Parts of An Essay – Writing Tips To Consider For A Structured Essay

Shorter writing assignments like essays frequently call for students to improve various abilities, including careful reading, evaluation, compare and contrast, argumentation, preciseness, clarification, and explanation. Students are encouraged to generate ideas and notions based on research and argumentation. Essays must be concise and have a clear goal and direction. Therefore, it is imperative to know about the parts of an essay and write them in a structured manner. This article will guide you on how to structure a coherent essay.

What is Essay Writing?

The word essay derives from the French word “essayer”, which means “to try” or “to attempt”. “Exagium” is the word used for essay in Latin, and it roughly translates into English as “presenting one’s case”. An essay is a piece of writing intended to present a concept, make a case, convey a feeling, or start a discussion. It is a way to present writers’ ideas in a non-fictional context. Numerous uses for this kind of writing go well beyond that, offering political manifestos, art critique, and the author’s observations and opinions. Essays are formal and informal, and both are common in academia. However, the formal essay requires a proper structure, academic vocabulary and a consistent line of argumentation. There are different types of essays such as expository essays, descriptive essays, narrative essays and argumentative essays.

What are the different parts of an essay?

The basic parts of an essay comprise introduction, main body and conclusion. Every type of essay follows a three-tier structure. However, for several students, choosing how to organise the content in different parts of an essay is the most challenging aspect of essay structure. Let us first discuss the most basic parts of an essay and how to write them:

Introduction

Your essay’s introduction establishes its tone. It should pique the reader’s curiosity and let them know what to anticipate. In most cases, the introduction makes up about 10–20% of the content. Introduction part of an essay consists of the following components:

Attention grabber

Your introduction’s opening line should capture the reader’s interest and stimulate their interest. This statement is also known as the hook or attention grabber. It could be a startling statement highlighting the importance of the issue, an enticing query, or a startling truth.

Background Information of Parts of An Essay

The next step is providing background so your reader can grasp your reasoning. It might entail offering background information, providing an overview of significant scholarly work or discussions on the subject, and defining complex words. Do not go into too much depth in the opening; you can go into more detail in your essay’s body.

Thesis Statement of Essay

The next step is to formulate your thesis statement, which will be your main argument. The thesis statement gives your essay direction and expresses your opinion on the subject. Typically, it only contains one or two sentences. It is important to craft a coherent thesis statement. A thesis statement is not an opinion or value judgement but a coherent, logically consistent assertion. A strong thesis statement can provide solid footing to your essay and serves as the beacon for the entire essay. A weak thesis statement creates ambiguity in your essay. So, a thesis statement is among the most important parts of an essay, and it must have clarity and coherence.

Outline

You may want to wrap up the opening in larger essays by briefly outlining each section’s subject matter. It leads the reader through your organisation and provides a sneak peek at your argument’s direction. Outline comes after you present your thesis statement, comprising three or four sentences depending on the length of your essay.

Main Body

Main body is among the most important parts of an essay. It is the part where you present evidence, develop ideas and provide supporting points to strengthen your thesis statement. The purpose of the main body is to evaluate the data sources and contextualise them in the light of your aims and objectives. The length of the essay’s body depends upon the type of essay you are writing. Normally, the essay’s body comprises 60-80% of the entire essay depending upon the length and type of your essay.

Topic Sentences

It is crucial to divide your essay into paragraphs to give it a proper framework. One key topic or point should be the focus of each paragraph. A topic sentence introduces that concept. In general, the topic sentence should build on the preceding paragraph and state the point that will be conveyed in this one. Transition words must be employed to provide explicit connections between ideas. Give supporting information after the topic sentence, such as statistics, anecdotes, or quotations from reliable sources. Ensure to analyse, clarify, and demonstrate how the evidence contributes to developing your main argument. If you face any difficulty writing an essay, you can always reach out to Essay Writing Services to take help from essay writing experts.

Conclusion

Conclusion is the last part of an essay where you wrap up your essay by restating your thesis statement and conclude your assertions. It is a section where you inform the readers of the significance of your line of argumentation and why they should consider it. It is important to keep this section brief and write a thought-provoking sentence at the end.

What are the three principles for providing information in different parts of an essay?

1st Principle

The first rule of providing information in different parts of an essay is that you should build complexity into your argument by starting with the most straightforward claim. A strong argumentative essay will frequently start with straightforward, generally agreed-upon points in the body before moving on to more nuanced, debatable points.

2nd Principle

The second rule is that the introduction of your essay should include background information. The introduction provides some background information. If you need to provide more background information, you should normally do it at the beginning of the body.

3rd Principle

The third Principle is that whatever you write in your essay should support your argument. Examine each data source and fact to see if it adds to your argument or gives the background you need.

Conclusion

Structuring different parts of an essay entail logical consistency and coherence between the ideas. Each of the above-mentioned steps must be followed in chronological order. Each follows a three-tier structure, i.e., an introduction in which you present your case, the main body, which contains analysis and argumentation and finally, the conclusion, which wraps up the entire discussion.