WRITING AN ESSAY

Let’s review the organization of a typical essay.

SOURCE: Chapter 1: Folse, K. & Pugh, T. 2010. GREATER ESSAYS. 3rd. Heinle Cengage Learning.

Example of the Five Paragraph Essay

Imagine you are writing an essay about how it is important for children to read books at an early age. Your goal
here would be to provide strong evidence about the importance for children to read books.
Introduction: In the intro, you would state the topic, your argument, and your three supporting ideas. It would
read something like this:
As society increasingly encourages children to view television shows and play on tablets, it is important that they
still maintain the age-old practice of learning to read books. While not all children will learn to read at the same
pace or even enjoy reading at the same level, it’s important to encourage reading frequent and often. In this
essay, I will show how reading teaches children to be more inquisitive; how it helps them develop other skills like
math and memorization; and how it helps them to be more social as they grow older.
Body Paragraph #1: This paragraph then explains how reading teaches children to be inquisitive, citing sources
and evidence that this is the case.
Body Paragraph #2: This paragraph then moves into the second supporting argument named in the intro, using
evidence to suggest how reading at a young age helps children to be more inquisitive.
Body Paragraph #3: This paragraph then moves in the final supporting argument named in the intro, providing
evidence and sources about how reading at a young age helps children to learn other skills.
Conclusion: The conclusion pulls all three arguments together, equally supporting your overarching thesis that
children need to be taught to read at a young age.
1. Ask a question.
2. Use an interesting observation.
3. Use a unique scenario to catch the reader’s attention.
4. Begin with a famous quote.
5. Use a surprising or shocking statistic.
For examples of OUTLINES, see PDF pp. 50-51

Some body paragraphs have a CONCLUDING SENTENCE about the ideas developed in that
paragraph. Even if it’s not at the end of the piece, a conclusive sentence can refer to the last line of its own
paragraph, which concludes a particular idea or train of thought before moving on to start a new line for the
next paragraph. At the end of each paragraph, briefly summarize the information you mentioned before
moving on to the next section. e.g.

As well as harmony between parent and child, music represents the lasting bond between romantic
couples. Shakespeare illustrates this tunefulness in the relationship between Viola and Orsino. Viola's name
evokes a musical instrument that fits between violin and cello when it comes to the depth of tone. Orsino
always wants to hear sad songs until he meets Viola, whose wit forces him to be less gloomy. The viola's
supporting role in an orchestra, and Orsino's need for Viola to break out of his depression, foreshadow the
benefits of the forthcoming marriage between the two. The viola is necessary in both lamenting and
celebratory music. Shakespeare uses the language of orchestral string music to illustrate how the bonds of
good marriages often depend on mediating between things.
 Each paragraph should finish with a concluding sentence to the ideas developed in the paragraph, not
your opinion.
 The thesis statement needs to name and specify everything. The idea is that if it is taken out of the intro,
readers should know exactly what that thesis statement is for.
 All the references should be cited in the text for them to be included in the References.
 Use “Insertar. Salto de Página” so that this list stays on the correct page.
 The list “References” should be in bold.
 More specific info about power posing at school should be mentioned here, more specifically, by citing
the BBC video about the experiment at school.
 Don’t mention new info in the conclusion.
 If you use somebody ese’s words in the title of your essay, you need to put an asterisk there and say
below who those words are, i.e. cite her.
 No contractions are used in formal writing.
 Remember that just one sentence cannot be a whole paragraph.
 References should use hanging indentation (sangria francesa).
 Use indentation on the first line of each paragraph at 1.27 cm from the left margin (it is usually set like
that).