Writing a persuasive essay is most certainly among the most valuable skill a person can acquire throughout their school years. While it does “just” help express ideas, there are myriads of situations in life when this is an incredibly valuable asset. From getting a high-impact position in a company, you’d love to work in, to getting your point across in a heated debate with your colleagues in a more academic environment.
We erroneously perceive essays a sort of punishment professors assign to their students when they’re out of homework ideas, but nothing is further from the truth. In this article, we’ll look into how a proper essay should be structured, in order to clearly present your arguments to your readers.
Your essay needs to answer questions
Naturally, an essay contains a lot of information about a particular topic. However, it’s very complicated to ensure that the viewpoints presented in the piece will be channeled correctly if the essay lacks structure. Here’s a conceptual structure of an essay that has been recommended by Get Academic Help:
First off, there is a set of essential questions that your text needs to answer:
- What? — you, as the author of the essay, need to present the reader with a clear argument, by stating what exactly confirms that your viewpoint is valid and correct.
- How? — then, after you’ve elaborate on the reasons that have lead you to believe that your arguments make sense, you need to show the reader how your arguments will withstand criticism and counterarguments.
- Why? — this is the part of the essay where you substantiate why your viewpoint and argumentation should be relevant to other readers.
You must, however, bear in mind that this is but a conceptual structure. We’ll look at how to formally structure an essay in the next section.
The three whales
The three essential components of an essay are, of course — the introduction, body, and conclusion. Any piece of argumentative text lacking them would feel incomplete and implausible.
When writing an introduction, make sure you include the following:
- Provide the readers with a general overview of the topic you’re about to touch.
- Present the readers with a roadmap for your text. Touch on the structure and what ideas you’re putting forward.
When it comes to the body, you need to make sure you have the following things in place:
- A clear description of your viewpoint that includes all the ramifications. This part of the essay needs to spark a conversation.
- Present the reader with argumentation on the fact that your viewpoint is informed and you have a grasp of the topic in general.
- Provide the reader with sound and viable argument that favor your position.
- Use real-life examples and analogies to substantiate your viewpoint.
When entering the Conclusion phase, make sure that you include the following in it:
- Return to your central thesis. Wrap things up by showing how the arguments you’ve provided in the body have lead you to hold the opinion you’re expressing.
- Make a summary of the arguments you’ve made.
- Close with a statement that encompasses your point of view in the context of the arguments presented.
- Refrain from introducing new information in the conclusion. Use it to exclusively present your readers with a boiled-down version of your arguments.
Paragraph essentials
In case you’re writing a short essay, like the ones you’d be asked to write at exams like TOEFL, IELTS, CAE, and CPE, you should opt for containing one central idea/argument in one paragraph. While this does sound limiting, there is a simple and efficient guideline you can follow:
- Start out by writing a sentence that is central to the entire paragraph. All the rest of the sentences in it will revolve around it.
- Write the supporting sentences — they are the ones that will provide with all the information to substantiate the central sentence.
- Whatever you do, you need to incorporate evidence. Build your arguments around information that is backed up by facts.
- After you’ve presented the reader with facts and evidence, it is also your responsibility to analyze it and draw them to a particular viewpoint. Provide a detailed explanation of how you arrived at your point of view based on the evidence presented.
- Close the paragraph with a concluding sentence that sums up your argument.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, it’s safe to say that finding your way around writing an essay is a continuous process, which we end up perfecting our entire lives.
Being able to write a well laid out piece of text that represents your point of view in a very argumentative and evidence-oriented way is an invaluable asset for any aspiring and seasoned professional out there.
Good luck!
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