Lecture: Format for Essays
According to your syllabus and course schedule provided to you in the COURSE INFORMATION section, you must have noticed that you will be required to write 4 essays for this course. Here is a complete lecture on different parts of an academic essay to help you understand one of the formats of an academic essay to ease your way through writing a well documented academic essay. Before attempting to write any essay, make it a habit to read this lecture to familiarize yourself with the understanding of different parts of the essay and its format.
NOTE: Any essay that you write for this course must be persuasive. Dont just provide information but try to persuade your reader.
.There are three main parts of an essay:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DEVELOPMENT
3. CONCLUSION
The following is a discussion of each part in detail:
1. INTRODUCTION: A good introduction must have the following three parts:
A. Approach Step
B. Thesis Statement
C. Method Statement with your Assertions
A. Approach Step: An Approach Step plays the role of an attention getter in the introduction of an essay. The main purpose of the Approach Step is to prepare the reader to better understand the Thesis Statement in the light of some additional information provided to the reader, which will not only attract the reader into reading the essay but also help the reader into seeing the Thesis Statement from a clearer perspective.
If you want your reader to read what you have to offer to him/her in your essay, make sure you provide the reader with some background information about the topic. That's why when you select a topic from the given list, your job is to go online or go to the library and look for material related to your topic. This will not only expose you to what others have written about the same topic, but also allow you to see what aspects of the topics have been discussed in other sources. Such readings will not only enrich you with the knowledge about that topic, but also assist you in narrowing down the focus of your topic. This stage of preliminary research is a stepping stone to the next important aspect of the introduction as discussed in the following paragraph. But in the meantime, it would be to your advantage to know that you can use a combination of the following techniques to write a real catchy Approach Step:
a) Ask a question
b) Give a definition
c) Insert a quotation
d) State a fact of statistic
e) Give a historical background
f) Write a narrative or anecdote
g) Reject of a widely accepted opinion
h) Provide a reference to a current and/or controversial topic.
When you have written 4-5 sentences long Approach Step as your attention getter, the next step would be to tie in the Thesis Statement into it.
B. Thesis Statement: The Thesis Statement is the core/heart of the essay, so make sure to word it properly. A Thesis statement must be unified and must have the name of the topic and opinion mentioned in it. For Example, if you are interested in the topic, "Capital Punishment", then you must determine what aspect of "Capital Punishment issue would you like to focus on. There are several: "Should Capital Punishment be Abolished?", or "Capital Punishment Should be Imposed Throughout the United States", or "Capital Punishment Does Not Achieve Its Goals", etc, but you will only choose one focused, persuasive, logical, and coherent thesis statement for your paper. Once you have decided on your Thesis Statement, the next step would be to tie in the Method Statement into it.
C. Method Statement with your Assertions: This part will tell your reader about how you will support your thesis statement. For example, if you selected CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DOES NOT ACHIEVE ITS GOALS, as your thesis statement, then your Method Statement will branch out into 4 assertions that you will discuss in the essay in four different paragraphs in your selected order. For example, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS INEFFECTIVE BECAUSE IT FAILS TO PUNISH THE CRIMINAL, FAILS TO PROTECT SOCIETY, FAILS TO DETER CRIME, AND IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE. These four are your assertions that not only support your thesis statement but also will also help you to develop your essay by becoming the topic sentences of each body paragraph of the essay.
2. BODY/DEVELOPMENT: After having included all the three main parts (Approach Step, Thesis Statement, and Method Statement) in one paragraph of the INTRODUCTION, you will then proceed to expand the body of your essay by using each assertion mentioned in the method statement as the topic sentence for each of the four paragraphs required in the body/development part of the essay. When you are done with developing all the four paragraphs in the body of your essay, the next step would be to conclude your essay in the conclusion part of the essay.
3. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of your essay must be equally convincing and meaningful as the Introduction of your essay. It is not necessary to repeat the method statement verbatim in your conclusion, but you can restate it using a different style and different words which should be followed by your comments as the author of the essay. You must choose your comments very carefully so that they will leave a lasting impression on your reader. You can use the following techniques to state your comments:
a) Give your readers a warning.
b) Lament about the loss of something (e.g. peace, respect, patriotism, thing, place, person, etc.)
c) Show reproof
d) Provide commendation for something good
e) Insert a quotation by a famous person
f) Predict the outcome or future based on your research of the issue that you have already discussed.
g) Provide suggestion for action
Besides knowing different parts of the essay as listed in this lecture, there are other parts Topic Selection Sheet, Outline, Works Cited Page (Optional), and In-text Citation & Documentation (Optional) about which you would need to know in the process of writing an essay, and they will all be discussed in a sequential order here. Make sure that you go through all of these parts before attempting to write any given essay.
SAMPLES & INSTRUCTIONS FOR ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE ESSAYS
TOPIC SELECTION SHEET: If you look at your Course Calendar for the whole semester, you will notice that prior to sending in the draft of your essay, you will be required to participate in the discussion on each essay. It is during those discussions that you will first discuss about the Topic Selection (TS). This is the first step where you will lay the foundation for your essay. Make sure that you complete all parts of the TS and post it to the discussion board forum for each essay. During those discussions you will also critique at least three of your classmates Topic Selection, while they will critique yours and give you the best feedback. I will then go through it myself and give you feedback in the same discussion board forum. Prior to completing the TS you must do all the necessary readings given to you in the Course Schedule found in the Course Information section. Here is the format for the Topic Selection and for other parts of the essay:
FORMAT OF TOPIC SELECTION SHEET
Name of Topic:
Purpose for Selecting the Topic:
Audience (I am your surrogate audience, mention the actual audience for whom you are writing the essay):
Thesis Statement (Must include the topic and your opinion):
Method Statement (List four assertions to be discussed in the essay):
Sources: Since you will be writing your essays based on your readings from The Little Brown Reader, when you quote somebody from your readings or cite any material from your readings in the form of a summary or paraphrase, make sure that you document the source in the text by using MLA format shown in the Little Brown Handbook in Chapter 49. Then provide a Works Cited page with sources listed in alphabetical order.
OUTLINE: An outline is the road map to your essay and provides you and your reader with a sense of direction to move from one part of the essay to another. At the preliminary stage of writing a draft of your essay, your outline may also be in its preliminary stage, but it must be sent in with your draft to your classmates for peer critiquing. Once you receive it back and your essay is ready for grading you can change the outline to match your essay. Given below is a sample of one such outline with all the necessary parts listed in it:
Use the exact format with the same numbering system, headings, and subheadings in your outline.
-For your essays, you will have 4 main headings in the Method Statement and in the Developmental part of your essays.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Approach Step
B. Thesis Statement: We need to enforce stricter
laws for those causing road accidents.
C. Method Statement: This paper will discuss
highway accidents, accidents occurring within
city limits, accidents due to driving
distractions, and accidents due to road
construction.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Highway Accidents
1. Road rage amongst drivers
2. Sleeping at the wheel
3. Driving in blind spots
B. Accidents Within City Limits
1. Speeding through school zones
2. Passing through stop signs and
stop lights
3. Neglecting to look back before
reversing
C. Accidents due to driving distractions
1. Cellular phones
2. Eating while driving
3. Adjusting CD player or radio
D. Accidents Due to Road Construction
1. Speeding in construction zones
2. Ignoring signs
3. Not watching oncoming traffic
III. CONCLUSION
WORKS CITED PAGE: While reading other sources in order to gain knowledge about the topic, if you decided to borrow any information from them, then you must either summarize, or paraphrase, or use as direct quote in your essays wherever you would want to add credibility to what you wish to convey to your reader. Whatever you borrow must be incorporated into your own thoughts and after having inserted the in-text citation, you must document it using the MLA format. Refer to The Little Brown Handbook Chapter 46 on how to work with sources and Chapter 49 on how to document sources using the MLA format and on how to document in-text citations:
In the Works Cited sheet, if you list any sources they must be listed in MLA format in alphabetical order by referring to the The Little Brown Handbook Chapter 49, as follows:
-
Earnst, Edzard. "Spinal Manipulation: Its safety is uncertain". 'CMAJ" Canadian Medical Association Journal' 166.1 4 pars Jan.2002.
Moore, Stuart. 'Chiropractic in America'. Baltimore & London: The John Hopkins University Press: 2001.
Schafer, R.C. & Lois Sportelli. 'Chiropractic Health Care Careers'. Lincolnwood: Illinois, 1994.
NOTE: When you submit either the first draft to your classmates for peer critiquing or the final draft of your essay for grading to the DIGITAL DROP BOX (DDBOX) according to given timelines, you must include the following parts in the essay in the following order:
 Cover page with the title of your topic, your name, and class & section
 Outline
 Essay 4-5 pages long double spaced
 Works Cited if you have cited information from your readings in the paper
 Revised Topic Selection Assignment
NOTE: In the FINAL ESSAY #4, you will have to engage in a dialogue with your external sources either from your textbook readings or from reliable sources to back up your assertions, and therefore document them using MLA format.