Structure the essay

Contents

edit The Beginning

For an effective essay, you must consider your structure.

By this time you'll have a thesis statement (which may or may not alter slightly in the course of your writing). You'll have all your primary sources and secondary sources read, and you'll know what your supporting evidence is. Now your task is to structure your essay. There are only two necessary parts to an essay: the introduction and the conclusion. Everything in between is up to you - as long as it's clear, concise and logically structured.

The introduction eases your reader into the material you're going to talk about, and the angle you're going to approach it from.

An essay analysing a single painting can have many different approaches. It could contextualise that painting in the artist's oeuvre, analyse a single motif, or how that painting has influenced subsequent artists. The following extract introduces a paper about a single Central Asian miniature painting, and begins by showing the importance of of the manuscript from which the painting comes. The phrases in italics indicate some of the ideas the rest of the essay will explore.

The Shahnama or Book of Kings is a great epic poem composed by Firdausi in the 11th century, relating the history of the kings of Persia from its mythical origins to the fall of the Sassanid empire in the 7th century. Composed for the court of Mahmud of Ghazni, the poem rapidly became popular throughout the Persian-speaking world as a poetic record of its history. Thus, as time passed, it became imbued with ideological associations. The Great Mongol Shahnama was commissioned and created some time in the 1330s, a massive project that required the labour of a small army of calligraphers, painters and binders. It represented perhaps the greatest expression of Ilkhanid visual art, employing a complex and sophisticated vocabulary of image, technique and colour, combining Persian, Central Asian and Chinese elements, that was engendered in the cultural melting pot created under the rule of the descendents of Genghis Khan in this region.

From here, the writer will focus on the specific painting, and introduce her thesis. By the end of the introduction, your reader should know the background to your claim, and what the claim actually is.

Remember that your introduction is where a new reader will be introduced to you as well as your ideas. It's your chance to make a good first impression by writing a lively and compelling introduction.


edit Middle

There are as many ways to structure the middle as there are essays. How you go about will depend on you. Here are some considerations:

  • Ask yourself: what does my reader need to know? Now try to arrange this information in a logical and understandable order for the purpose of your argument.
  • Simply presenting the evidence is not enough. You have to relate it to your thesis. Very few readers will be able to follow your train of thought from a list of isolated facts.
  • It may help to map out your essay.
  • Don't let your information dictate your structure. Simply going through The Mayor of Casterbidge page by page, noting every time there is a phrase relating to the harmfulness of modernity is simply a summary. What's worse, it's boring.


edit And End

The ending is your farewell to the reader. If you've made a good first impression with the introduction and wowed the reader with your middle, make sure you don't undercut your own work by ending with a whimper.

A good conclusion will leave your reader with a sense of closure to the essay, but not the topic of discussion.

One of the simplest and most effective conclusions is to cycle back to your introduction with a word, phrase or even an idea that can, thanks to your discussion, be looked at in a slightly different way.

For a good discussion of ways to conclude an essay, follow the links below.


edit Useful Links