Writing Composition: The Structure of an Essay

Contributed by:

Ivan Thu, Mar 03, 2022 09:59 PM UTC

Here, students will learn about the format and parts of a general essay. The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement, a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

1. The Structure of an Essay
The introduction of your essay must include a thesis
- The thesis should be near the end of the paragraph
To begin an introduction, you have a number of options:
- Write a personal and relevant anecdote
- Hook your readers in with some statistics or facts
- Give some background information on the topic
- Explain why what you’re going to be arguing is important
- Regardless of what you include in your introduction, it
should hook your readers and motivate them to read
the rest of the essay
After you’ve written your introduction, the body of your
essay will include your main arguments
- Generally begin and end your arguments with the
strongest points you’re going to make
- The structure of your body paragraphs must stick to the
“premise/proof/analysis” format

2. - It is always smart to address possible counter-arguments
and explain why they are debunked by your flawless logic
The conclusion of your essay should neatly tie up any loose
ends that were presented in the essay, and also leave the
reader with some questions to consider. These questions
should be extensions to your essay that are now only
relevant since you’ve made such a wonderful and flawless
Are these Thesis statements?
- The Canadian government operates in a democratic
fashion.
- Cats are far better animals than dogs because they are
self-sufficient.
- My favorite music is classical music.
- Othello is in fact a slave to himself because he was unable
to resist the temptation of giving into jealousy.

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