understand fully and are able to do it after reading it.
Synthesis
Essay
A synthesis essay
means to synthesize different ideas to make a judgment about their merit and
demerits.
Explicatory
Essay
An explicatory
essay is meant to explain a piece of literature. It is often written
about poems, short stories, and novels.
Rhetorical
Analysis Essay
A rhetorical
analysis essay evaluates a speech or a piece of rhetoric on the basis
of rhetorical strategies and devices used in it.
Review
Essay
A review essay
discusses the merits and demerits of a book and evaluates it through a review.
Simple
Essay
A simple essay is
just a four or five-paragraph essay that is written on any topic after it is specified.
Research
Essay
A research essay
revolves around a research question that is meant to answer some specific
question through research of the relevant literature.
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The essay writing process consists of
three main stages:
Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your
research, and create an essay outline.
Writing: Set out your argument in the
introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a
conclusion.
Revision: Check the content, organization,
grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.
Basic essay structure: the 3 main parts of
an essay
Almost
every single essay that’s ever been written follows the same basic
structure:
Introduction
Body
paragraphs
Conclusion
This
structure has stood the test of time for one simple reason: It works. It
clearly presents the writer’s position, supports that position with relevant
examples, and neatly ties their supporting arguments together in a way that
makes their position evident.
There are many different types of essays you might be asked to write and
it is extremely important that you choose the right style to suit the subject
that you are writing about. Are you presenting an overview or telling a story
about the topic (narrative), giving your opinion about a subject, or are you
providing an analysis (expository)? Do you have to convince the reader to adopt
a certain point of view or to take a particular action (persuasive)? Are you
writing an essay about a book you read (literary)? Determining the type of
essay is the first step to writing a targeted essay.
Create an Essay Outline
An essay
outline is your road map. It will guide you through to the finished product.
When you create an outline, you organize your thoughts about your topic. First,
write your topic at the top of the page. Then list all the points or arguments
you want to make about the essay topic. Finally, list the facts, examples, and
statistics that support those points or arguments.
Develop
a Thesis Statement
Your
thesis should inform the reader what point you will be making or what question
you will be answering about the topic. In other words, it is a prelude to your
conclusion. A thesis statement should be as specific as possible and address
one main idea. Strong theses also take a stand or illustrate the controversial
nature of a topic.
Introduce
Your Topic
The first
paragraph of your essay will introduce your topic and provide direction for the
entire essay. The introduction should discuss your main idea, or what the essay
is about, then state your thesis and points or arguments that support your
thesis.
The introduction also sets the tone for your essay, and you want to grab the
reader’s attention with interest and clarity. To capture the reader’s
attention, you can make a challenging claim about the topic or present some
surprising (but factual) information.
Write
the Body of the Essay
The body
of the essay provides details for the points in your introductory paragraph
that support your thesis. Take the points you listed in your introduction and
discuss each in one body paragraph. First, write a topic sentence that
summarizes your point then explain why you feel the topic sentence is true.
Finally, support your argument with evidence such as facts, quotes, examples,
and statistics.
Present
Your Conclusion
The
conclusion summarizes the essay and gives the reader closure. In three or four
concise sentences, you should reiterate your thesis and review the main points
of the body of the essay. Just be sure not to restate your previous words
exactly. You can even briefly describe your opinion of the topic. Your final
sentence should uphold your main idea in a clear and compelling manner.
Just
remember to tackle each step one at a time. Some people do better when they
work backward from the conclusion. Write a rough draft of your essay first –
don’t try to get it perfect the first time through. After you finish your rough
draft, proofread it thoroughly and revise until you have a strong, informative
essay.
I hope that you found this article helpful.
Good luck and good teaching/learning.
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