General guidelines and advice for essay writing

Introduction and first section

• First of all, make sure to begin with an introduction that includes: your selected topic, a
brief description of the problem, gap of information, or idea that you want to discuss, a
summary of your main argument and how you will defend it, and the conclusions you will
reach.
• You can start your first section by motivating your selected topic or by providing more
information regarding both the topic and the problem you identified.
• Do not use ‘introduction’ to mark the section.
Following descriptive sections

• You can choose how many sections and how to separate them but be sure to connect each
part of the essay by using short introductions to each that explain the role that this
paragraph or part is playing on the overall essay.
• Both in the introduction and the next few introductory sections you should be providing
definitions of the most relevant concepts and ideas you will be addressing.
Critical analysis

• The main component of the essay is where you present your own views, so think of this
section as what you have been preparing the reader for in the previous sections.
• It is not sufficient here to just state your views, each idea must be well elaborated to
constitute an argument.
• You can use examples to make your point but always make sure to refer to the concepts
you have been using.
• Secondary readings will be useful here to help you develop your own ideas, but always
make sure that you describe very clearly which are your views and which are those that you
take from other authors.
Conclusions

• This section is just like the introduction in the sense that it presents a summary of the
content of the essay.
• You should not include any new ideas but describe what you have presented along the
text.
Bibliography

• You must reference every idea from other authors that you use, both in text and at the
end in the bibliography.
• Be sure to follow a proper style for referencing and be consistent with it throughout the
essay.