Everything You Should Know about a Proper Essay
Without structure you might confuse your reader – if not yourself – resulting in document that is difficult to read and one that earns a poor grade. The following explains everything you need to know about creating a proper paper structure:
Allow Your Thesis to Direct You
Assuming you have some idea of your main argument, draft a thesis statement to direct the rest of your structure. Read it aloud and identify its key components. You might find yourself revising it slightly or fleshing it out even more. This is perfectly acceptable and might even make developing the rest of your essay that much easier in terms of pre-preparation and organization. Use the key terminology within this statement to write out some of the main points you will need to discuss.
Sketch Out Your Argument
While your thesis statement does give your work some direction, it won’t specifically provide you with a plan for organizing all of your discussion points, supporting evidence/examples, and your ideas. So at this point it would be to your benefit to sketch out your argument in a short free write or mind map. You will then be able to take this document and build your essay outline which will further provide your assignment with some structural guidance.
Build a Detailed essay Outline
Having a detailed essay outline at your side is instrumental to the successful composition of an academic essay. It helps arrange your notes and ideas beforehand and keeps you on track as you write each draft. Some students can get by with a sparse or simple outline, but why do this when a detailed outline will make structuring your essay so much easier? Spend those extra few minutes putting in as much detail as possible and cut out those several minutes you might have spent in writing each draft.
