Writing an academic essay means fashioning a coherent set of ideas into an argument. As it is a text about an idea, the essay must be a clear well-structured text and make clear for the reader what are the important points of it.
The focus of such an essay predicts its structure. It
dictates the information readers need to know and the order in which they need
to receive it. Despite of the existence of guidelines to construct certain kind of essays, there is not a set formula to suit all of them.
Answering Questions: The Parts of an Essay
A typical essay contains many different kinds of
information, often located in specialized parts or sections. Introductions and conclusions have fixed
places, but other parts don't. Counterargument, for example, may appear within
a paragraph, as part of the beginning, or before
the ending. Background material (historical context or biographical information, the definition of a key term) often
appears at the beginning of the essay, between the introduction and the first
analytical section, but might also appear near the beginning of the specific
section to which it's relevant.
To help yourself out you can ask to your essay these three following questions, if it can answer them, then your essay is correct, if not it could be seen as a simply observation of a fact.
"What?"
To answer this question you should give an evidence demostrating that your argument is true. Normally you should put this directly after the introduction. As you are writing about your observations, in this part is where you should write more, but be aware that this part should not occupy more than a third of your finished essay or it will lack balance.
"How?"
This question usually should be answered at the end of the essay as it would be answering any counterargument the reader could possibly have. Although, this section can be placed just after the "what" section as the reader's counter argument can appear just about anywhere in the essay.
"Why?"
Your reader will also
want to know what's at stake in your claim: Why does your interpretation of a
phenomenon matter to anyone beside you? This question addresses the larger
implications of your thesis. It allows your readers to understand your essay
within a larger context. In answering "why", your essay explains its
own significance. Although you might gesture at this question in your
introduction, the fullest answer to it properly belongs at your essay's end. If
you leave it out, your readers will experience your essay as unfinished—or,
worse, as pointless or insular.
Mapping an Essay
Structuring your essay according to a reader's logic means
examining your thesis and anticipating what a reader needs to know, and in what
sequence, in order to grasp and be convinced by your argument as it unfolds.
The easiest way to do this is to map the essay's ideas via a written narrative.
Such an account will give you a preliminary record of your ideas, and will
allow you to remind yourself at every turn of the reader's needs in
understanding your idea.
Essay maps ask you to predict where your reader will expect
background information, counterargument, close analysis of a primary source, or
a turn to secondary source material. You can use a map like this:
- State your thesis in a sentence or two, then write another sentence saying why it's important to make that claim. Indicate, in other words, what a reader might learn by exploring the claim with you. Here you're anticipating your answer to the "why" question that you'll eventually flesh out in your conclusion.
- Begin your next sentence like this: "To be convinced by my claim, the first thing a reader needs to know is . . ." Then say why that's the first thing a reader needs to know, and name one or two items of evidence you think will make the case. This will start you off on answering the "what" question. (Alternately, you may find that the first thing your reader needs to know is some background information.)
- Begin each of the following sentences like this: "The next thing my reader needs to know is . . ." Once again, say why, and name some evidence. Continue until you've mapped out your essay.
Your map should naturally take you through some preliminary
answers to the basic questions of what, how, and why. It is not a contract,
though—the order in which the ideas appear is not a rigid one. Essay maps are
flexible; they evolve with your ideas.
No comments :
Post a Comment