Sometimes I encounter students from other countries who are not familiar with the basic ingredients that every essay for high school, college, and graduate school must contain. This article is aimed at such people, though it might prove helpful to native speakers as well. Due to time constraints, however, the information is bare bones with no concrete examples. To compensate for this weakness somewhat, I have linked to further resources at the end of the article.

The basic building block of any essay is the paragraph, which itself requires specific ingredients:

• Transition sentence — With the exception of the first paragraph in your essay, each paragraph will need a transition sentence that moves the reader from the topic of the previous paragraph to the topic of the new one. This transition sentence might act only as an introduction to the paragraph, but it might also serve as the topic sentence.
• Topic sentence — The topic sentence states clearly what the paragraph is about. It might also function as the transition sentence.
• Sentences that develop the topic — You need sentences that develop the main idea of the topic sentence by expanding on that specific point with clarifying statements and specific evidence. Each paragraph will usually contain several of these sentences. When you write them, make sure each one builds clearly on the previous one without repeating information unnecessarily.
• Concluding sentence — Paragraphs usually also require a concluding sentence to tie everything together. The more complex your paragraph, the more likely such a sentence will be necessary to help your readers understand your argument.

After you write these paragraphs, it is important to see if they are in an order that makes sense. You can test your paper’s organization by printing it out and highlighting the topic sentences. If you read only these topic sentences, your paper should make sense. If it doesn’t, think about what paragraphs you might need to add or how you could reorganize the ones you have.

Your essay also requires specific kinds of paragraphs in the following order:

• Introduction — Your introduction must come right to the point and tell your reader about the topic and scope of your essay. This paragraph will also include a thesis statement, that is, a sentence that states the core idea or main argument of your essay. (It can be difficult to write a topic sentence for your first draft, but after you have finished the whole essay, go back and rewrite the topic sentence.)
• Body paragraphs — You will probably have three or more body paragraphs in which you develop the idea set out in your introduction. Each one will address a key idea stated in a topic sentence and developed with specific evidence in additional sentences.
• Conclusion — This is your last paragraph. Use it to tell your reader what your essay has demonstrated. Under no circumstances should you use it to begin a new topic or introduce additional evidence.

There are many different kinds of essays, each with specific requirements. It is up to you to learn what your professor’s expectations are before writing the paper. When in doubt, ask. No matter what kind of essay you write, however, it must always contain the above ingredients.

Additional Considerations

When you write your essay, you are allowed to assume that your reader is intelligent, but you must also assume that he knows nothing about the topic. Include enough background information to make your essay understandable not only to your professor, but also to someone outside of the class.

This article assumes that you know how to write English without making a lot of mistakes. Since everyone makes mistakes, however, I have written several posts about proofreading. See also the posts about the differences between informal and formal English prose, especially “Contractions” and “Using ‘I’ and ‘You’ in Academic Prose”. Keep in mind too that knowing the right word and using it are two different things. Remember to use your dictionary not only to find words and definitions, but also for information about how to use words. Finally, see the Books page of this blog for links to further resources.

Besides using these resources, you should see if your university or school has any writing tutors. Such tutors are not there to proofread your work, but rather to help you master the mechanics of writing. Each university I teach at has such tutors at a “writing center.” To use their services, you must make an appointment in advance and then plan on focussing on specific issues that are causing you trouble.

Useful Links

• George Mason University Writing Center
• Georgetown University Writing Center
• English Works! Writing: Essays
• Essay Writing
• Guide to Writing a Basic Essay