Academic Essay Writing Essentials

Essay Writing Basics

• Good writing is about producing a clear, grammatical, and logical argument to answer a question or topic.
• Good writing is always aimed at a particular audience, typically a teacher who will mark the work.

Essay Structure

• An essay is an organized format of writing that includes a final product.
• A thesis paragraph or topic paragraph is the first paragraph, stating the thesis or themes that the essay will develop.
• A body paragraph is the second paragraph, used to indicate a change of aspect and develop the main ideas.

Pre-Writing Strategies

• Free writing is a good way to find a topic and generate ideas by turning off the internal editor and dropping down ideas.
• Brainstorming is a technique used to create new products, improve existing ones, or solve problems by generating ideas for a class paper.
• Clustering, also known as mind mapping or idea mapping, is a strategy that allows exploring the relationships between ideas and determining their connections.

Essay Planning

• A plan should operate as a skeleton for the essay, guiding its structure and development.
• A thesis statement is a concise summary of the main point or argument of the essay, typically found in the introduction paragraph.

Essay Components

• A body paragraph presents and develops the key points or arguments supporting the thesis statement.
• A topic sentence introduces the main idea or argument of a paragraph.
• Evidence, such as facts, examples, statistics, or expert opinions, is used to support arguments or claims in an essay.
• Analysis involves examining and interpreting evidence to demonstrate how it supports the essay's thesis or main argument.

Conclusion and Refining

• A conclusion is the final paragraph, summarizing the main points, restating the thesis, and often offering a broader perspective or implications.
• Transitions, such as words or phrases, connect ideas and paragraphs smoothly, facilitating coherence and logical flow in the essay.
• Revision is the process of reviewing, editing, and refining an essay to improve clarity, coherence, and effectiveness of argumentation.