Organization of an Essay: Writing Hints

Any type of essay should be clearly organized so that your target audience can comprehend your opinion and gradually follow your thoughts. Being a student, you write a number of academic papers each semester. Thus, you must know that a typical essay format consists of five paragraphs and has the basic structure: introduction, three body paragraphs, and summary. Nevertheless, if you need to write a longer paper, you can adjust this format by adding more body paragraphs. The structure and subject matter of the paragraphs may vary, depending on the type of essay.

Compare and Contrast Essay

This type of academic paper elucidates the similarities and discrepancies between certain subjects. Its body paragraphs may be arranged in a point-to-point format or in a block format. The point-to-point format investigates one aspect in each paragraph and, at the same time, includes both subjects. The block format explains one subject in each paragraph. Let’s imagine we have the block format that is aimed at finding equal features of literary styles of Gustav Meyrink and Ernst Hoffmann. In this case, the first paragraph would initially concentrate on Meyrink, revealing several distinctive features of his style. Meanwhile, the second paragraph would reflect the main nuances of Hoffmann’s style. On the contrary, the point-to-point format discussing the same topic would have a different strategy. It would elucidate a separate point of the writers’ literary styles in each paragraph to portray both Meyrink and Hoffmann’s approaches.

Division and Classification Essay

As the name implies, this type of essay classifies interrelated notions and topics into paragraphs. Each argument intended to support the fundamental idea reflected in the thesis statement is presented in a separate paragraph with sufficient evidence. For a coherent representation of the paragraphs, they should be ordered chronologically or according to the importance of the matters under discussion. The strict order of paragraphs is usually required when writing an essay about historical events.

Cause and Effect Essay

This type of essay elucidates the causes of particular events or phenomena and their subsequent outcomes. The task of the writer is to find the source that produced the effect and the initiator of the cause in order to reflect on it in the essay. The framework of cause and effect essay consists of three body paragraphs. The reason for the emergence of the problem that is being scrutinized should be introduced in the first place. The elucidation of the effect entails the detailed information about the consequences of the problem and its examples. The connection between the reason and outcome should be analyzed in the last paragraph.

Other Essay Formats

The pro-and-con format reveals another essay structure. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of a certain phenomenon, presenting a contrasting argument. The typical narrative format tells a story in chronological order unless it entails some literary technique that intentionally reverses logical order.

The organization of your essay may vary, especially if you receive a creative assignment. However, usually, your arguments should be presented constructively and logically.