The Basics of Essay Writing

Author: Gene Grzywacz
Every college student hears each and every professor say that writing an essay should consist of the basic component or parts. So what are they talking about, of course everyone knows that it must have a couple of paragraphs, a sentence detailing what it is about and must not be riddled with errors, but what all does the basic components consist of? There are a few more issues that the professors are referring to and the purpose of this article is to help you better understand the basic components and get an A+ for understanding the fundamentals.

Introduction

Everyone knows what the introduction is and what all it includes, right? Wrong many students fail miserably in the very opening statement of the essay because they do not have a clear understanding of how to write the introduction. Many professional writers and students alike write the introduction very last. That is because the essay may take a couple of different turns and the information in the introduction should detail exactly what is in the paper. The introduction length will vary with the different types of essays or research papers, but generally the introduction is only a paragraph or maybe three at max. Toward the end of the paragraph, the writer should sum it all up with the thesis sentence, topic sentence or clarifying statement. This gives the reader the ability to determine the direction that the author is taking with the paper as well as gives them an introduction to the topic at hand. This is very important and one of the most cited things from professors.

Hypothesis

Writing a hypothesis is not as difficult as many students believe it to be. Basically, a hypothesis is a statement about the writer beliefs about the relationship among the factors. It can be that one thing leads to another or may not have any effect at all. A hypothesis statement is generally one to two sentences and is a to the point statement. Sometimes an essay will call for a topic sentence or purpose statements, which is closely related to a hypothesis statement. The technical definition for a hypothesis is the writers believe about what will happen when an experiment is conducted. If the experiment was how sugar affects small children, the hypothesis statement maybe something like this: The consumption of sugar by small children will cause them to have sudden bursts of energy and become hyper. This is of course generic, and only an example.

The Essays Body

The body of the paper is by far the longest section of the paper. It includes several paragraphs that explain the topic at hand. The body of the paper actually details the information and proves or disproves the hypothesis. There are many different topics, citations, references and other information that leads the reader to understand what the paper is all about. Without clear and concise thoughts the reader will be lost in a paper full of jargon. Many students make the mistake of adding fluff to the paper that is really not relevant and can lead to a very poor grade. The best way to avoid this and have a good transition and a clear meaning within the paragraphs is to be well versed on the research pertaining to the topic at hand. It is very obvious when a writer has not preformed the necessary research or does not know about the topic. They may think that they are able to fool the professor or readers, but often times they are sadly mistaken. Another very important part of the body is the transitioning between paragraphs, ideas or other parts of the paper. In some cases this is called bridging and it means that one idea leads to another thought in the paper. For example if the student is writing a paper on sea life and needs to transition from Wales to dolphins the last paragraph about whales would link the two animals maybe even having a statement about the next topic, which is dolphins.

Conclusion of the Essay

The conclusion is the favorite part for many students when it comes to writing essays. This is because it is the area of the paper that is summarizing and it is almost finished. The conclusion is a very important part of the paper because it not only wraps up the thoughts and ideas of the paper, but also looks to a new direction for the topic at hand. This is just another way of summarizing the paper and giving the reader a feeling of completeness or closure to the thought or ideas expressed in the paper. The conclusion is generally between one and three paragraphs and summarizes the entire paper.