ESSAY WRITING

Important points to remember when writing a good essay

An essay consists of paragraphs The essays you write in this course will generally consist of five paragraphs

The first paragraph is called an introduction

It must be interesting, explain the background and contain a thesis statement

The most important sentence in the introduction is the thesis statement It provides the purpose of your essay and outlines an essay map

The middle paragraphs are referred to as the body A body paragraph is a group of sentences about one topic

The most important sentence in a body paragraph is the topic sentence

This sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about. The topic sentence should state the focus and topic of the paragraph

You always need to support your topic sentences with supporting sentences These sentences support the topic sentence by providing reasons, details and examples

Supporting sentences in body paragraphs are usually followed by a concluding sentence The concluding sentence summarises the ideas in that paragraph

In addition to a clear topic sentence and adequate support, a good body paragraph must also have a single focus and logical order A paragraph has a single focus if all supporting details and the concluding sentence relate to the topic sentence

The last paragraph is called the conclusion

The conclusion summarises the essay and restates the thesis statement

Copyright 2009 Jayho