How To Structure An Essay
DescriptionA tip on how to properly construct an essay.
MessageYour mileage may vary. This is just general help, not a fix for everything.
ImageWRTN
IntroductionThe first step to all essays is a good introduction paragraph. These allow the reader to get interested and informed of what your essay is about, giving them a chance to see if it is worth their while reading. So a good hook/grabber is necessary.
The hook should be a declarative statement that you can make as your first sentence in the intro. It should be intriguing, bold, unexpected even, but should relate to the rest of the paragraph and essay. An example of a bad one would be something like, "Toasters make toast," which is a boring and almost redundant sentence that, though correct, is not very interesting to read, and looks amateurish at best. But restructuring it to something more interesting may give you a better shot at grabbing the reader's attention. "Toasters are a revolutionary invention that, without them, would make the process of making toast tedious and inefficient," is a great example of a simple yet detailed description of what you could write as a hook for an essay about important household inventions. It takes your attention right to the point of the essay, and if the reader is interested, they will continue.
After hooks, you want to add the all-important background information. This info should be relevant to what you are going to say in the rest of your essay; if it's a book, give some insight into the main characters, their location, the plot, and a summary of what has gone on so far. Don't go into TOO much detail, but give a general overview of what has gone on and what the reader needs to know for the rest of the piece. It is meant to assist the reader's understanding of the story and essay, not give them the book for free. Give just what you need, and avoid major spoilers if there are any.
The thesis statement is everyone's least favorite part of an essay, not because it is hard, but just because it has to be a very certain way (at least for younger ages). Your thesis should include these three things at a minimum: the book title + author's name, the theme/topic of your essay, and the three points your body paragraphs are about. There are also some other general rules around them, like trying to contain them to one sentence and keeping them a modest length. And these are fairly easy to follow, but are what can make them hard to write, as you aren't allowed to have much creative freedom as other aspects of the writing process. Trying to make them interesting, natural, and unique is a difficult task, even for expert writers, though as you get older and accumulate more experience, you gain more control over the structure of it. Overall, just follow the basic formula, and try your hardest to make it special and unique to you and your writing.
Body Paragraphs 1-3 (Or More If Need Be)The second step to all essays is, strangely, the third and fourth steps as well, at least for your standard five-paragraph essay. You should have a minimum of three body paragraphs, but can of course add more if need be. All essays have these three things: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The body paragraphs are where you explore the topics mentioned in the thesis that support your statement. This is a fairly simple idea, and luckily, there is a great standard format that all body paragraphs have. And it all starts off with topic sentences.
Topic sentences are, honestly, similar to hooks in the sense that they are supposed to grab the audience's attention. They are the first sentence in a body paragraph, and should pertain to the topic of that specific paragraph. They don't have to be as bold as the grabber, but should continue the reader's interest through each and every paragraph. Make sure they are relevant to the rest of the text, that they acquire the reader's attention, and that they're as simple and clean as possible.
Context is also crucial to anybody's paragraph, as it allows you to set up what is next: the quote. It should come before and after the evidence, as it can add to the reader's experience and understanding of what you are trying to say. Though this is similar to the background information needed in the introduction, this context should be more specific and tailored to what you are trying to prove in the quote.
Quoting is a fairly simple process these days. If you want to learn more, check out our Finding Quotes article. Anyways, quotes have one major job in your writing, and that is to prove a point. They should be relevant, clear, and useful to the surrounding text and the theme of your essay. It may take a while to find the right quote, but keep looking, and if needed, compromise and put more effort into the reasoning. Sometimes it's just better to use mediocre evidence and then go crazy with the reasoning rather than finding the perfect quote. Regardless, the quote should back up your claims.
The reasoning goes hand-in-hand with context occasionally, as it is where you describe and justify the evidence and what it means to your main theme. It should come directly after the quote, and is really where you go ham with defending why you picked the quote and what it means to the story/your essay. It can be hard for some writers, so what I would recommend is almost restating what the quote says without being repetitive, and then connecting it to the topic and theme.
After reasoning, you can do one of two things: either go on and add more quotes to the paragraph or end it right there. If you chose the former, then essentially repeat these steps over and over again, and then repeat that in the other body paragraphs. All you need to do is after the first reasoning, give a bit of transition/context to the next quote, then give it, and after, it's reasoning. It is a simple formula to follow, and is infinitely repeatable throughout almost all essay paragraphs.
ConclusionThe final step of all essays, and for that matter, most forms of writing, is the conclusion, where everything is wrapped up into a neat little bow. All you really have to do is restate the introduction, summarize the events of the text, and leave it off with a final thought. But there is definitely a way to take it to the next level.
Restating the thesis, as mentioned previously, is the first part of a conclusion. This is where you finalize the ideas of your thesis, and stating it again reminds the reader of what the essay was about. Make sure that this sentence is similar yet unique to the thesis, as a direct copy would be lazy and uninteresting, and since this is the first sentence of the conclusion, we all know that it needs to be intriguing to keep the reader's attention. And that's the biggest part of the conclusion, repeating what was already said, but giving an ending twist to it.
Don't forget to overview what points you made in your writing; i.e., the body paragraph topics, context, and ideas explored in the essay. You are yet again reminding your audience what you wrote and why it relates to your theme, so definitely make sure to explain the events so far and how they relate to everything, but one key thing: DO NOT ADD ANY NEW INFORMATION. When making your conclusion, don't add any new information about the book, and keep it contained to what has already been said. The conclusion is an overview, not a body paragraph, so it should stick to the information already given.
The last, and to me, the most important part of writing an essay, is the lesson and final statement. Usually when you are writing an essay, whether it's for school or not, whether it's about a book or not, you can incorporate some form of final teaching to your readers. When they complete reading your essay, they should feel like it made an impact on them, they should feel like they learned something. Giving an ultimate lesson, and connecting it to a universal feeling or idea, can create a relatable and informative environment for readers to learn something about themselves, about what they can do to help the cause of your essay. It shouldn't feel preachy, it shouldn't feel opinionated, but it should feel important. What I normally do is connect it to human nature, connect it to something that all readers of my essays can understand. Make it universal, make it matter. Keep the reader wanting more, make the reader feel satisfied with what they read, but also want to learn. Your work can have an impact, so use it for good, use it for what you believe in, use it for what the book believed in. Your work should matter, and you need to be proud of it.
ExamplesFor examples, head over to WRTN Essays to see these instructions in action.
The hook should be a declarative statement that you can make as your first sentence in the intro. It should be intriguing, bold, unexpected even, but should relate to the rest of the paragraph and essay. An example of a bad one would be something like, "Toasters make toast," which is a boring and almost redundant sentence that, though correct, is not very interesting to read, and looks amateurish at best. But restructuring it to something more interesting may give you a better shot at grabbing the reader's attention. "Toasters are a revolutionary invention that, without them, would make the process of making toast tedious and inefficient," is a great example of a simple yet detailed description of what you could write as a hook for an essay about important household inventions. It takes your attention right to the point of the essay, and if the reader is interested, they will continue.
After hooks, you want to add the all-important background information. This info should be relevant to what you are going to say in the rest of your essay; if it's a book, give some insight into the main characters, their location, the plot, and a summary of what has gone on so far. Don't go into TOO much detail, but give a general overview of what has gone on and what the reader needs to know for the rest of the piece. It is meant to assist the reader's understanding of the story and essay, not give them the book for free. Give just what you need, and avoid major spoilers if there are any.
The thesis statement is everyone's least favorite part of an essay, not because it is hard, but just because it has to be a very certain way (at least for younger ages). Your thesis should include these three things at a minimum: the book title + author's name, the theme/topic of your essay, and the three points your body paragraphs are about. There are also some other general rules around them, like trying to contain them to one sentence and keeping them a modest length. And these are fairly easy to follow, but are what can make them hard to write, as you aren't allowed to have much creative freedom as other aspects of the writing process. Trying to make them interesting, natural, and unique is a difficult task, even for expert writers, though as you get older and accumulate more experience, you gain more control over the structure of it. Overall, just follow the basic formula, and try your hardest to make it special and unique to you and your writing.
Body Paragraphs 1-3 (Or More If Need Be)The second step to all essays is, strangely, the third and fourth steps as well, at least for your standard five-paragraph essay. You should have a minimum of three body paragraphs, but can of course add more if need be. All essays have these three things: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The body paragraphs are where you explore the topics mentioned in the thesis that support your statement. This is a fairly simple idea, and luckily, there is a great standard format that all body paragraphs have. And it all starts off with topic sentences.
Topic sentences are, honestly, similar to hooks in the sense that they are supposed to grab the audience's attention. They are the first sentence in a body paragraph, and should pertain to the topic of that specific paragraph. They don't have to be as bold as the grabber, but should continue the reader's interest through each and every paragraph. Make sure they are relevant to the rest of the text, that they acquire the reader's attention, and that they're as simple and clean as possible.
Context is also crucial to anybody's paragraph, as it allows you to set up what is next: the quote. It should come before and after the evidence, as it can add to the reader's experience and understanding of what you are trying to say. Though this is similar to the background information needed in the introduction, this context should be more specific and tailored to what you are trying to prove in the quote.
Quoting is a fairly simple process these days. If you want to learn more, check out our Finding Quotes article. Anyways, quotes have one major job in your writing, and that is to prove a point. They should be relevant, clear, and useful to the surrounding text and the theme of your essay. It may take a while to find the right quote, but keep looking, and if needed, compromise and put more effort into the reasoning. Sometimes it's just better to use mediocre evidence and then go crazy with the reasoning rather than finding the perfect quote. Regardless, the quote should back up your claims.
The reasoning goes hand-in-hand with context occasionally, as it is where you describe and justify the evidence and what it means to your main theme. It should come directly after the quote, and is really where you go ham with defending why you picked the quote and what it means to the story/your essay. It can be hard for some writers, so what I would recommend is almost restating what the quote says without being repetitive, and then connecting it to the topic and theme.
After reasoning, you can do one of two things: either go on and add more quotes to the paragraph or end it right there. If you chose the former, then essentially repeat these steps over and over again, and then repeat that in the other body paragraphs. All you need to do is after the first reasoning, give a bit of transition/context to the next quote, then give it, and after, it's reasoning. It is a simple formula to follow, and is infinitely repeatable throughout almost all essay paragraphs.
ConclusionThe final step of all essays, and for that matter, most forms of writing, is the conclusion, where everything is wrapped up into a neat little bow. All you really have to do is restate the introduction, summarize the events of the text, and leave it off with a final thought. But there is definitely a way to take it to the next level.
Restating the thesis, as mentioned previously, is the first part of a conclusion. This is where you finalize the ideas of your thesis, and stating it again reminds the reader of what the essay was about. Make sure that this sentence is similar yet unique to the thesis, as a direct copy would be lazy and uninteresting, and since this is the first sentence of the conclusion, we all know that it needs to be intriguing to keep the reader's attention. And that's the biggest part of the conclusion, repeating what was already said, but giving an ending twist to it.
Don't forget to overview what points you made in your writing; i.e., the body paragraph topics, context, and ideas explored in the essay. You are yet again reminding your audience what you wrote and why it relates to your theme, so definitely make sure to explain the events so far and how they relate to everything, but one key thing: DO NOT ADD ANY NEW INFORMATION. When making your conclusion, don't add any new information about the book, and keep it contained to what has already been said. The conclusion is an overview, not a body paragraph, so it should stick to the information already given.
The last, and to me, the most important part of writing an essay, is the lesson and final statement. Usually when you are writing an essay, whether it's for school or not, whether it's about a book or not, you can incorporate some form of final teaching to your readers. When they complete reading your essay, they should feel like it made an impact on them, they should feel like they learned something. Giving an ultimate lesson, and connecting it to a universal feeling or idea, can create a relatable and informative environment for readers to learn something about themselves, about what they can do to help the cause of your essay. It shouldn't feel preachy, it shouldn't feel opinionated, but it should feel important. What I normally do is connect it to human nature, connect it to something that all readers of my essays can understand. Make it universal, make it matter. Keep the reader wanting more, make the reader feel satisfied with what they read, but also want to learn. Your work can have an impact, so use it for good, use it for what you believe in, use it for what the book believed in. Your work should matter, and you need to be proud of it.
ExamplesFor examples, head over to WRTN Essays to see these instructions in action.