GUIDE TO WRITING AN ESSAY

An essay normally has three parts:

1. An introductory paragraph
2. A body (at least one, but usually two or more paragraphs)
3. A concluding paragraph

THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

All writers will agree that the most difficult part of writing is getting started. Getting
started can prove easy if you remember the purposes of an introduction:

It introduces the topic of the essay

It gives the general background of the topic
It often indicates the overall “plan” of the essay
It should arouse the reader’s interest in the topic

The introduction has two parts:

A general statement, which introduces the topic of the essay and gives general
background information on the topic

and

A thesis statement, which states the main focus of the essay, may indicate the
method of organisation of the entire essay and is usually the last sentence in the
introductory paragraph

THE BODY OF THE ESSAY

An essay is longer and more complex than a paragraph, so it is very important to

organise your thoughts and to plan your paragraphs accordingly.

Each paragraph develops a subdivision of your topic. It starts with an introductory or

topic sentence, is followed by two or more supporting points and ends with a
concluding sentence.

Make sure that there are logical transitions between paragraphs and that the
beginning of each paragraph somehow connects and is a logical continuation of the
previous paragraph.

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 THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH

The final paragraph in an essay is the conclusion, which tells the reader that you
have completed the essay. The concluding paragraph usually consists of:

A summary of the main points, or a restatement of your thesis in different words

and

Your final comment on the subject, based in the information you have provided.

It is always useful to introduce the conclusion with a conclusion transition signal such
as ‘To conclude’ or ‘In conclusion’.

Remember to NEVER introduce new points in your concluding paragraph; this is

meant to include a summary of arguments you have already presented, NOT present
new ones.

In sum, the skeleton of an essay could look like this:

ESSAY
I. INTRODUCTION

General Statement
Thesis statement

II. BODY

A. Topic sentence
1. Support
2. Support
3. Support
(Concluding sentence)

B. Topic sentence
1. Support
2. Support
3. Support
(Concluding sentence)

C. Topic sentence
1. Support
2. Support
3. Support
(Concluding sentence)

III. CONLUSION

Restatement or summary of the main points

Final comment

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 PATTERNS OF ESSAY ORGANISATION

Chronological Order

This is order by time and is used in almost all academic disciplines. Some of its uses
are:

To explain processes, e.g. how to plan a community meeting, how to perform a

Physics experiment
To describe events over a period of time (e.g. in biography, autobiography,
history, narrative writing)

Logical Division of Ideas

This is a form of essay organisation that is used to group related items according to
qualities they have in common.

Logical division can prove useful in planning an academic paper because it can help
you divide a broad subject into several categories or groups and in that way focus the
topics for discussion.

Cause and Effect Order

In a cause and effect essay, you discuss the reasons or causes for something; then
you discuss the results.

There are two ways of organising a cause and effect essay: “block” organisation and
“chain” organisation.

“Block” organisation
Discuss all the causes as a block (in one, two or more paragraphs, depending on the
number of causes). Then discuss all of the effects as a block.

“Chain” organisation
Discuss a first cause and its effect, a second cause and its effect, a third cause and
its effect, and so on. Usually, each new cause is the result of the preceding effect.
The discussion of each new cause and its effect begins with a new paragraph.

Comparison and Contrast Order

This is a very common and useful method of essay organisation. In comparing and
contrasting two things (e.g. processes, apparatuses, time periods, e.t.c.), you can try
two methods:

Discuss all the similarities in a block (in one, two or more paragraphs) and then
all the differences as another block. Make sure that the balance between
similarities and differences is good.

Decide on which areas/aspects you are going to focus. Then discuss one
similarity followed by one difference in the same area as one block, then a
second similarity followed by a second difference for a second area, and continue
in this way.

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The key to writing successful comparison and contrast essays is the appropriate use
of comparison and contrast words, such as the following:

COMPARISON STRUCTURE WORDS

SENTENCE CONNECTORS CLAUSE CONNECTORS OTHERS

Similarly and like (+ noun)

Likewise both… and just like (+ noun)
Also not only… but also similar to (+ noun)
too neither … nor (be) the same as
(be) similar to
(be) alike
to compare to/with

CONTRAST STRUCTURE WORDS

SENTENCE CONNECTORS CLAUSE CONNECTORS OTHERS

However while differ from

In contrast whereas compared to/with
In/by comparison but (be) different (from)
On the other hand (be) dissimilar to
On the contrary (be) unlike

Good luck with your essay!

The Writing Centre, London Metropolitan University 4

www.londonmet.ac.uk/writingcentre