This template provides a starting point for a five-paragraph essay


Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows. It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.


In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

Essay Outline Template - Google Docs

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what comes later in the text, it is generally written in the . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

That said, we’ve found that there are two basic structural approaches to writing college essays that can work for every single prompt we’ve seen. (Except for lists. Because … they’re lists.)

Below we’ll cover those two essay structures we love, but you’ll see how flexible these are—they can lead to vastly different essays. You can also check out a few to get a sense of structure and format (though we’d recommend doing some to think of possible topics before you look at too many samples, since they can poison the well for some people).

(And to clarify: When we say, “topic,” we mean the theme or focus of your essay that you use to show who you are and what you value. The “topic” of your college essay is always ultimately you.)


[PDF] A TEMPLATE FOR WRITING AN ESSAY | Concordia University

We think there are two basic structural approaches that can work for any college essay. Not that these are the only two options—rather, that these can work for any and every prompt you’ll have to write for.

4 Essay Outline Templates That Will Simplify Your Writing Process

Narrative Structure is classic storytelling structure. You’ve seen this thousands of times—assuming you read, and watch movies and TV, and tell stories with friends and family. If you don’t do any of these things, this might be new. Otherwise, you already know this. You may just not know you know it. Narrative revolves around a character or characters (for a college essay, that’s you) working to overcome certain challenges, learning and growing, and gaining insight. For a college essay using Narrative Structure, you’ll focus the word count roughly equally on a) Challenges You Faced, b) What You Did About Them, and c) What You Learned (caveat that those sections can be somewhat interwoven, especially b and c). Paragraphs and events are connected causally.

[PDF] Academic essay writing template & Constructing paragraphs

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

Free printable, editable essay cover page templates - Canva

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

How to write an outline template for your essay | Adobe Acrobat

An isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your ) that every part of the essay relates to.

What makes a good essay outline template

The way you is crucial to presenting your coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.