How to Write with Focus: Essay Structure

by Christy Noel

If you write for an audience, whether it's for an office newsletter or a national magazine, your articles will be more successful if you write with focus. Many inexperienced writers discover this the hard way. They ramble without ever capturing a single idea, or they skirt the edges of a subject without shaping a concrete conclusion. As a result, their articles rarely get accepted by magazines and their essays struggle to grab the reader, even with the most fascinating subject matter.

If you've come to writing later in life or if you've never had the opportunity to take a really good English class, you might not realize that a tool exists to help you focus your writing. How do you write an essay or article with focus? The answer is to use essay structure.

The basic essay consists of introduction, support, and conclusion. The introduction captures the interest of your reader and presents the main idea of your essay, otherwise known as a thesis. The body of your essay focuses on supporting or proving this thesis. Every paragraph in the body should offer support without going off topic. Finally, the conclusion restates the thesis, along with a closing remark or two. This reinforces the essay's topic in the reader's mind.

First, let's examine the introduction. The opening of your essay introduces your main idea. A good opening grabs the reader's attention and tells him why your topic is important. It may provide a brief background, a related anecdote, or a topical fact. Most importantly, the introduction presents the thesis, which you should be able to express in a single sentence. Some examples include arguing a specific position, presenting a lesson learned, explaining a process, or comparing and contrasting two items. A thesis should not be confused with a more general theme; the main idea of your essay should be specific and concrete. If you make your thesis too broad, you will have difficulty maintaining focus.

Once you have introduced your thesis, you must support it; this will make up the body of your essay. Before you begin writing, start by listing the main points that support your thesis. Then collect supporting facts, details, and examples to support each main point. Thus, each main point becomes the subject of a support paragraph—which is like a mini essay. The first sentence of each paragraph should clearly explain one main point, followed by supporting sentences using your details and examples, and finally wrapped up with a summary sentence of the paragraph's content. The other trick is to connect your supporting paragraphs so the essay flows smoothly. Transition words and phrases such as "first," "in addition to," "however," and "consequently" form the glue that holds ideas together as you shift from one to the next. Logical sequencing of content may also help you with transitions.

After compiling the main points for your topic, you should decide upon internal arrangement, which depends upon the type of essay you are writing. Many types exist to handle a wide range of theses. For example, a narrative essay uses the story of a personal experience to illustrate, support, or prove a clearly stated thesis such as a lesson learned. The narrative is more than a story plot; every detail of the narrative must connect to the thesis. Other examples include definition, description, sequence and explanation essays. Each of these breaks up into logical support components. For instance, an article about making bread might divide into sections on mixing, rising, forming, and baking. Another popular essay type is one which compares and contrasts two items. In this format, the writer may select three sub areas to compare and contrast, spending one paragraph each. When you prepare the main points and supporting details for your thesis, you should try to organize your points in a logical order, perhaps using an outline. Be aware that there may be more than one "right way." A problem-solution essay may logically fall into a sequence of events, or it may break up into a series of cause-effect-fix topics. As the writer, you must decide which organization fits your needs.

When you have finished supporting your thesis, you end with a conclusion or summary paragraph. Use the conclusion to restate the main idea of your essay in different words. This will reinforce the essay's subject in the reader's mind. Remind the reader of the strongest supporting points and provide a closing remark or two, such as a personal opinion or a plan of action. A good conclusion will not only give the reader a sense that your essay is complete, but it will also make your writing memorable.

Finally, you must decide upon an appropriate length for your essay, because this also affects overall structure. Most composition classes focus on the five paragraph essay: one paragraph each for introduction and conclusion, and three paragraphs given to supporting three main points. This basic construct allows the writer to quickly support or prove a main thesis. However, if your topic is more complicated, you may wish to elaborate with more support. For instance, the bread example above might require four support paragraphs. The same applies to introductions and conclusions. You may need to break the introductory paragraph structure if you wish to include a short anecdote of related dialogue to introduce your thesis. One common magazine article style presents the reader with a question, which the article then answers, sometimes with a numerically sorted list. Often you will see concluding paragraphs omitted from such articles. This works because the articles are typically short and extremely focused on the question-answer formula.

After you master the basic essay structure, you will find it much easier to know when and how to stretch the rules. Using essay structure will help you stay on topic; focus keeps the reader's attention so that he can understand your ideas. Essay structure isn't meant to be a boring rule that cramps your writing style. Structure fosters more memorable writing.


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For interest, I've included the outline I started with to write this essay.

Outline: How to Write with Focus: Essay Structure

Thesis: How to write an essay or article with focus by using essay structure.

  1. Overview of an essay
    1. introduction
    2. support
    3. conclusion
  2. The introduction
    1. getting the reader's attention
    2. main thesis
  3. Supporting paragraphs
    1. main points
    2. supporting details and examples
    3. transitions
  4. Essay type affects internal structure
    1. narrative or reflective essays
    2. definition, classification, description, sequence, choice, explanation, evaluation essays
    3. compare and contrast essay
    4. problem-solution essay
    5. suit your flow to the thesis
  5. The conclusion
    1. restating main points
    2. restating thesis
    3. closing remarks
  6. Essay length and complexity affects overall structure
    1. the basic essay
    2. longer essays and articles
    3. introduction lead-ins
    4. the list essay and omitted conclusions

Mar 9, 2004 at 10:00 PM
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