A Great Essay Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

An essay is made up of the introduction, three main points the body , and the conclusion. So it looks like this: of course depending on the length and breadth of your paper you may have more than three main points. What am i talking about in this paper? by answering this question you let the reader know what the subject of the paper is. For example, if your paper were about a particular book, your answer to this question would give the title, author, and any other necessary information.

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How am i going to talk about it? this is where you let the reader know how your paper is organized. Here you very briefly introduce your main points or the evidence that will prove your point. The thesis is usually the last sentence in the first paragraph and it clearly states the argument or point you are making in your paper. The body consists of everything between your intro and conclusion and it is where you discuss your three main points.

A good starting place is to envision that each point is a separate paragraph or in a long paper each point might be a section. In each paragraph you: give supporting evidence this is where quotes go! explain how the point and evidence relate to your thesis basically, the conclusion restates the introduction. A good way to do this is to create a proof that might look something like this: point one+point two+point three thesis topic: how to write a good essay hi cortnie and thanks for stopping by classbrain.com! what a good question! even after graduating with a degree in english and writing hundreds of papers i still rely on one single thing to help me write the best possible essay i can. You may have great ideas and facts that you want to write about, but somewhere during the writing process you start mixing them up. Suddenly your perfect paper sounds all wrong and you want to scream! i've found that the best papers i've ever written meaning my a papers have all started with a good, solid outline. Your thoughts are organized and the teacher can understand your main point which is your thesis and how you supported that point. End the paragraph with your thesis statement 3 main points you are going to support a.

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The very first definition is of a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative. The reality, if any of you have read a blog recently, is that essays can be much more than that. Whether it’s a high school essay, a college research paper or even an important office memo at your new job, at any given moment chances are you’d probably rather not be doing it. The stress of it all has twenty different things going on in your head at once: where to start? what do i write about? how do i keep the momentum? what about pacing? i need a good grade, or a promotion, with a raise, a lot is riding on this! calm yourself. Writing the perfect paper, the kickass memo, the stellar essay about anything is not only possible, it’s easy. It takes discipline, foresight, research, strategy, and, if done right, ends in total victory. That’s why i stole my formula from an ancient military tactic, invented by the spartans the guys in the movie 300 .

This tactic was a favorite of great generals like brasidas and xenophon an actual student of socrates and was deployed successfully in combat countless times. I figure: if this one trick can protect a ten thousand man march through hostile territory, country after country, it can probably work for something as silly and temporary as a paper or an essay. We’re going to use this tactic as a metaphor also a great term to use in our essays for the structural elements of our essay.

Forget commentary/concrete detail/commentary/concrete detail and all that nonsense. Here’s xenophon talking about this tactic in his anabasis: it would be safer for us to march with the hoplites forming a hollow square, so that the baggage and the general crowd would be more secure inside. If, then, we are told now who should be in the front of the square and who organize the leading detachments, and who should be on the two flanks, and who should be responsible for the rear. Basically, their tactic was this: to successfully march or retreat, the general brings his troops together in an outward facing square with their supplies and wounded in the middle and the strongest troops at the front and back. As they moved away from unfavorable ground, the men would defend their side, stepping out only slightly to meet their attackers and then retreating immediately back to the safety of the shape. And thus they were completely impenetrable, able to travel fluidly as well as slowly demoralize the attacking army.

As xenophon wrote, the idea was that having prepared a hollow square in advance, we should not have to plan everything defense related when the enemy is approaching but could immediately make use of those who have been specially detailed for the job. Consider your introduction as the creator of the shape, and then the following paragraphs making up each side. They venture outwards when called to, but never abandon the safety of the formation entirely. In terms of writing, you need only to create a handful of original sentences for the entire essay: a thesis, a theme, a mini thesis that begins each paragraph and a concluding sentence that says what it all means. Together they create the square, and this serves as the point of return much like chuck palahniuk’s concept of chorus lines see fight club, where, whenever the plot gets off track, he immediately comes back to something like, i am jacks sense of rejection. The idea is to keep the reader protected, just the troops flowing in and out of the square kept the hollow middle, and thus the whole square, safe.

Let’s say you’re a high school student taking english or a college student stuck in a writing intensive core class. Essentially, the format requires just six original sentences and the rest is nothing more than reiteration and support of the ideas in those original sentences. Just like the tactics of brasidas, you forge the rudimentary shape with the introduction and then all that’s left is defense everyone every word knows their job. No longer is the professor grading you in terms of the prompt, because you have redefined the dynamic on your terms. By emphatically laying out your own rules and track, excellence is achieved simply by following them. You place the reader in the middle of the square, protected by all sides, and methodically move them forward, defending doubts and objections as they arise.

I’ll go into specific examples soon, but here’s a hypothetical outline for a five page paper: 1. When citizens exhibit a flagrant disregard of morality and law, societies quickly crumble. Scott fitzgeralds the great gatsby with blatant corruption and illegal activity eventually seems to become all but incompatible with a meaningful incarnation of the american dream. Ex: though gatsby was a bootlegger, he was driven by hope and love, rather than the greed that motivated his status obsessed guests. Restate the hook and thesis into a single transition sentence into the first paragraph.

The 1920s as the epitome of excess and reactionism symbolized a sharp break in the american tradition one that no one seemed to mind. notes/advice: some say the thesis should go at the bottom of the intro instead of the top, which i think is a huge mistake. Conclusions are often the most difficult part of an essay to write, and many writers feel that they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. A writer needs to keep in mind that the conclusion is often what a reader remembers best. Stress the importance of the thesis statement, give the essay a sense of completeness, and leave a final impression on the reader. answer the question so what? show your readers why this paper was important. synthesize, don't summarize don't simply repeat things that were in your paper.

Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you used were not random, but fit together. redirect your readers give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your paper in the real world. If your introduction went from general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general.

create a new meaning you don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. strategies echoing the introduction: echoing your introduction can be a good strategy if it is meant to bring the reader full circle. If you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay was helpful in creating a new understanding. From the parking lot, i could see the towers of the castle of the magic kingdom standing stately against the blue sky.

As i entered the gate, main street stretched before me with its quaint shops evoking an old fashioned small town so charming it could never have existed. Disneyland may have been built for children, but it brings out the child in adults. Closing time, leaving the front gates with the now dark towers of the magic kingdom behind me. I could see tired children, toddling along and struggling to keep their eyes open as best they could.

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