Basic Essay Structure

Basic Essay Structure One of the major challenges for many students about applying to college is knowing that they are full of passion and potential energy which hasn’t yet been converted into kinetic energy. That can make trying to communicate who you are as well as who you hope to become a daunting task. You might worry about sounding generic or not sounding like yourself or not sounding “smart” or “wise” enough. One of many students’ and parents’ biggest fears is the sheer anonymity of the process. It will also support the contention with argument and evidence. When first starting an essay, the big challenge ahead can seem daunting. Sometimes it may seem easier to do an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, hoping it will go away, but we both know that’s not going to happen. Procrastination can be a killer so stop avoiding the issue, and get cracking. Starting early allows yourself lots of time to do research, get feedback and rewrite your work, which in the long run is going to minimize stress. You may find many trustworthy academic resources there. To know what to look for, familiarize yourself with the library sections relevant to your topic. Library staff can direct you to valuable material. As instructors, we also have to give up some control over our assignments. For a truly student-centered process to work, we can’t ask leading questions or make decisions for our students. Giving students the reading, writing and thinking skills required for a process like this is, to put it mildly, challenging -- for students and instructors alike. We’re asking students to give up certainties and formulae, to dive into the unknown. We’re taking away the safety of falling back on generalizations, personal experience and conventional wisdom. Make sure you look for any spelling or grammar errors that you might have missed while writing. Before you start writing, take a minute to organize your thoughts. Write down important points that you want to make in your essay. If your instructor has specific requirements for the format of writing assignments, check them before submitting your essay. In history writing, the active voice is preferable to the passive voice. In the active voice, the subject completes the action (e.g. “Hitler initiated the Beer Hall putsch to seize control of the Bavarian government”). Is there a prevalent belief in your family or community with which you disagree? Tell the story of an argumentâ€"cordial or notâ€"that you’ve had with someone about this issue. Tell the story of a time you are proud of how you handled conflict in relation to this disagreement. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. In the passive voice, the action is completed by the subject (“The Beer Hall putsch was initiated by Hitler to seize control of the Bavarian government”). The active voice also helps prevent sentences from becoming long, wordy and unclear. One effective way to do this is with a brief summary of ‘what happened next’. For example, an essay discussing Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 might close with a couple of sentences about how he consolidated and strengthened his power in . A paragraph should focus on one topic or issue only â€" but it should contain a thorough exploration of that topic or issue. Every essay must have an introduction, a body of several paragraphs and a conclusion. Your paragraphs should be well organised and follow a logical sequence. At some point in your research, you should begin thinking about a contention for your essay. Remember, you should be able to express it briefly as if addressing the essay question in a single sentence, or summing up in a debate. An essay using this contention would then go on to explain and justify these statements in greater detail.