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Introduction Titles Structure Writing Style Citing Sources References |
The Structure of an EssayIt is a teaching cliché that an essay should have a beginning, a middle and an end. You will have heard this old saw time and again. It is however true, and its over use is due to its validity rather than lazy thinking. This section of the guide will use these three wise structural elements to outline how you should attempt to write an essay, starting of course at the beginning, a very good place to start.The BeginningThe beginning of a essay normally takes up around 1-2 paragraphs. These first paragraphs are where the topic is introduced and the main thrust of the essay is outlined. A good essay should begin with a definition of the main concept in the essay title. For example if you are writing an essay on short term memory, then the essay should start with a definition of the concept. The introduction should then give a picture of what is going to be said within the essay.The MiddleThis is the "meat" of the essay and normally where students' essay structure starts to go wrong. The middle of the essay is where the information that you are providing to answer the question goes; the description of the theories, of the research, the discussion of the different concepts etc. The main issue here is how to link together this information into a coherent whole. There are few general guidelines that apply to all types of essay and structuring this section is really a skill you will develop with practice. There are however some hint that may be of use.The main problems with this section is poor paragraphing. There are a few rules that are useful in writing paragraphs. The first one is have one general point per paragraph. An example from an essay on Piaget illustrates this:
Piaget's(1932) early view was that social interaction had an early effect on children moral thinking. He suggested that children who are at the pre-operational level (2-7yrs old) are affected by interaction with children their own age. At this stage children's interactions can lead to moral development when the children contradict each other during these interactions. The contradictions cause changes in the children's cognitive structure. These changes lead to more sophisticated moral thinking.....
The above paragraph makes one general point, that Piaget viewed social interaction as a factor in moral development and importantly there is one sentence that states the main point of the paragraph (the first one). This means that the point being made is clear, and the rest of the paragraph merely elaborates this point, in this case showing what processes were involved in the moral development. It is not however enough to just produce well formed paragraphs, these paragraph need to link together; it is important for the structure of an essay that each paragraph lead into the next. When this does not happen the essay can become incoherent and disjointed. These rules for paragraphs relate to the other sections of the essay, the end and beginning, but are particularly important for the middle section. The End or ConclusionsThis last section of your essay should be the conclusion. It should not just be a summary of the whole essay, but it should contain some conclusions about what you have written. |