Essay writing 101

There is a continuous flow of ideas (typically no headings). To aid this flow essays are written in paragraphs. Each paragraph has its own purpose and construction. You will also need to pay attention to the coherence (overall structure) and cohesion (the linking of ideas) of your work.

Unless otherwise indicated in your assignment brief, your introduction will likely include: 

• Referenced background information 
• Referenced definitions of key terms​ 
• A thesis statement​ 
• An outline of what is to follow. 

Thesis statement 

This statement tells your reader what viewpoint (position or stance) you hold in just one sentence. This viewpoint could be disputed by others if they provided different evidence in the main body of their essay. 

Outline 

This is a sentence (or two) where you set out what is to follow in the rest of your writing. You do this by introducing each topic in the main body of your writing and showing the connections between them. You may want to write this early on to keep you on track. However, you must check at the end that you have done what you set out to do!  

• Begin with a topic sentence that matches the topic signposted in your introduction. 
• Consider whether you need a referenced source that supports the point being made. 
• Add a transition sentence at the end of a paragraph or the beginning of the next one to help you move in a connected way between topics.  
• Adapt language phrases from Academic Phrasebank. 

Your conclusion: 

• Is NOT just a summary of each main body paragraph.  
• Should bring the ideas from each of the paragraphs together in an evaluative way so that you can answer the question set (this is sometimes referred to as synthesis).  
• Your synthesis should support the thesis statement from your introduction. 
• Should NOT include any new ideas. 
• You should not need to include any references/footnotes.