Simple Guide To Writing A Basic Essay – Part 2

According to Simple Guide to Writing a Basic Essay – Part 1, when deciding to write an essay we should consider three important things: subject, target reader(s) and purpose. Also, we recognized the main four types of essays and we became aware of the three components of every essay which are the introduction, the body and the conclusion. We have tackled only the introduction in part 1. Here is some information about the other two components.

2. The body of an essay:

The body of an essay is the part between the introduction and the conclusion. It contains as much information about the subject of the essay. It contains one paragraph at least but you can write more paragraphs depending on the subject and the amount of information you have about it. The body should give examples, evidence and more details.

Each paragraph in the body should include the following sentences:

• Topic sentence: to tell the reader what the paragraph is going to be about.
• Detail sentence: to tell the reader more about the subject. Each paragraph can have many detailed sentences which should include examples and evidence.
• Concluding sentence: to wrap up what has been already said in the paragraph and to prepare the readers for the next paragraph.

3. The end of an essay – The conclusion:

Just as every essay has a clear beginning, it should have a clear ending, too. It is the last paragraph which is known as the conclusion and which makes a sound finish to the essay.

The concluding paragraph typically has two parts:

1. The summary statement: which restates the thesis sentence in a fresh way to reinforce the main idea of the essay.

It is very important to start your concluding paragraph with a summary statement because it helps the reader to recall the ideas you have expressed in the essay.

To write a good summary statement, you should look again at the thesis sentence and try to rephrase it without repeating the keywords and phrases in the thesis sentence because you don’t want your summary statement to sound repetitive and boring. Using the thesaurus is a good way to find more interesting words with the same meaning.

Here is an example of a thesis sentence and a summary statement in an essay on “Toyota Corolla”

Thesis sentence: Many people prefer buying “Toyota Corolla” because of its competitive price, fuel economy, and high resale value.

Summary statement: reasonable price, low miles per gallon, and attractive resale value make the popularity of “Toyota Corolla” in today’s market.

2. The clincher: This is the final thought that should create a good and lasting impression on the reader. It is also referred to as the “closer” as it is your last opportunity to connect with the reader. To make a good clincher, you should return to the technique you used when writing the “hook” in the introduction. Here is a list of clinchers:

• Finish the story you told at the beginning.
• Ask a controversial question.
• Use another quotation related to the opener one.
• Make a prediction or recommendation based on the facts you presented.

Revise your essay:

Revision makes you consider which ideas to add or delete and which words or phrases to change to make your essay sound better. You should make sure that every word, sentence and paragraph makes sense to the reader. Here are three areas you should examine to improve the content and style of your essay:

1. Clarity: is the essay clearly and logically written?
2. Unity: do all the paragraphs relate to the central idea of the essay?
3. Coherence: do the ideas flow smoothly?

Proofread your essay:

Whereas revision focuses on improving the content of the essay. Proofreading deals with recognizing and correcting errors. These errors can relate to capitalization, punctuation, spelling and grammar.

Last-minute tips:

• If you have time, set your essay aside for a while and then come back to it later. You will notice ways to make your essay better, and you will see more errors to correct.
• Read the essay aloud to yourself. Often you will hear errors that you may not catch while reading silently.
• Have a friend read your essay and give you his/her feedback about errors, confusing parts, and suggestions for improvement.

Thanks For Reading

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