Essay Structure – The below essay structure diagram explains how a typical essay should be structured including introduction, 3 key body paragraphs or arguments and conclusion. The creation of a good essay requires a lot of knowledge from the author but having a good structure helps to make the message even more clear.
Great arguments and knowledge structured poorly may result in audience losing focus and interest while even a fairly weak arguments structured well can result in getting reader’s attention.
The first paragraph, the introduction, starts with a general idea and gradually gets more and more specific. It ends with the thesis, one sentence that tells the reader what is the main point and argument of the essay. The triangle illustrates the general to specific / focused structure, gradually getting narrower and coming to the main point.
The body of the essay proves or elaborates the thesis further. Body usually has three paragraphs. The longer papers just add more body paragraphs but the overall structure works regardless of the length of the paper. Important to note that having too many arguments may result in reader thinking you are trying to ‘oversell’ your point and could result in loss of focus.
On the essay structure diagram below, the yellow portion in the red paragraph shows the location of the transitional phrase and so does the red segment in the orange segment.
It is best to place a good argument first to capture users attention. The weakest argument usually goes in the middle. Your strongest argument should go last so you finish on a strong note and get your reader to agree with you.
In the conclusion, the structure is reversed with the specific thesis coming first and the ever more general sentences coming last. It is important that the last sentence creates a good ending for the paper. Sometime this could be inspirational or a generic truism. Do not introduce new ideas in the conclusion.
Following this structure will help you write excellent essays. This is very important to get your ideas across. Communicating at one’s best ensures people understand each other. Communication is key to the betterment of our world. 🙂 Note how this last paragraph starts off with specific point and concludes in a generic inspirational phrase.
