ESSAY WRITING

Before starting your essay, write a summary outlining your ideas and reasons. This will
encourage you to think about what you want to prove. Be specific and clear. The summary will
also help to keep you on track.

Your introduction

Your introduction should not only set the scene and arouse interest in the
topic, but must clearly outline your attitude or “main contention” and
supporting reasons in order of priority. Where necessary, you should
also define any key terms and frame your response around these so
that you keep on track.

The main contention is a concise statement summing up your

point of view on an issue. Take a stance — it is no use
“sitting on the fence”. What is your view on the topic? For
example, schools should drug test students. The Government should increase taxes on junk food
to subsidize fresh fruit and vegetables. Be confident and state your opinion clearly and
assertively. It is important to pursue your views in a way that allows you to sound mature,
intelligent and sensitive. Your thesis statement should be clearly stated in the last sentence of
your introduction.

Your body paragraphs and topic sentences

The body paragraphs should outline your most important reasons in order of priority. Each body
paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that unifies the paragraph. There should be one
main idea in each paragraph.
Topic sentences are statements that become the backbone of your essay and show how you
intend to develop your ideas. They answer the question, “What do I want to say regarding the
topic?” You will be expected to follow the TEEL structure in school. TEEL is an acronym
relating to the logical sequence of your paragraph according to the following rules: Topic
Sentence, Evidence, Explanation, Link.

The topic sentence:

 shows the focus of each paragraph;

 shows how you are interpreting the evidence;
 develops your argument;
 controls the paragraph; and
 gives it unity and order.

You will need to outline your Evidence and Explain and interpret your evidence. What does it
say about the topic? How does the evidence support my contention? Make your points and Link
them back to your topic sentence. In a well-written body paragraph, you must ensure that:

 the sentences develop and expand on the topic sentence;

 there is a logical step-by-step progression of ideas; and
 there are no irrelevant or unnecessarily repetitive sentences.

Your conclusion
The concluding paragraph sums up your argument. It should tie together the ideas that were
introduced in your introduction and developed in your body paragraphs. It must show how these
ideas (causes/reasons/factors) relate to each other and contribute to and reinforce your point of
view. If there are two or more parts to the question, be sure to include responses to each part in
your conclusion. This gives your essay unity and coherence.

TEEL
The TEEL paragraph structure can be used as a tool to help you write clear and
concise paragraphs and essay responses. Over the next few lessons, we will be
looking at the developing our use of this tool in order to write effective paragraphs
and essays. This will lead into our work on persuasive writing and assist without
preparation for the NAPLAN test.

You may be wondering what TEEL stands for? If so, fantastic! If not, I’ll tell you about
it anyway (I wouldn’t want you to be making incorrect guesses about paragraph
structures)!

T: TOPIC SENTENCE – Introduces what you are going to be talking about in your
paragraph – In other words, it should communicate to the reader your contention (the
main point/view of this piece of writing).

E: EXPAND/EXPLAIN – Gives more details about your topic sentence.

E: EVIDENCE/EXAMPLES – Provides support with material from references. It can

include events, quotes, facts etc.

L: LINK – Links the information back to your topic sentence. It is a summary of what
you have been writing about.