How is essay structure

In high school, you were probably taught to write five-paragraph essays. This is a solid essay structure to work with, but in college, you generally have more flexibility with assignment lengths and formats.

Now, consider five the minimum—not the standard—number of paragraphs you should include in your essays. There are a few different ways to present information in an essay.

Often, your assignment will tell you what kind of essay to write, such as a chronological, compare and contrast, or problems-methods-solution essay. A chronological essay guides the reader through a series of events. With this kind of essay, you first introduce your topic and summarize the series of events in your introduction paragraph. Then, each body paragraph takes the reader through a key stage in that series, which might be a decisive battle in history, a pivotal scene in a novel, or a critical stage in a judicial process.

In your conclusion, you present the end result of the series you discussed, underscoring your thesis with this result. There are a few different ways to structure a compare-and-contrast essay. Another method is to only compare, where each of your body paragraphs discusses a similarity between the topics at hand.

Or you can go the only-contrast route, where your body paragraphs explore the differences. There are some exceptions. For example, if an assignment brief specifically directs the essay focus or requires you to write broadly about a topic. These are relatively rare or are discipline-specific so you should check your task instructions and discipline and subject area conventions.

Below are examples of an opening statement, a summary of the selected content, and a statement at the end of the introduction which tells the reader what the essay will focus on and how it will be addressed. We've use a fictional essay. People have shared their lives with cats and dogs for millenia.

Here is a summary of five specific topics selected for the essay, which would be covered in a little more detail in the introduction:. The body of the essay should be organised into paragraphs. Each paragraph should deal with a different aspect of the issue, but they should also link in some way to those that precede and follow it. This is not an easy thing to get right, even for experienced writers, partly because there are many ways to successfully structure and use paragraphs.

There is no perfect paragraph template. The first sentence, or sometimes two, tells the reader what the paragraph is going to cover. It may either:.

Here is a brief example of flow between two summarised paragraphs which cover the historical perspective:. It is known from hieroglyphs that the Ancient Egyptians believed that cats were sacred. They were also held in high regard, as suggested by their being found mummified and entombed with their owners Smith, In addition, cats are portrayed aiding hunters.

Therefore, they were both treated as sacred, and were used as intelligent working companions. However, today they are almost entirely owned as pets. In contrast, dogs have not been regarded as sacred, but they have for centuries been widely used for hunting in Europe. This developed over time and eventually they became domesticated and accepted as pets.

Today, they are seen as loyal, loving and protective members of the family, and are widely used as working dogs. The conclusion should usually occupy just one paragraph. It draws together all the key elements of your essay, so you do not need to repeat the fine detail unless you are highlighting something.

However, they are very different animals and each is 'better' than the other regarding care needs and natural traits. Dogs need regular training and exercise but many owners do not train or exercise them enough, resulting in bad behaviour. They also need to be 'boarded' if the owner is away and to have frequent baths to prevent bad odours.

In contrast, cats do not need this level of effort and care. Dogs are seen as more intelligent, loyal and attuned to human beings, whereas cats are perceived as aloof and solitary, and as only seeking affection when they want to be fed. However, recent studies have shown that cats are affectionate and loyal and more intelligent than dogs, but it is less obvious and useful. There are, for example, no 'police' or 'assistance' cats, in part because they do not have the kinds of natural instincts which make dogs easy to train.

Therefore, which animal is better depends upon personal preference and whether they are required to work. Therefore, although dogs are better as working animals, cats are easier, better pets. Ready to start exploring courses at Portsmouth? Find the degree that will set you on your dream career path today. Study skills help is just one of the types of support our students get when they study with us.

Find out what other things you can get help with as a Portsmouth student. This site uses cookies. Your first draft will not be your final essay; think of it as raw material you will refine through editing and redrafting.

Once you have a draft, you can work on writing well. Structure your essay in the most effective way to communicate your ideas and answer the question. A paragraph is a related group of sentences that develops one main idea. Each paragraph in the body of the essay should contain:.

See The Learning Centre guide Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting. Write Your Essay. Write a first draft Your first draft will help you work out: the structure and framework of your essay how you will answer the question which evidence and examples you will use how your argument will be logically structured. Structure Structure your essay in the most effective way to communicate your ideas and answer the question.