Writing An Essay

ESSAY
Essays are generally divided into three main parts: the

introduction, the body and the conclusion. By contrast, reports
often have additional sections, such as an abstract and a
methodology. The structure of an essay is rooted in its
purpose, which is to put forward an argument coherently and
convincingly. The purpose of a report, however, is slightly
different: usually it is to survey research that has been done
already, analyse it, and then give recommendations. The
structure comes from presenting this sequence of tasks in a
logical and recognisable way.
In general, essays are divided into three parts: the
introduction, the body and the conclusion. Every essay
question is different, but learning general principles will
help. A good idea is to restate the essay question in your
introduction to help focus the reader’s mind. In the body
you make your main argument: it makes up the longest of
the three sections. The paragraphs within the body should
be ordered logically to present your argument. Then comes
the conclusion, where you draw the key elements together.
To sum up, successful essays generally use a recognisable
structure to help the reader to follow the argument. Reports
are different, often including a methodology and an abstract
A – Topic sentence
The topic sentence presents the main ideas of the
paragraph.
It usually appears near the beginning of the paragraph,
though not always.
Topic sentences may include 'signposting' language that
show how the paragraph is connected to the paragraphs
before it, for example:
•As a result of this …
•Another reason …
•However, ...
•Turning now to ...
B – Supporting sentences
In a good paragraph, every supporting sentence in the
paragraph must be related to the topic sentence.
If there is a sentence in your paragraph which is not directly
related to the topic sentence, remove it!
Supporting sentences also sometimes include 'signposting'
language, to show the relationship between the ideas in the
paragraph, for example:
•Firstly … Secondly … Thirdly …
•The first … The second … The third …
•Furthermore, … However, … On the other hand, …
C – Concluding sentence
The concluding sentence often explains why you have
included this paragraph in this assignment.
In order to do this, concluding sentences often repeat
words and phrases from the title of the assignment,
and/or words and phrases from the topic sentence.
Review
You're on the way to perfect paragraphs! Let's recap what we've
learned about paragraphs so far:
•Good academic writing is made up of paragraphs with one clear
idea per paragraph.
•Paragraphs usually start with a topic sentence – a sentence that
gives the main focus of the paragraph.
•The topic sentence sometimes includes 'signposting' language to
link the paragraph to the previous paragraph.
•Supporting sentences follow the topic sentence. They develop the
topic by giving reasons, evidence and/or examples.
•The concluding sentence usually comes at the end. It explains why
the paragraph is important and relates it to the theme of the essay.
DESCRIBING PEOPLE
The Brown Family
Hello! We are The Browns. We are from London, England.

My sister, Lisa, is twenty two. She is a student in Birmingham
College. She is quite tall and slim and has a long red hair with black
eyes. She is a language student. She studies German, French and
Spanish. She is very friendly and cheerful. She has a lot of friends.
She has a boyfriend, too. His name is Mark. He is thirty years old and
works as a manager in a small book shops. He has a short brown hair
and a blue eyes. Mark loves my sister very much.
My name is Tim and I am sixteen. I am tall and I have a short brown
hair and green eyes. My mainly hobby is computers. I like the internet
and online games. Roblox is one of my favourite game. I can create
games for fun and learn coding, too. I also like animals. We have a
dog and three cats at home. The dog’s name is Bond and the cat’s
names are Tip, Tap and Top. I also have an aquarium with two clown
fish in it! Do you have a pet?
Our mother’s name is Catherine and she is forty-five. She is a vet.
She works at her Pet Clinic nearby our house. She is short and slim
and has a long brown hair and black eyes. Mom is very cheerful. And
she is an excellent cook. She makes the best pork stew in the world.
And I love when she cooks her signature spaghetti. Dad’s name is
Peter in he is fifty. He is quite tall but not slim thanks to Mom’s good
cooking. He has a short red hair and green eyes. He is a dentist and
his surgery is near the Waterloo underground station. He has two
colleagues, John and Megan. John and our Dad are old school friends.
We have a house near a large park. The house has four bedrooms, a
living room, a dining room, two bathrooms and a kitchen. We have
garden at the back of our house with flowers and fruit trees. The
garden is also Dad’s hobby. We have a garage for Dad’s yellow car.
YOUR
JOURNAL
ENTRY
TITLE
iNTRODUCTION
Supporting D
Closing

Writing An Essay

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ESSAY

Essays are generally divided into three main parts: the

Hello! We are The Browns. We are from London, England.

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