Introduction to Academic Writing: Essay Structure

The importance of structure

• An academic essay should explicitly state its purpose and outline the way in which it plans to achieve that purpose.
• It should then methodically move through critical points supported by evidence until it supports all its claims and achieves its purpose.

Therefore, the strength of an academic essay lies in its logical argumentation through sound evidence and clear structure.

The basics of structure

Despite the variety you will find in the topics covered and arguments made across academic essays, the same basic structure underpins the writing. Here are the building blocks you will normally use to construct an academic essay:

Title

Check the rubric or assignment brief for any details about the essay title. In some cases, the module lead will ask everyone to use a predetermined title. If this is the case, follow those instructions.

If you have a chance to write your own title, make it short, but pertinent. Don’t just write the essay question. Capitalise it in the manner dictated by your subject area's style guide (find the link to your style guide for details). Many markers love a clever pun in the title, but do get to know your instructor's personality before trying this out!

Introduction

• Introduce us to your topic, your main argument, and how you plan to support that argument.
• Explain what you plan to write and why it matters.
• The introduction typically opens with broader context and then narrows to your specific aim and thesis.

For a detailed exploration of the introduction and its components, please see our Crafting the Introduction guide.

Body paragraphs

• Each paragraph should have a central focus that helps to develop and validate your central thesis. Establish that focus using a clear topic sentence.
• Within each paragraph, you should then move methodically through specific pieces of evidence and focused commentary connected to the topic sentence.
• Finally, you resolve the paragraph with a takeaway point and transition to the next topic (in a new paragraph).

In this way, your whole essay can move from more general writing (i.e., introducing) to more specific writing (i.e., citing evidence, supporting claims). If you cannot summarise each body paragraph into a few words easily, think about reorganising the essay's body, perhaps by amending the focus of your paragraphs.

There aren't hard and fast rules governing how long a body paragraph can be. However, if your paragraph lasts for an entire page, think about breaking it up.

Consider your own experience as a reader: if you shudder when an author forces you to wade through a whole-page paragraph, then why subject your readers to that tedium? 

Conclusion

Some people like a conclusion that reiterates the thesis and summarises the evidence. Other people like the conclusion to offer a new synthesis of the evidence to propose a solution. Others like a conclusion that offers new questions that have been raised. Ask your tutor which they prefer.

Diving deeper into structure

Check out these recorded webinars to develop your skills in devising and honing the building blocks of a strong academic essay.