The Parts of an Essay

Your Guide to Writing Strong Academic Essays

Literary Analysis

The goals for literary analysisClosely examine texts Interpret, understand texts’ meaningsAppreciate the writer’s techniques

Most importantly: How do the parts work together to make a whole?

Your Audience

Your audience is your teacherShe has read the texts: NO SUMMARYAssume you know something about the texts

that she doesn’t. Your goal is to explain YOUR ideas about the text.

The Three Parts

IntroductionOne paragraph, maybe more in longer papers

BodyApproximately 2 paragraphs per pageThis is not the five paragraph essay

ConclusionOne paragraph, maybe more in longer papers

Introduction

Establish common ground with the reader, but no overgeneralizations

Should provide necessary background information or context.

Should give a brief preview of the upcoming essay, a couple sentences

Thesis statement is the last sentence of the first paragraph.

The Thesis Statement

must be one sentence is the most important sentence in the

essay Must take a position with which a

reasonable person might disagree Should be specific and bold and

interpretive

The Body

Develops and supports the thesis statement By providing specific examples and evidenceBy interpreting and explaining the significance

of said examples and evidence Ideas should proceed in a logical order

and advance the argument step by step

The Body Paragraph

The typical body paragraph will have these elements:Topic sentence, and perhaps transition Context for a quotationTextual evidence Interpretation of the textConcluding thought, and perhaps transition

Evidence is essential

Paraphrases Writer briefly describes a passage of the story Good when content matters more than language

Quotations Good for phrases and when the language itself is

important Weave quotes into your own sentences Only use the most important part of the quote, not

whole sentence Don’t overuse quotations

The Conclusion

Should not be a summary Provide closure for the reader

Answer the question, “Why is the idea I’ve been discussing important? Significant?”

Bring the ideas you’ve been discussing out of the literature and into the real world

Conventions

Third Person Present tense MLA Format: citations and heading Serious, academic tone; but not cluttered

or inflated – keep the writing tight and focused

Avoid rhetorical questions