Essay Structure: for Analytical, Informative, Research-based, or Persuasive Essays

1. Introduction paragraph

Generalization: also called an opener.  Lay the groundwork for your essay without getting into much detail.  Think about what the reader will have to know about before reading your thesis. Get them interested with an observation or comment that is accessible (without prior knowledge of your topic)

Funnel: the basic information that a reader needs to make sense to the thesis such as authors name and title of the text. What the essay is about and how this topic is important.

Thesis: the super-topic-sentence, the point of the whole essay.  Choose a thesis that can be approached from different ways, or has multiple points inside it, so you can use multiple body paragraphs.


2. Body Paragraphs (as many as needed)

Topic Sentence: should help prove one side of thesis

Evidence 1: fact to support topic sentence, can be observable,

text-based [quote or paraphrase], or numbers

Explanation 1: in your own words, how the Evidence is linked to the topic sentence. Be sure to get past the surface level detailsthe explanation does not summarize the evidenceyour reader is smart enough to understand the evidence on their own!  Get to why the evidence is important, what the evidence means, how it applies to your topic sentence. The effect, why the author uses that device.

d. & e. Evidence & Explanation  2: should also prove topic sentence with evidence and

      explanation, in a slightly different manner, angle, or instance than EV/EXP 1.


h. Little Conclusion: to wrap up paragraph. Be sure to encompass all the EV in this

      step, not just the third EV/EXP. You may have to zoom out a bit to accomplish it.

3. Conclusion Paragraph

Restated thesis: different wording than the first time

Review main points: briefly go over the major points (topic sentences) to remind the reader. Now that the reader has seen the arguments in detail, you can be more specific and particular here.

Closer/Insight: should make the reader think about your essay after they finish reading it: a major conclusion, application, call to action, or insight.  Insights can be broad statements about the topic, applications or connections of topic to something relevant to the reader, or ideas about why the topic is important (the impact or effect it has on things, what resulted from this, what would have happened without it).

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:
MLA Parenthetical Documentation (In-text citation)

Parenthetical Documentation is the way to provide your reader with the source of your information during the reading of your essay.


Use parenthetical documentation for stating: direct quotations, summarizing information, and paraphrasing to give credit to the author for the information stated.


**Note: The period is OUTSIDE the parentheses.**


DIRECT QUOTES:

Example: The author writes, "Mike was a decent boy, who understood manners" (Smith 21).


Example of page number included in launch: On page 21, the text says, "Mike was a decent boy, who understood manners" (Smith).


Example of author and article included in launch: In her article, Junior Etiquette, Jane Smith writes, "Mike was a decent boy, who understood manners" (21).


PARAPHRASES:

Example: The author describes Mike as a well-behaved young man (Smith 21).


The basic format for citing a book chapter in MLA format is:

Author(s) of Chapter. Translator. "Title of Chapter: Subtitle of Chapter." Title of Book,, Publisher, Publication Date, page numbers.





MISSING INFORMATION?

When there is no author listed, use the first word of the title (other than A, An, or The) in quotation marks, like this:      (Study1).


If there is no page number, put np where the page number would normally go:    (Smith np).





Rules for Formal Writing Checklist

1. Read the directions carefully and make sure you understand what you are being asked to do.

2. Use present tense when writing about literature. Do not shift tenses without reason.

3. Do not use contractions or abbreviations.

4. Stay in third person (No: I, me, you, your, we, our, us, or any form of these words).

5. Do not use I think or I believe.

6. When out numbers under 10.

7. Do not use slang terms. (For example, kids is considered to be a slang term. It may be replaced

    with children, youth, students, or something similar.)

8. Clarify pronouns so it is clear about whom you are speaking.

9. Do not begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction (examples are: and, or, so, but). They

    connect sentences.

10. Remember that the written word is more formal than the spoken word. Do not write as if you are

    speaking to a friend unless the assignment specifically calls for that (such as a friendly letter).