What Is An Essay

What is an essay?
An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone of something or to

simply inform the reader about a particular topic. In order for the reader to be convinced or
adequately informed, the essay must include several important components to make it flow in a
logical way. The main parts (or sections) to an essay are the intro, body, and conclusion. In a
standard short essay, five paragraphs can provide the reader with enough information in a short
amount of space. For a research paper or dissertation, however, it is essential that more than
five paragraphs are present in order not to overwhelm the reader with too much information in
one paragraph.
Intro:
 Must contain an attention grabber for the reader or at least make the essay sound
interesting, may begin with a quote about the particular topic
 Ensure that the intro moves from the general to the specific in regards to the topic
 Provides the reader with a “road map” of the essay in a logical order
 At the end there should be what is called a thesis statement, arguably the most
important component of the intro
 The thesis statement states the aim of the paper and may give insight into the author’s
examples and evidence
Body:
 Includes the evidence and support of the paper in addition to the author’s ideas
 Paragraphs must include a topic sentence which relates the discussion back to the thesis
statement
 Logical ordering of ideas:
3 types of order
1. Chronological order - order of time, good for narratives
2. Spatial order -good for descriptions of locations; top to bottom, e.g.
3. Emphatic order-least important to most important; most common for college writing
 Ensure that transition sentences are present to create a good flow to the essay
 Include substantial examples and evidence to support your argument and remember to
cite, cite, cite!
 Make sure each example is relevant to your particular topic
Conclusion:
 This section should wrap all of your arguments and points

 Should restate the main arguments in a simplified manner
 Ensure that the reader is left with something to think about, particularly if it is an
argumentative essay
6 Tips for Writing a Great Essay
1. Analyse the question

Student essays are responses to specific questions. As an essay must address the
question directly, your first step should be to analyse the question. Make sure you
know exactly what is being asked of you.
Generally, essay questions contain three component parts:
 Content terms: Key concepts that are specific to the task

 Limiting terms: The scope that the topic focuses on
 Directive terms: What you need to do in relation to the content, e.g. discuss, analyse,
define, compare, evaluate
2. Define your argument

As you plan and prepare to write the essay, you must consider what your argument is
going to be. This means taking an informed position or point of view on the topic
presented in the question, then defining and presenting a specific argument.
3. Use evidence, reasoning and scholarship

To convince your audience of your argument, you must use evidence and reasoning,
which involves referring to and evaluating relevant scholarship.
 Evidence provides concrete information to support your claim. It typically consists of

specific examples, facts, quotations, statistics and illustrations.
 Reasoning connects the evidence to your argument. Rather than citing evidence like a
shopping list, you need to evaluate the evidence and show how it supports your
argument.
 Scholarship is used to show how your argument relates to what has been written on
the topic (citing specific works). Scholarship can be used as part of your evidence and
reasoning to support your argument.
4. Organise a coherent essay

An essay has three basic components - introduction, body and conclusion.
 Introduction
The purpose of an introduction is to introduce your essay. It typically presents
information in the following order:
 A general statement about the topic that provides context for your argument
 A thesis statement showing your argument. You can use explicit lead-ins,
such as ‘This essay argues that...’
 A ‘road map’ of the essay, telling the reader how it is going to present and
develop your argument.
Body
The body of the essay develops and elaborates your argument. It does this by
presenting a reasoned case supported by evidence from relevant scholarship. Its
shape corresponds to the overview that you provided in your introduction.
The body of your essay should be written in paragraphs. Each body paragraph
should develop one main idea that supports your argument. To learn how to
structure a paragraph, look at the page developing clarity and focus in academic
writing or do the Canvas module building good paragraphs.
Conclusion
Your conclusion should not offer any new material. Your evidence and
argumentation should have been made clear to the reader in the body of the
essay.
Use the conclusion to briefly restate the main argumentative position and
provide a short summary of the themes discussed. In addition, also consider
telling your reader:
 What the significance of your findings, or the implications of your conclusion,

might be
 Whether there are other factors which need to be looked at, but which were
outside the scope of the essay
 How your topic links to the wider context (‘bigger picture’) in your discipline.
Do not simply repeat yourself in this section. A conclusion which merely

summarizes is repetitive and reduces the impact of your paper.
5. Write clearly
An essay that makes good, evidence-supported points will only receive a high grade if
it is written clearly. Clarity is produced through careful revision and editing, which can
turn a good essay into an excellent one.
When you edit your essay, try to view it with fresh eyes – almost as if someone else
had written it.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Overall structure
1. Have you clearly stated your argument in your introduction?
2. Does the actual structure correspond to the ‘road map’ set out in your
introduction?
3. Have you clearly indicated how your main points support your argument?
4. Have you clearly signposted the transitions between each of your main points
for your reader?
Paragraphs
1. Does each paragraph introduce one main idea?
2. Does every sentence in the paragraph support that main idea?
3. Does each paragraph display relevant evidence and reasoning?
4. Does each paragraph logically follow on from the one before it?
Sentences
1. Is each sentence grammatically complete?
2. Is the spelling correct?
3. Is the link between sentences clear to your readers?
4. Have you avoided redundancy and repetition?
6. Cite sources and evidence

Finally, check your citations to make sure that they are accurate and complete. Some
faculties require you to use a specific citation style (e.g. APA) while others may allow
you to choose a preferred one. Whatever style you use, you must follow its guidelines
correctly and consistently. You can use Recite, the University of Melbourne style
guide, to check your citations.

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What is an essay?

An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone of something or to

1. Chronological order - order of time, good for narratives

2. Spatial order -good for descriptions of locations; top to bottom, e.g.

 This section should wrap all of your arguments and points

6 Tips for Writing a Great Essay

1. Analyse the question

 Content terms: Key concepts that are specific to the task

2. Define your argument

3. Use evidence, reasoning and scholarship

 Evidence provides concrete information to support your claim. It typically consists of

4. Organise a coherent essay

 What the significance of your findings, or the implications of your conclusion,

Do not simply repeat yourself in this section. A conclusion which merely

6. Cite sources and evidence

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