Essay Structure

Structure of an Essay: Introduction, Body paragraphs, Conclusion

The creation of a professional essay requires a lot of knowledge form the writer, but the first thing to know and to remember is the peculiarity of the essay’s structure. Each and every essay is written according to a basic structure that does not change: introduction and  the body followed by a conclusion. The structure is the core of each paper that helps the writer to make a very well founded written construct. In order to compose an essay accurately the way it should be it is necessary to keep in mind the main hints concerning the contents of the essay structure elements.

Basic essay structure

1. Introduction
   • Introduction of any essay should be no longer than 1/10 of its length. If the essay itself must be of a significant size the introduction may have several paragraphs; in the rest of the cases it consists of one solid paragraph.
   • The contents of an always introduction has a deductive nature, as it leads the reader from the general views or positions on the analyzed topics to the specific narrow theme of the essay.
   • Opening sentences introducing to the topic of the essay
   • Background information on it (gradually leading to the analyzed aspect of the theme).
   • Literature techniques to grab the reader’s attention.
   • A strong Thesis statement defining and stating the point the author is making in the essay, the paper’s main argument.

    A good introduction requires several elements:

2. Body paragraphs
   1. Body paragraph 1
   2. Body paragraph 2
   3. Body paragraph 3, etc.
   • The body of a basic essay may have as many body paragraphs as it is necessary to prove the author’s argument of the thesis statement.
   • It is vital to keep in mind that each paragraph is supposed to have one main argument to analyze and has to reveal it in one solid thought in a sentence called the topic sentence. Therefore the amount of the body paragraphs equals the amount of topic sentences.
   • Each body paragraph must be connected to following one with a logical link.
3. Conclusion

• It is usually written in one solid paragraph.
• The conclusion always deals with summing up the essays arguments revealed in the topic sentences and the therefore present substantial evidence to prove the thesis statement.
• It is also important to mention the importance of the general conclusion of the essay.

It goes without saying that different types of essay may require certain deflections from the basic essay structure. It order to get acquainted with them proceed to Types of essays: