Course Name & Number
Date
What Belongs in an Essay
Introduction: The first sentence needs to be an “attention grabber,” something to draw your audience into your discussion. In the intro, you give information on your TOPIC, POINTS, and possible BACKGROUND information on your TOPIC. Your introduction builds up to your thesis statement and should have at least 4 to 6 sentences before your THESIS STATEMENT. What are you arguing and why is this important/how will do what? Thesis statements give the "so what" (the "why" or the "how") for your argument. A good thesis statement may be two sentences long. A thesis has three main parts: Topic + Point about the Topic + Why/How (So what?) THESIS STATEMENTS must come at the end of your introductory paragraph.
Body Paragraphs: Body paragraphs begin with a TOPIC SENTENCE (topic + point about the topic). The Topic Sentence is related to at least one aspect of your thesis statement. In each body paragraph you need your POINT, your ILLUSTRATIONS (examples), and your EXPLANTION. As part of your discussion, you will need SUPPORT for your POINT and this includes: Quotes, Statistics, and other information from OUTSIDE SOURCES as well as your EXPLANATION of the relevance of these sources to your POINT. A body paragraph ends in one of two ways: 1) you finish your discussion and it is time to move on to a new paragraph, or 2) your paragraph has become long enough (8-10 sentences) and you need to break it up. A body paragraph ends with a summing up statement which indicates your next point, or the next aspect of the point that you plan to discuss. This is also known as a TRANSITION. Body Paragraphs often begin with a Topic Sentence that picks up from the last paragraph, discussing another aspect of the topic as indicated in the thesis. This is how the paragraphs are linked together as well as linked back to the THESIS STATEMENT.
Conclusion: This paragraph sums up your discussion. You might say “after all of this, we can see that A + B = C (topic + points lead to = the why/how (so what))”. You may also include further ideas for research on this topic. You are not introducing new ideas, just saying where you have been, why that was important, and where you may go in the future. Do not just restate your thesis or intro.
Technical Checklist for Essays: Make sure you have ALL of these items in your essay:
Title of your paper
Required information in the upper left hand corner
Page numbers with your last name in the upper right hand corner
Titles and Authors for the works you are discussing and/or using as sources
In-text citations at the ends of quotes and ends of summaries of info, i.e. (Caves 2)
Works Cited Page: WORKS CITED PAGES ARE NEVER OPTIONAL WHEN YOU HAVE OUTSIDE SOURCES, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY ONE SOURCE.
THESIS STATEMENT: THIS IS ALSO NOT OPTIONAL.
Use 3rd person voice, not 1st person: this means you do NOT USE “I.” You should NEVER use “I” in an academic essay, unless an instructor explicitly says you may.