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one of the most common writing stars at
university is the essay in this video
we'll look at structure structural
elements and we'll look at style we'll
look at each of these in turn
let's look at basic essay structure
essays essentially come in three parts
there's an introduction there's a body
section which is further divided into
subsections in paragraphs then there's a
conclusion section now every piece of
written work you'll do at university
will have a word count and the three
sections have percentages of the word
count now this is a guide only but the
introduction and conclusion are roughly
five percent each of the word count
while the body is 90 percent
you need to write within plus minus ten
percent of the total word count let's
look at an example based upon a two
thousand word essay if we're using our 5
percent guideline a introduction will be
a hundred words our conclusion will be
roughly a hundred words the body section
will account for the rest of the word
count 1,800 words now here's a tip if
you have to describe or define some
parts the descriptive sections will not
take as much of the word count as the
critical interpretive elements of the
response I'll say it the other way
around the critical interpretive
elements will always take more of the
word count than the descriptive parts so
think about that when you're dividing up
your words if you're describing or
you're defining terms at the start of
the paper that might be 200 words
section the next part might be 400 then
600 M not saying that exactly have to be
these numbers but what this tells us is
that the substantial elements the
interpretive critical elements look like
to me they're coming later on in this
body of work and the descriptive
elements are earlier so you can spend
your words a little bit like money you
can consider where to spend it let's
think about the introduction start with
general statements what this does is set
context for the reader and provides
background it says to the reader
basically this is what we're talking
about
this is the topic you may need to
provide definitions it moves then from
the general to a more specific focus it
narrows the topic to exactly what you're
talking about it positions the paper and
we call this the thesis or the thesis
statement where you offer the position
of the paper what the paper will do
there's an example there using key
strong verb this paper argues that and
what it does is that it offers a clear
structure to the paper in order and
that's a tip if you set out an order of
argument in your thesis statement this
paper will look at a B and C then a will
be the first section of the body B the
second C the third let's look at the
structure of the body now this is
divided into sections and we get these
sections from analyzing the task the
thesis statement frames these sections
it gives us the sequence of the sections
and positioning of the paper those
sections can be divided into smaller
paragraphs which are followed in a
linear sequence through the paper it's
cited and supported everything we do is
going to be supported with cited
examples and you need to know your
citation system and you'll know this by
working with the library using a library
website and we're always offering
relevant examples for support so this
principle of relevance is crucial
everything in the body section
everything in the whole paper must be
relevant to the task so a tip use
language from the task from the question
use key terms in the paper to show that
you're on task let's move on to
paragraphing a question how long should
a paragraph P have a think about that
it's a bit of a trick answer
there's no set length paragraphs are
ideal units one main idea new idea new
paragraph and the main idea is signaled
by a topic sentence there are some
examples the primary cause a key
solution usually found at the start of
the paragraph
most pages are divided into paragraphs
so some tips avoid overly short
paragraphs ones of one to two sentences
lack elaboration overly long paragraphs
over half a page it can be difficult to
follow the message paragraph length will
vary what you have to ask yourself is
does it all support the main idea of the
paragraph let's look at the conclusion
you need to wrap up provide a logical
finish to the paper there's no new
material introduced here there should be
some reference to the question to the
topic to the thesis that you introduced
in the introduction you summarized
briefly now don't stop there this is a
classic mistake a lot of writers make
where they think the conclusion equals a
summary it doesn't you actually need to
provide some type of conclusion where
the reader takes away the main message
it essentially answers the question what
do I now know that I didn't know before
so for example what is the best solution
to juvenile diabetes it may offer a
solution it may offer future or next
steps the crucial thing for me in the
conclusion is that it actually concludes
something and answers that question what
do I now know so there's a process to
produce this work my tip to you is that
you start in the body so you analyze the
task you break it into sections you read
make notes you write you can then
produce your introduction and your
conclusion you go into an editing phase
where you're checking that all of those
elements we've talked about are present
and you think about the word count and
then you submit the paper so the
elements of academic style its formal if
you know the more formal forms use them
we use four
forms not contracted speech you can use
repeating abbreviations as long as you
put them in brackets after the first use
si writing is generally objective it's
generally not in the first person
because the focus is on the issue so
this paper versus I argue reflective
writing however does use the first
person it is a bit different we often
need to take a position so it may need
to be critical or interpretive there's
some language that does it some examples
it's cohesive and we use our signal
markers to join and signal ideas in our
paper the cohesive language joins the
content together it provides the
narrative now in essays we generally
don't use headings
that's a report thing that we do we
don't use it in headings the intro body
conclusion organized in sequence
paragraphs gives us the structure we
need so things to check before
submitting there's a checklist there
things such as you've used key terms
you've used paragraphs you have a clear
supported position importantly it's all
relevant so how can I get better read a
lot of reading look at models don't copy
them look at them for structure style
language past papers read the task brief
carefully identify key terms use them
also read the rubric look at what's
expected how its graded take note of
feedback and a big one commit to
improvement academic writing improvement
can be a long process for more tips and
resources search for academic skills uni
Melba
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