5.1: Essay Structure

Essay Structure Basics

Now that you have had more practice writing paragraphs, you are ready to start writing essays. If you feel nervous about this, that’s okay!  Remember, just like with anything, you can grow as an essay writer with practice and time.    

You may recall that earlier it was stated that standalone paragraphs can be considered “mini essays.”  This is because the key structural parts of the paragraph often correlate to the key structural parts of an essay, as the following diagram shows:  

This diagram illustrates that when you write an essay, you are using multiple paragraphs to develop one idea or opinion, rather than just one paragraph. Like a paragraph, an essay focuses on one point, which is called the thesis statement, and includes supporting points that develop that point.  

However, an essay is not just an expanded paragraph. For one thing, the thesis statement usually expresses an idea that requires more development than the idea expressed in a paragraph’s topic sentence. Therefore, an essay is broader in scope and thus needs to be longer.   

An essay has three main parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction gives readers background information, gets them interested, and provides the thesis statement. The body is composed of several paragraphs that include all of the evidence to explain or prove the thesis. The conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay.   

Just as a standalone paragraph’s structure can be explained using the illustration of a hamburger, so can the structure of an essay.    

photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash  

Like the three-decker hamburger above, an essay is composed of several separate pieces; in an essay, these pieces are composed of multiple paragraphs.    

• The top and bottom buns of the hamburger illustrate the introduction paragraph and the conclusion paragraph of an essay, which are composed of similar content, just as the top and bottom hamburger buns are each made of bread.   You will learn more about the focus of these paragraphs soon in this section, but as you can see with the first illustration in this section, the introduction and conclusion both are closely related to the essay’s thesis statement.  

• The hamburger’s meat patties represent the body paragraphs of the essay.   Even though this illustration shows three meat patties, an essay can have as many body paragraphs as the writer needs to develop and support the thesis statement well; there is no magic number!   Each body paragraph is developed with a topic sentence and supporting details, as you have already been practicing in the “Writing Paragraphs” chapter of this book.  

• The condiments and “fixin’s” of the hamburger, such as ketchup, mustard, pickles, cheese, onions, and whatever you like to have on a hamburger, are the “juicy details” of the essay—the supporting details that develop those.  Your experience with developing supporting details in standalone paragraphs will help you develop your essays’ supporting points. Also, you will be learning more tools to help you “grow” your paragraphs.  

Just as people enjoy hamburgers that are complete and satisfying, readers enjoy writing that is complete and satisfying.   Remembering the hamburger illustration as you develop your writing—be it a standalone paragraph or an essay—can help you think of the piece as a whole with separate yet interrelated parts.   

The Thesis Statement  

Your thesis statement is like a signpost that signals the essay’s destination; it tells readers the point you want to make about the topic of your essay, while the essay itself supports that point. In the majority of essays, a thesis is one sentence long and appears toward the end of the introduction.   

In your pre-writing step, you explore and brainstorm to determine your essay topic and to narrow down a possible point that you want to make about that topic. When put together in a sentence, these make your working thesis statement.  It is a “working” thesis statement because the focus and wording of it can still be changed—it is like a “draft” thesis statement. Remember, writing is messy--using the writing process helps you develop your ideas and form gradually.  As you work through the steps of the writing process, your final thesis statement will become apparent to you because you will be thinking more and more about the topic and what you want to say about the topic.    

A thesis has two components:  

• It states the topic of the essay  

• It also states the writer’s point (claim, point of view, judgment) about the topic. (This is also referred to as the controlling point or idea.)  

Does this sound familiar to you?   You are right if you are thinking that the components of an essay’s thesis statement are very similar to those of a paragraph’s topic sentence.   The main difference is the scope:  the thesis statement “covers” the scope of the whole essay rather than just one paragraph.     

Think of the thesis statement as an umbrella, covering everything under it and being supported by what is under it, as an umbrella is supported by its handle.   Your supporting points and details are the “handle,” supporting your thesis.  

photo by Vincent Péré on Unsplash  

A thesis is not just a topic, but rather the writer’s specific viewpoint on the topic. For whatever topic you select (for example, school uniforms or social networking), you must ask yourself, “What do I want to say about it?” Asking and then answering this question is vital to forming a thesis that is precise and confident.  

Developing a Strong Thesis

A strong thesis statement must have the following qualities:   

• It must be supportable: The thesis statement must contain a point of view that can be supported with evidence (reasons, facts, examples).  

• It must be arguable: A thesis statement must state a point of view or judgment (not just a fact) about a topic. Another person could disagree with it.    

• It must be specific: A thesis statement must be precise enough to allow for a meaningful and clear discussion/argument and remain focused on the topic.  This is related to your thesis point not being too narrow or too broad.   

Developing Your Thesis Statement  

As you draft your thesis, make sure that it has both components: the topic and the point (claim, point of view, judgment) you are making about that topic. Here are some examples of topics that have been developed into thesis statements:  

Topic: Extreme sports   

Complete thesis statement: Extreme sports have been increasing in popularity for several reasons.   

Topic: Sending astronauts to Mars   

Complete thesis statement: Sending astronauts to Mars should become one of America’s priorities.   

Read the well-developed thesis statements below for more examples of how the topic and the writer’s point (claim) about the topic are expressed:  

1. Will Smith changed the way that African Americans were portrayed on television when he starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  

2. Everyone who tries Mom's seafood gumbo raves that it is a true culinary treat.  

3. In today’s crumbling job market, a high school diploma is not significant enough education to land a stable, lucrative job.  

4. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony in Romeo and Juliet spoils the outcome for the audience and weakens the plot.  

5. A merit pay system for teachers would help to improve the quality of public-school education.  

6. During his two terms of office, Barack Obama managed to achieve several needed improvements in the United States.  

Now that you have read about the contents of a good thesis statement and have seen examples, read the list below of what to avoid when developing your own thesis.  

Weak Thesis Techniques to Avoid

Weak Thesis Statement “Types” to Avoid:  

• A thesis is weak when it simply “announces” your subject or a description of what you will discuss in your essay. o Weak thesis statement: My paper will explain why imagination is more important than knowledge.  

Note: As in the example above, a thesis is weakened by directly referring to yourself, your essay or writing process, which is “announcing.”  Doing this eliminates the thesis’ clear topic, point, or both, and causes your voice to sound unconfident, as well.   

• A thesis is weak when it makes an unreasonable or outrageous claim or insults the opposing side.  

• Weak thesis statement: Religious radicals across America are trying to legislate their Puritanical beliefs by banning required high school books.  

Note: Keep your tone reasonable as well as provide a point (claim) that is clearly supportable and arguable.  

• A thesis is weak when it contains an obvious fact or something that no one can disagree with or provides a dead end. o Weak thesis statement: Advertising companies use sex to sell their products.  

Note: Using a fact for your thesis point (claim) will result in your not being able to support it because there is no argument or discussion left to say about it.     

• A thesis is weak when the statement is too broad.  

• Weak thesis statement: The life of Abraham Lincoln was long and challenging.  

Note: If you are thinking that your essay will need to be overly long to cover your topic well, then it is likely that your thesis point is too broad, as with the example above.  Also, the danger with a too-broad thesis statement point is that you may be tempted to be very general in your essay, which would not be very interesting to you or the reader.   

• A question is used instead of a thesis.  

• Weak thesis statement:   What do you think about teens use of social media these days?  

Note:   A thesis statement is never a question, because the topic and the point are not made clear with a question.   Also, using a question often forces the writer to shift the point of view of the essay with the use of “you,” which is confusing and distracting to the reader.  

Exercise 5.1 a: Evaluating and Revising Thesis Statements  

Read the following thesis statements. On a separate piece of paper, identify each as weak or strong. For those that are weak, list the reasons why. Then revise the weak statements so that they conform to the requirements of a strong thesis.  

1. The subject of this paper is my experience with ferrets as pets.  

2. The government must expand its funding for research on renewable energy resources in order to prepare for the impending end of oil.  

3. Kansas is part of the region known as the Great Plains.   

4. There are lots of reasons why slot machines should not be legalized in Baltimore.  

5. Because many children’s toys have potential safety hazards that could lead to injury, it is clear that not all children’s toys are safe.  

6. How can parents discipline their children effectively?   

Exercise 5.1b: Thesis Statement Practice  

Write a thesis statement for each of the following topics.   

Then, choose one of the topics and create a list of supporting points that could be developed into one or more paragraphs each.  

1. Texting while driving  

2. Effects of social media use  

3. Healthy eating habits  

4. Video games  

5. Online shopping  

Section Takeaways:  

• Essays have multiple paragraphs and are made up of the introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and the conclusion paragraph.    

• There is no magic number of body paragraphs in an essay. Rather, this should be determined by how many are needed to develop and support the thesis well and to meet the essay assignment’s scope and requirements.   

• Each essay is guided by a thesis statement, which provides the essay topic and the writer’s point (claim, point of view, judgment) about that topic.    

• A working thesis is a draft thesis that the writer may revise several times before arriving at the final thesis.    

• A strong thesis statement should be specific, supportable, and arguable.    

• A thesis statement should not be a question or simply an announcement of what the writer is going to cover in the essay.