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Good essay structure is an essential component of every academic paper. It’s the foundation that keeps everything together. If students’ college research is extensive and impressive, no one would evaluate it highly unless all information is presented in a clear as well as logical way. Like your many counterparts, you might be wondering what a typical essay includes and how to compose an essay map properly.
Some people have an inherent sense of how a coherent text should look like. Others don’t, so they make endlessly long paragraphs, jump between the points chaotically, and assume that if it is clear for them, their audience would also face no trouble understanding it. In both cases, knowing the rules will be useful, and that’s exactly what we’re about to demonstrate.
What Makes Structure Important?
It is true that not everyone understands why college essay structure exists. Many people view it as an unnecessary complication, a frustrating limit imposed on creativity that accompanies all types of writing. Still, it is there for a reason. Imagine that you’re baking an apple pie. You’ve prepared apples, sugar, and eggs, but the essential ingredient is still missing: the flour. It is just one bland thing, but without it, you’ll never manage to bake a pie — other ingredients will be floating messily, never taking a solid shape.
Same goes for structure of a paper. It holds it all together, allowing its writer to shape their work and distinguish each part. More than that, when you structure essay, you build a map that guides you. It gives you a chance to accumulate inspiration before you reach the most important and difficult bits. In particular, with its help, you understand how to intrigue your readers. A writer also figures out how to make the presented information stick, even if there was a lot of it in the paper. Structure helps build paragraphs coherent, and in addition, it helps you maintain clarity as you explore your chosen topic point by point.
Four Parts of Basic Essay Structure
As most students already know, every paper has an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each is represented by special features and plays a specific part in an essay. There is also a works cited page that the majority of academic papers need, but let’s take a closer look to ensure all questions are answered.
1. Introduction
Essay introduction a starting part in structure of an essay — you tease your readers here. A hook is required: writers should present some interesting facts that will stimulate other people to read on. Your topic background should be established because it outlines what an essay is going to be about, while discussion of its relevance justifies a writer’s choice and shows why readers should be interested, too. Finally, there is thesis, an argumentative statement that discloses your main goal, shows your evidence and reveals in what way you’ll be achieving it.
2. Body
Body of an essay is the largest part of mapping a paper, and it is also the most relevant one. This is where writers start exploring their topic as well as proving their claims. Each argument is presented, analyzed, and explained. Slowly but steadily, you move toward finalizing your central statement, leading your audience to the moment when they could share your perspective and agree with your findings.
3. Conclusion
As a final part, conclusion of an essay gives you the last chance to reinforce your arguments and make people see things from your perspective. You should ensure that you give no new information there as it would be a serious mistake. Essay construction ends after you finish summarizing the major data, restate your thesis, describe implications of this research.
Read also: Take advantage of the conclusion paragraph maker for your essay.
4. List with references
Almost every type of academic papers requires the use of credible sources. These include articles, books, or dissertations written by other specialists. You should list them and provide links together with publishing data.
Vital Components of an Average Academic Paragraph
Have you ever wondered what parts paragraphs consist of? It might seem like they don’t have any particular essay writing structure to follow, but it is a common misconception. Every paragraph should have at least 3 parts: a topic sentence, details proving a sub-point, and a closing sentence. Topic sentence is where a writer must introduce the main idea of the paragraph. It clues the audience into what’s being discussed here. Details help solidify this point: use your theories/findings along with sources for it. If you apply direct quotes, you must do a follow-up by analyzing them or explaining what they mean. At last, there is a closing sentence, like it is evident from the name, it’s supposed to conclude the main idea of a specific paragraph.
There are plenty different essays structure examples that could show you exactly how things must be done, but let us offer you a demonstration as well. We composed a paragraph on an imagined essay with title “Ruined Endings: Why Many TV Shows Let Their Viewers Down.” Pay attention to all its parts, from opening to closing sentences as well as to details that help prove a chosen idea.
Merlin is among examples where an ending has been made thoughtlessly, disappointing millions of viewers. From the start of this show, the idea of Merlin and Arthur uniting the lands of Albion has prevailed, reinforced by the prophecies and other key characters. An omniscient dragon whose wisdom is supposed to be unrivalled says to Merlin, “Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion” (Merlin, Episode 1 Season 1). Such words, which continue to be repeated in different variations over the seasons, create certain expectations among fans. They function as foreshadowing, a popular writing technique that hints at the future (Kolsen, p. 12). However, the outcome was drastically different. Arthur died, albeit temporarily, without uniting Albion, and Merlin was doomed to a millennium of misery. All major events happened in final episode. This way, Merlin fans were disappointed because the writers failed to create a logical ending.
How to Structure an Essay Coherently? Tips and Warnings
When students realize how they should build an essay, some questions remain. For example, how to make sure that the text is readable? If there is a giant introduction or a wall of text instead of normal paragraph, professors won’t assess such works highly. In most cases, they could send them back for revision. There is only one way to avoid it and to demonstrate that you understand more than just essay structure definition.
Follow the set length standards. Don’t make intro or conclusion exceed 10% of the total word count because if you do, they’ll sound overloaded. Watch how long your body paragraphs are, too — this issue results in unpleasant penalties imposed by numerous college professors. English is a beautiful language, but it is going to look ugly if the sentences are cluttered in never-ending blocks. Such mistakes ruin readers’ focus and make them feel weary even before they finish reading an essay.
Follow the Rules and Make Your Essays Perfect
If you kept thinking, “What is the structure of an essay?”, we hope you found the explanation clear enough! As you see, the only thing writers should do for making their papers coherent is to divide them into logical paragraphs of average size. Remember that there are introduction and body along with conclusion and that they all have their individual purposes. Add details accordingly, trim paragraphs’ size, include parts that they must have, and you’re all set! It’s unlikely that you’ll face any serious problems.
The interesting thing is, academic essay structure isn’t always the same. It could change based on assignment type students received. Argumentative essays must have paragraphs where the views of opposition are presented and then refuted; comparison papers require passages with description of objects followed by demonstration of their differences and similarities and so on. This could create some annoying complications, but don’t worry too much — they are easily solved. You should simply read instructions carefully or study your type of essay online. After that, follow the templates you find and stick to details we offered!
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