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Overview of an Essay

Introduction
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General statements and information about the topic Thesis statement- lists the main ideas in the essay Body Paragraphs
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Support the main ideas of the thesis statement Begin with topic sentences Conclusion Brief summary of main points of the essay
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INTRODUCTION: An essay is a piece of writing several paragraphs long instead of just one or two paragraphs. It is written about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay is too long and too complex to discuss in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic into several paragraphs together by adding an introduction and a conclusion. Writing an essay is no more difficult than writing a paragraph except that an essay is longer. The principles of organization are the same for both, so if you can write a good paragraph, you can write a good essay. What is an Essay? Essay is simply a special kind of prose writing, which talks about certain thesis or idea. The subject of the essay may be about any thing and often the essay may try to make us accept a certain idea. The essayist writes for a general audience. Main Parts of an Essay: An essay has three main parts: 1. An introductory paragraph. 2. A body paragraph (at least one, but usually two or more paragraphs). 3. A concluding paragraph. (Conclusion) Introduction: In paragraph attracts the readers attention and inform the reader what your main topic of discussion will be. The purpose of Introductory Paragraph: The purpose of an introductory paragraph is to get the readers attention and to let the reader know what will be covered in the essay. Very often, it sets the tone for the entire essay. While reading your introduction, your audience might think, This paper really sounds good, or I cant figure out what this person is talking about. The first response is what you want from your reader. The introduction gives you a chance to hook your audience right away.

All writers (even professionals) complain that the most difficult part of writing is getting started. How many times have you wasted valuable minutes during an essay examination trying to think of your first sentence? Getting started, or writing an introduction (Note: A writer doesn't always have to write the introduction first; it can be written even after the other paragraphs have been completed). It can easy if you remember that an introduction has four main purposes: 1. It introduces the topic of the essay. 2. It gives a general background of the topic. 3. It often indicates the overall "plan" of the topic. 4. It should arouse the reader's interest in the topic. The introduction opens an essay. Usually it is one paragraph, but it can be two or more. The primary purpose of the introduction is to engage the readers interest. If the opening fails to stimulate your readers interest, that person may decide not to read on. To stimulate your reader's interest, these strategies are possible: 1. Open with some description to create a picture in your readers mind. 2. Tell a brief story to speak your readers interest. 3. Establish common ground with your reader to make that person feel that you share some interests or are on the same side. Guidelines for Introductory Paragraph: It must be relevant to the topic; that is, it should not introduce materials not covered in the essay. It should not preview the points that will form the body of the essay. There should be at least two sentences before the thesis statement. In other words, the introductory paragraph should be a minimum of three sentences. The thesis statement should come at the end of the introductory paragraph.

Parts of an Introductory Paragraph: Hook Transition Thesis sentence Developing Introductory Paragraph: Writing an introductory paragraph can be simplified if you follow a step by step process, Compose the thesis sentence. Decide on the type of hook that is most effective. Write the hook. Write the transition. Draft these three parts into an introductory paragraph. Developing the Hook: After you have composed your thesis sentence, you need to write a strong hook. Even though the hook is usually the second part you write, it comes first in actual introductory paragraph; consequently, it should be strong and should make the reader keep on reading. There are several ways to get readers attention, and your job is to be creative in finding the best way for each specific essay that you write. An effective introduction may contain one or more of the following hooks: Types of Hooks: 1. Personal examples 2. Quotations 3. Facts or Statistics 4. Rhetorical questions 5. Currant events 6. Contrast to the thesis sentence To sum up, an introductory paragraph is like a funnel; very wide at the top, increasingly narrow in the middle, and very small at the neck or bottom.

Thesis statement: is the most important sentence in the introduction. It states the specific topic and lists the major subtopics that will be discussed in the body of the essay. Furthermore, it often indicates the method of organization such as chronological order or order of importance: Thesis statement is the most important sentence in the introduction. It states the specific topic and lists the major subtopics that will be discussed in the body of the essay. Furthermore, it often indicates the method of organization such as chronological order or order of importance: The thesis statement: 1. States the main topic. 2. Lists the subdivisions of the topic. 3. May indicates the method of organization of the entire paper. 4. Is usually the last sentence in the introductory paragraph. A strong thesis has two parts: 1. One part notes the topic under consideration. 2. The other part notes the authors view of that topic. These two parts are pointed out in the following sample thesis statement. Examples: A two part Thesis: Thesis: Some modern conveniences cause more problems than they solve. Topic: Some modern conveniences View: They case problem Sometimes a thesis has three parts: 1. The topic 2. The writers view 3. An indication of the main points the essay will cover

A three part Thesis: Thesis: Used cars are a good buy because they are cheaper to purchase, cheaper to insure, and more profitable to resell. Topic: used cars View: They are a good buy Points to be covered: the cost purchase, the cost to insure, and the profit from resale. Why should your essay contain a thesis statement? To test your idea by distilling them into a sentence or two. To better organize and develop your arrangement. To provide your reader with a guide to your argument. In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the answer to the question your papers explore. A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes: Take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree. Deal with a subject that can adequately treated given the nature of the assignment. Express one main idea. Assert your conclusions about a subject. Example: (Personal Experience) On February 19,1982,life changed for an eighteen-year-old young man. He became very ill from a bacterial infection. His body could not fight the infection. Why? After a week of tests and examinations by several specialists, the diagnosis was made. He had leukemia, a cancer in the bone marrow. I am that young man. When a person finds out that he has cancer, just as I did, his whole world changes. A cancer patient is affected physically,psychologically, and socially by the impact of cancer. Could you tell me which kind of hook is that? (Personal Experience)

Example: (Rhetorical Questions) When people think ahead to the year 3000, many different questions come to mind. What new inventions will be in use in the common household? How much will the world of transportation be advanced? What type of weaponry will have been invented? In what type of environment will people be living? All of these questions indicate that in the year 3000 there will be major differences in science, in transportation, and in peoples life-styles. Could you tell me which kind of hook is that? (Rhetorical Questions) The Body Paragraph: The body of an essay discusses your subdivided topics, one by one. It contains as many paragraphs as necessary to explain the controlling ideas in the thesis statement. The body consists of one or more paragraphs. Each paragraph develops a subdivision of your topic, so the numbers of paragraphs of the body are like the main supporting points of a paragraph. Furthermore, just as you can organize the ideas in a paragraph by chronological order or by order of importance, you can organize the paragraphs in an essay in the same ways. The supporting details that provide the explanation of or the evidence for the thesis appears in paragraph after the introduction. These paragraphs are called body paragraphs. Typically, each body paragraph focuses on one point that develops or supports the thesis. Often that point is stated in a topic sentence that can appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the body paragraphs.

The Supporting Details: The Supporting Details are either the idea that explain the thesis or the evidence that it is true.

Kinds of Supporting Details: There are eight kinds of supporting details you can write to develop the thesis. 1. Descriptive: To describe something. 2. Narrative (storytelling): To narrate something. 3. Exemplification (give examples): To give examples. 4. Comparison / Contrast (showing similarities and differences): Comparison / Contrast between two students. 5. Case and Effect analysis: To show how difficult things can be. 6. Process analysis (explaining how something is made or done). 7. Classification (sorting by type): by grouping students in to several parts. 8. Definition: You can write a definition to your thesis. Ordering supporting Details: The supporting details in an essay be arranged in some logical order so the reader can easily follow the progression of thought .If the supporting details are not arranged logically, the reader may become confused .In general, supporting details can be arranged in any one or combination of the following ways: 1. Chronological order is time order: Supporting details are arranged in the order they occur or occurred .For chronological order, write out the event that happened first, then write out the event that happened second, and so on, until you get to the last event. Chronological order is often used in narration.

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Spatial order arranges things according to some pattern across space: near to far, top to bottom, front to back, left to right, in snide to outside, and so forth. Spatial order is a useful way to arrange supporting details that describe a place or scene.

3. Progressive order arrange details according to their order of importance, starting with the least important detail and moving to the must important, because progressive order place the must important details at the end of essay to provide a strong finish, it can be useful when your goal is to persuade your reader. Another form of progressive order involves your strongest point first and last, with everything else in between. This arrangement gives you the strongest opening and closing. The conclusion: After the body paragraph comes the conclusion, the ending of the essay. The conclusion is important because it forms the final impression and thus has a considerable influence on the reader's reaction to the essay. It must, therefore, be crafted carefully so the reader dose not feels let down at the end. The final paragraph is the conclusion, a very important part of the essay. In this paragraph you tell the reader that you have completed the essay. This is achieved by either writing a summary of the main points discussed in the body of the essay or by rewriting the thesis statement in different words. Then you add your final comments on the subject. Since this is your last opportunity to make your point, you should write a strong, effective message that the reader will remember.

The concluding paragraph consists of: 1. Summary of the main points, or a restatement of your thesis in different words, and 2. Your final comment on the subject, based on the information you have provided. Be sure to introduce the concluding paragraph with a transition signal. A number of approaches to conclude the essay: 1. State the overriding conclusion or idea that can be drawn from the supporting details. 2. Conclude by looking ahead especially about the future. 3. Call your reader to action (say so in conclusion to the reader to do something). 4. Restate the thesis. 5. Summarize your Main points 6. Offer a solution to a problem or answer to a question raised in the essay. 7. Combine approaches if doing so creates a satisfying ending.

The conclusion should not: 1. Repeat the thesis sentence exactly as it appeared in the introduction. 2. Repeat the thesis sentence and mechanically repeat the topic sentence. 3. Change the tone of the essay. 4. Introduce a new idea in the conclusion. The conclusion should: 1. Summarize main points made in the paper and creatively restate the ideas in the thesis sentence. 2. End with an obvious closer that leaves the essay with a sense of completeness.

Strong Conclusion: 1. Refer to an example, fact, or statistics mentioned in the introduction. 2. End with question that leaves the reader thinking about what was said. 3. Comment about the future.

Kinds of a Concluding Paragraph: The last paragraph of your essay is, of course, the concluding paragraph .This paragraph has a very important function in your essay. Since it is the last paragraph to be read, you want your reader to leave with a clear understanding of what the point of your essay is. A concluding paragraph consists of summary of the points made in your body paragraph, a restatement of the thesis statement, or a final comment on your topic. You may choose one of these ways to end your essay, or you may choose two or three. The choice is yours as the writer. A concluding paragraph should never introduce new information about the topic of the essay. New information should go in another body paragraph, not in a concluding paragraph. Summary: One way to end your essay is to summarize the main points in it. Restatement: An alternative to a summary is a restatement of the idea of your thesis statement. Final Comment: Often, a concluding paragraph is most effective when you add a final comment to a summary or a restatement or both.