Structuring an essay: Skills Hub: University of Sussex.
Essays can be structured in many different ways, but they all include your thesis (a statement of the case you are making) and arguments based on evidence to support your thesis, logically organised.You will often be expected to include evidence against your thesis. This will be followed by a conclusion.
I didn't dedicate a certain amount of time to it each day or each week, instead I made a plan of which theories I wanted to include, and decided on a basic structure for the essay, which was introduction, a discussion of each theory with evidence for and against each one, a comparison of each theory against the asteroid impact theory, and a conclusion.
The general structure of an academic essay is similar to any other academic work, such as a presentation or a lecture. It too has an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. The general structure of an academic essay is shown in the diagram below. Each area is discussed in more detail in other sections of the website.
A compare and contrast essay is a type of essay which is used to explore both the similarities and the differences between two subjects by comparing and contrasting them against each other. A comparison seeks to present the similarities of two objects whereas a contrast aims at exposing the differences between two objects.
Essays are usually written in a discursive style, bringing together ideas, evidence and arguments to address a specific problem or question. They follow a particular structure: you will set out your argument in the introduction, build and present your argument in the main body, and should end with your overall key message or argument in the conclusion.
An argument essay structure can be organised in two ways. A Block structure is where the two main body paragraphs are divided separately into for or against OR a Point-by-Point structure where each main body paragraph has an argument followed by the counter argument. (see below) Introduction. More information: see introductions.
An argumentative essay requires you to decide on a topic and take a position on it. You'll need to back up your viewpoint with well-researched facts and information as well. One of the hardest parts is deciding which topic to write about, but there are plenty of ideas available to get you started.