How to Structure Your Essay – 6 Easy Steps

Being new to writing essays you will be unfamiliar with the structure of an essay at university. You may have written a few different essays at college during your A-levels or equivalent if not in the UK, but these will be a little different to what is seen as minimal in academia. After all, you want to bet getting the best grades possible from the work that you submit, so if your essay or report is structured in the wrong way, then you may end up missing out on marks because your thoughts aren’t clear and your argument is a little fumbled. Below I will set out some steps that you can take when thinking about the actual structure of your paper and what you will need to submit an essay you can be proud of.

Step 1 – Get organised
In order to properly structure your essay you will need to organise your thoughts, your desk, and even the computer you are going to be typing on. Get rid of Itunes and all other unnecessary programs for the time being as you will need to get a few documents open and even a note pad and pen to make sure you are heading in the right directions and eliminating any mistakes ion the way.

Step2 – Be informed
Many people seem to think that they can look at a computer screen, type a few thousands words and hey presto you have an essay! Well, probably it would be an essay in an ideal world, but let me tell you that the world is far from ideal and in order to sound credible to anyone who is going to read your work, you need to be able to understand all of the material that you need to source, read and digest. If you haven’t got around to this stage yet, then feel free to go and learn about the subject you want to write, even if this is only an introduction.

Step 3 – What, How and Why?
You should also be thinking about when, where and who – these are termed as the seven honest serving men and will get you through your academic life. You are not just going to structure your essay around a topic and throw all the information you have learned about it on to paper and submit that as an essay. Your lecturer/professor will be looking for your critical evaluation and thought process and want you to be constantly asking, well why is that, or how is that, or why did that happen, etc. You can also structure your answers this way.

Establish what you are going to be talking about.

Explain to the reader how things have been established and also put ‘signposts’ connecting one concept to another.

Answer why certain things have happened or arguments have ensued – this is probably the biggest part of your ability to show an understanding of the essay topic.

Step 4 – Choose a direction
You will want to set out a map or guide to how you are going to write everything and what way you will link each part to the next. You will also need to think about having the essay flow and choose the direction you want your argument to take. All great essays have a firm base that is built upon and they lead to a finalised position. Make sure yours does too and don’t rely on not knowing where you are going to.

Step 5 – Write it and Write well
Actually getting down to the writing is a good start indeed, but structuring your writing to have a beginning, middle and end is the way to go. every part of your essay should have an introduction, a central body allowing the reader to see your argument, and then a conclusion of the particular section that links and leads onto the next.

Step 6 – Be Prepared
Preparation is one of the most important things to have when writing an essay or paper i the academic arena. You will want to have a plan of what you are wanting to write. Some students find it easier to map out their essay in preparation for actually writing their paper, getting themselves mentally prepared for the writing and thoughts ahead. Keep in mind that certain bits of information belong it certain parts of the paper, don’t leave your reader second guessing your argument or wondering what the argument of the paper was about.

Also, if you want to get the best out of your submitted essays then you should have a proofreader or editor take a look at your work.

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