Essay

Writing Essays

by Eleanor Wakefield

There are several vital elements to any successful college essay. This handout

will define those elements and show you how to put them together using an

outline. Following this format will help you keep your thoughts organized and

get your essay underway.

Elements of an Essay

Introduction: Usually an introduction starts broad and narrows down to your

specific topic, ending in the thesis. This is your opportunity to establish why

readers might be curious about your general topic, catch their attention, or put

your essay in context.

Thesis: Your introduction should end with a clear, specific thesis statement,

which will tell readers exactly what your paper will be arguing. Each body

paragraph will directly and obviously support your thesis.

Body Paragraphs: An essay usually has at least three body paragraphs, and

these will be the arguments, evidence, or topics that support your thesis.

Topic Sentences: Each body paragraph will begin with a topic sentence which

introduces its topic. All of the information in that paragraph will be clearly and

logically related to that topic sentence, which in turn should obviously relate to

the thesis.

Support: You use arguments, data, facts, analysis, quotes, anecdotes, examples,

details, etc. to support your topic sentences and flesh out your body

paragraphs. A good rule of thumb is to have at least three points to support

each topic sentence.

Transitions: An effective essay will show the connection between paragraphs

with transitions. These can be the final sentence of each body paragraph or can

be integrated into the next topic sentence with transition words.

Conclusion: A conclusion should wrap up your essay, but should not introduce

new information or arguments. It should begin with a sentence that looks a lot

like your thesis to summarize the general points of the paper as a whole, and

then draw your paper neatly to a close.

ESSAY OUTLINE

I. Introduction:...