Guidelines on writing a

well-organized
ESSAY
 BEFORE WRITING
PLANNING:
Writing a good essay requires a good plan.
When the teacher gives you the TOPIC for
your essay and the KIND of essay, you will
have to ask yourself the 3 following
questions:
TOPIC what the essay is about?
AUDIENCE who are your readers?
PURPOSE why am I writing this essay?
 ESSAY ORGANIZATION

A basic essay consists in 3 main

parts:
INTRODUCTION
2/3 BODY PARAGRAPHS
CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION

The introduction guides the reader into

your paper by grabbing attention and
introducing the topic.
It starts broad and narrows down to your
specific topic.
It ends with a very important sentence
called thesis statement.
 THESIS STATEMENT
The thesis states the main idea of the essay and tell
the readers what your essay is about.
A basic thesis statement contains the topic and the 3
main points to support the topic.
The thesis is the last sentence of the introduction
and must be underlined
Example topic: write about the benefits of physical
activity. Thesis: The main benefits of physical
activity are that it improves your health,
decreases stress levels and controls your weight.
 BODY PARAGRAPHS
You have to write 2/3 body paragraphs to support
and explain the main idea mentioned in the
thesis.
Each body paragraph must discuss one point of
your thesis.
You use arguments, data, facts, examples,
details, etc. to support your topic sentences and
flesh out your body paragraphs.
Each body paragraph starts with a topic
sentence, it contains supporting sentences and
ends with a concluding sentence.
BODY PARAGRAPH ORGANIZATION
A body paragraph follows a specific organization:

TOPIC SENTENCE (1st Sentence)

The topic sentence reflects which thesis statement point you
Are discussing in the body paragraph.

SUPPORTING SENTENCES:
You must PROVE your POINT by providing PROOFS
(examples) to support your topic sentence.
You must COMMENT on each PROOF to further your
analysis.

CONCLUDING SENTENCE (last sentence)

Each paragraph should end with a final statement that brings
together the ideas brought up in the paragraph and
emphasizes the main point one last time.
 CONCLUSION
The conclusion is the last paragraph of
your essay.
It should wrap up your essay, but should not
introduce new information or arguments.
It should begin with a sentence that looks a
lot like your thesis to summarize the general
points of the paper as a whole, and then draw
your paper neatly to a close.
 TRANSITIONS
An effective essay will show the connection
between paragraphs with transitions
(transitional words and phrases).
Transitions are used to connect events
together.
There are several kind of transitions to be
used according to the case.
Use p. 14 of your textbook as a reference.
P.14 will become your best friend