essay

Center the Essay Title across the Top of the Page

Indent the start of the first paragraph one double space down from the title and start writing. Start each paragraph of the essay by indenting one tab space from the left margin. Do not label the sections of your essay (Introduction, Body, and Conclusion). The thesis statement is part of the Introduction. Do not separate the thesis statement from the rest of the introduction. Double space all sentences throughout the essay. The double spacing you see in this document is exactly how the lines and paragraphs in your own paper should be spaced.

Start each new body paragraph with an indented paragraph. Use as many paragraphs in the body of the essay as needed. Remember too, that sentence transitions serve the same purpose within the paragraphs as they do between paragraphs: use a transition wherever you need to move the reader from one part of an idea to another within the paragraph. Use transitions between paragraphs to move the reader from the discussion of one idea in a paragraph to the discussion of another idea in a new paragraph.

In each body paragraph, you must discuss only one specific aspect of the thesis. There should be no more than one main idea (some specific aspect of the thesis) in each body paragraph. Remember to vary both sentence and paragraph lengths. This means that there should be a variety of both paragraph and sentence lengths in your essay. Very long sentences should be broken up by shorter ones strategically placed in between. Similarly, very long discussions of the same topic should be discussed in multiple paragraphs. When you have completely discussed the entire thesis statement throughout the body section, the final paragraph in the essay should be devoted to the task of writing a conclusion.

Conclusion paragraphs are different from body paragraphs in that the only thing that should be in an essay conclusion is a re-statement of the thesis in summary fashion. If a paper is longer than one page in length, then you should select what you believe to be the most important points from the body and restate them as well. Do not add new arguments, examples, or points to the conclusion of the essay.

Note finally, that when you put your name, section number, assignment name, and due date in the header as required, rather than the top of the page, notice how it remains fixed at the top of the page and automatically copies into any subsequent pages of your work.