Overview of Essay Structure
Most writing for school will be in the form of some sort of essay.
- There are different types of essays, but just as every narrative has a beginning, middle, and end, every essay has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
- There are key things that English-language writers and readers expect to find in certain places. Example:
- The thesis statement is expected to be in the introductory paragraph.
- Quoted evidence to support major ideas are supposed to be in the body paragraphs.
- A summation of the key points should appear in the conclusion.
Compare/Contrast Essays
A compare/contrast essay is one of the most common forms of essays that you will encounter in your writing career.
- It is important to understand that a compare/contrast essay is a juxtaposition of two concepts that must have both similarities and differences and through the comparison of them, something becomes more clear about either/both.
- There are two ways of organizing these types of essays.
- One is where all the similarities/differences of subject A are grouped together, followed by the similarities of subject B and so on.
- The other method is to provide a similarity for subject A followed by that same idea in its expression for subject B, and so on.
Close Reading Essays
Close reading essays or providing a close reading analysis within a larger essay is a key skill you will need in any English class.
Close reading means that you can read text and analyze it on a variety of levels:
- content/ideas
- structure/form
- stylistic elements
Persuasive or Argumentative Essay
Most academic writing takes the form of a persuasive/argumentative essay.
Some essays may be explanatory in their method of persuasion (which is sometimes called an expository essay), but most often, you are raising ideas to convince a reader of something, some insight that is yours.