documented essay

- Start with a hook, then build background and context, and then end it with the thesis statement, a single sentence that tells the reader what your assertion or claim is.

The body

- Set out your reasoning and evidence for your claim or assertion, nicely formed into multiple paragraphs.

- Give the counterarguments to your thesis or point, also nicely formed into multiple paragraphs, in order to demonstrate to readers that you have a good understanding of more than one side of the issue, thereby raising your credibility.

You then need to address the counterarguments to explain how they are incorrect. This part of the body is the refutation. In terms of structure, you can explain each counterargument and then refute it, or you can explain all counterarguments and then refute them: conceptually, something like, c-r; c-r; c-r; or, c-c-c-r-r-r.

Note that the counterarguments are almost always not the direct opposite of the arguments. For example, if you argue that the Elwah dams should be taken down because they block fish passage, something is it demonstrably true beyond a shadow of a doubt, the counterargument can't be that the Elwah dams should not be taken down because the salmon just jump 60 high up over the dam, something no fish can do.

Instead, by having done copious amounts of reading and research, a counterargument might be that removal of the dams will result in the loss of the reservoir behind the dam, taking away habitat for migrating trumpeter swans. The refutation of this counterargument is pretty apparent.

The conclusion

Usually, this does not mean that you reach a conclusion or answer to the wonderment you had about your topic. Rather, it is where you conclude the essay and leave the reader with a sense of finality and perhaps a juicy or profound final thought, a 'clincher' that will stay with the reader for a few minutes or hours, maybe longer.