Enter the 6-digit code we sent to
Writing an outline is invaluable to help organize your thoughts and the structure of your essay informally, in order to check strengths and relevance of arguments, consistency with thesis, and flow. Your outline doesn’t have to be fully written out, as if you are handing it in to be marked, scribble it on a napkin, carve it into your desk, whatever helps you to outline your arguments and explain the flow to yourself. It will help you to pick up contradictions and weaknesses in your arguments before you start writing and it keeps you from going off-track. This is also a good stage to check with your professor or TA. You can meet with them in person or e-mail them your outline and thesis to get feedback. Check out this from the Writing Centre.
Essay Structure: Introduction
The main point of an introduction is to capture the attention of the reader and draw them in. This is why your first sentences should be well thought-out to engage and interest the reader. Always think of an introduction as an upside down triangle. It should start broad and become more narrow and specific. There are different things to include in your introduction, depending on the size of your paper. Since many students are confused about what an introduction should include, here is a general guideline to get you started. Also accept that if you write your introduction first, you will probably have to re-write it or at least tweak it depending on how the rest of your paper turns out.
Lastly, add an introduction and conclusion paragraph. These come last because they refer to your body paragraphs. Your introduction and conclusion paragraphs will be structured opposite to each other. The introduction paragraph starts out broad and becomes specific. Start with a general statement about the broad importance of your topic: "Global warming has been a topic of intense debate over the past decade." Then restate the topics of each of your body paragraphs--this should be similar to the intro sentences of your body paragraphs, so something like "Some scientists believe sea level rise could devastate coastal cities." The last sentence of your intro is your thesis statement.
Make the best use of your time when selecting resources:
Do the opposite for your conclusion: Start by restating your thesis in different words. Then add in summaries of your body paragraphs again, but this time, make them more like your body paragraph conclusion sentences: Connect each point you made in your essay back out to the broader context of your thesis. Finally, finish with another broad statement about the importance of your topic as a whole: "Humanity's incredible advancements in science and technology will be pointless if we cannot avert the disaster of global warming."
Now you need to go back and link together the quotes you put into each body paragraph to turn them into prose. Rephrase them into your own words by reading them, then putting them away and re-writing them without looking. Or keep them as cited quotes in your paper ('Janet Jones said in Global Warming and Our Oceans, "..." (p. 58)'). If two adjacent sentences are on different topics, add a transition sentence to bridge them. Add your own opinions and comments on how different sources relate to each other. For a bare minimum, you will likely only need to add two or three sentences to flesh out each paragraph.
There are important stylistic guidelines you should follow in the body of your paragraph. For example, you should try and use the same terminology as you find in the literature in order to sound more professional and scholarly. You should also ensure that there is transition and flow between each paragraph and between each argument. Try to explain specifically and clearly how each argument relates to your thesis to make sure your essay sounds more cohesive. Also remember that paragraphs are limited to one idea and should also make a clear point that connects to your argument and thesis. Here is a very useful on paragraphs and transition.
That wraps up a complete first draft. The next step is to get feedback from a peer you trust, professor, or tutor to start refining it into a polished essay.
Follow these 7 steps for the best results:
Be prepared to go back and research further while you are writing, in order to fill gaps in your arguments. This arises with the question “but why” with the development of your arguments. You also might need to find more supporting evidence to present a more convincing claim.
And this should be the general structure of your paper:
An addendum on your question about grammar: The importance of grammar to your essay will depend heavily on your audience. If you are writing for yourself, it only depends on your own standards. If you're writing for an outside audience, your grammar at least needs to not interfere so much with your writing that your audience can't understand the content. If you're writing for a professor, their requirements could differ very widely--I've known professors who couldn't care less about grammar as long as they can figure out what you're saying, or who can appreciate the artistic merit of someone's "written accent" if it's present in their essay, and professors who will knock you down to an instant zero for having basic comma errors that even good writers make. Ask your professor or refer to a syllabus or rubric to figure out where your professor falls.
Look at the following essay question:
First, if English is not your mother tongue, you might find it easier to write the essay first in your mother tongue, and then translate it. That is the stage when you can take care of grammar etc. Maybe consider getting a friend to help you. Get your thoughts in order first, and deal with the language second.
Here are some resources for APA style citation from the and .
Reading good journal articles will help you write better by observing how academics develop their arguments. Ask your professor or TA to suggest a couple of well-written articles that you can learn from.
Consider these two argument statements:
For each body paragraph, take your summary sentence and twist it a little. Instead of summarizing the evidence in that paragraph, tell the reader why it matters--the big picture. For the sea level rise paragraph, you could say something like "The potential impact of sea level rise on coastal cities shows why it is so important for humans to take swift action to reverse climate change." It mentions the topic of the paragraph--sea level rise--and links it to a broader point--the need to reverse climate change. This sentence should tie the body paragraph to your thesis statement. This will be your conclusion sentence for that paragraph.