There is not a formula for structuring an essay. It depends on your style, the material you are using and even how you try to fit your argument into the word count.

However below is a rough guide to one approach – take it as approximate rather than definitive.

You might want to also look at the section on “Getting started: writing exercises” for alternative approaches to those presented here.

Structuring Your Essay

(Adapted from Cottrell, S. (1999) The Study Skills Handbook London: Macmillan)

Basically the structure of an academic work includes an introduction, a discussion (organised into paragraphs) and a conclusion.

Introduction

The introduction does the following:

Explain what the work is going to discuss and interpret the title for your reader
Identify the issues you are going to explore.
Give definitions of any key terms (though these may be explored in the discussion)
Give a brief outline of the steps and order of the points in your discussion

The length of an introduction is about one-tenth of the work.

Note that often you will come back to the introduction at the end. This is to ensure that it fits the points you ended up making.

Discussion (body of the work)

In the body of the work develop your argument or main line of reasoning.

Organise the discussion into paragraphs. A paragraph is a collection of sentences based around one main idea or point. Have each paragraph try to make a step forward in your points. Each main step in your argument will correspond to that described in your introduction.

Use the first sentence to make the main point of your paragraph as clearly as possible.

Use the following sentences to develop the main idea. This might be with examples, evidence quotations and references. The following sentences may also qualify the main point i.e. discuss its limits or where the main idea does not apply.

Sometimes the first sentences will stand on its own, but sometimes you will need to link it to the previous paragraph.

As a test try reading only the first sentence of each paragraph to see if the points follow.

Conclusion

The conclusion does the following:

Summarise the main arguments and themes.
State your general conclusions.
Make it clear why those conclusions are significant.
Refer back to the title or brief and directly address it or ‘answer’ it.

The conclusion should not introduce new material. This should have been in the discussion.

You should write explicitly about what you think the significance and the limitations of your research are – it is easy to assume that it speaks for itself or that other people are as familiar with it as you.

The conclusion will be about a tenth of the word count.

A checklist

Keep in mind these points as you are writing:

How effective is your introduction?
Have you answered your question directly?
Have you identified the key issues clearly?
Have you appraised your material critically?
Have you foregrounded your own ideas?
Is your argument presented coherently?
Is the material organised tightly?
Have you drawn on a wide range of sources?
Is your argument well supported by evidence?
Have you referenced your sources honestly and accurately?
Have you checked for spelling and sentence structure?