WRITING AN ESSAY

WRITING AN ESSAY
1. General structure of an essay
2. The opening/introduction: some ideas
3. The body: structure and organization
3.1. Paragraph structure
3.2. Giving unity to the text: using connectors and
referencing
4. The closing/conclusion
5. Steps and tips to write an essay
1. GENERAL STRUCTURE OF
AN ESSAY
An essay usually has three parts:
The opening or introduction: a general
presentation of the topic

The body: two or three paragraphs in which you

will develop what you expressed in the opening

The closing or conclusion: a paragraph which

summarises the main idea or presents a
conclusion.
2. THE OPENING

When you write the

opening to an essay,
you must try to
catch the reader's
attention.
Here are some
possibilities:
 QUESTIONS

Use one or more

questions
Then write a
statement to develop
in the different
paragraphs of the
body
For example:
 Read this introduction:
Advantages of living in a city
Are you tired of boring weekends in your
village with nothing interesting to do? Would
you like to break the monotony and have the
opportunity to experience something new
every now and then? Living in the city may
be what you need.
 PRONOUNS

Begin with an
unidentified pronoun
to arouse the
reader's curiosity.
Then reveal
what/who you are
talking about in the
last sentence of the
opening.
For example:
Advantages of living in a city
It means an end to
boring weekends. It
can help you to
break the monotony
and experience
something new
every now and then.
Living in the city
may be the change
you are looking for.
 INTERESTING DATA

Write a statement
providing
interesting,curious or
unexpected
information or data.

For example:
 Advantages of living in the
city
In the last thirty years, the aspect of our cities
has changed drastically. Due to the growth in
their population, thousands of new buildings
have been built where there were empty
spaces in the past. Then, what are the
advantages of moving to the city?
 3. The body: structure and
organization
Here you must
develop all the ideas
that you mentioned in
the introduction.
A paragraph develops
only one idea.
Different ideas go in
different paragraphs
 3.1.Paragraph structure

A paragraph must have

a TOPIC SENTENCE
expressing the main
idea.
You can write other
sentences which
support the topic
sentence: examples,
reasons, arguments
consequences, etc
For example:
Read these ideas and decide which one is
the TOPIC SENTENCE:

Advantages of living in a city

Cities are usually full of cinemas, restaurants, gyms,cafs,
nightclubs, theatres, monuments, etc.

People who live in the city have the opportunity to have fun in
many different ways.

If you are football lover, you will be able to see your team
play in their stadium every now and then and even ask your
favourite players for an autograph

In villages, people tend to do the same things all the time

 Try again:Which one is the topic
sentence?
If you want to see a film, you can choose from a wide range
of them at different cinemas which are usually located inside
interesting shopping malls.

There are hundreds of restaurants from a lot of different

parts of the world, so you can eat meals from China, Italy,
Spain,India, Mexico,etc.

You will never get bored in a city as you will be able to enjoy
your favourite pastimes in a different place each time

The existence of numerous parks helps citizens break the

monotony of boring afternoons with their children at home(
 3.2. Giving unity to the text:
using connectors and referencing

In order to make
your text coherent,
you must use
connectors and use
referencing devices,
such as personal
pronouns,
demonstratives,etc.
For example:
Advantages of living in a city
People who live in the city have the opportunity to have fun
in many different ways. Cities are usually full of cinemas,
restaurants, gyms,cafs, nightclubs, theatres, monuments,
etc. In addition, if you are football lover, you will be able to
see your team play in their stadium every now and then and
even ask your favourite players for an autograph. In
contrast, in villages, people tend to do the same things all
the time .
 You will never get bored in a city
as you will be able to enjoy your
favourite pastimes in a different
place each time. For example, if
you want to see a film, you can
choose from a wide range of them
at different cinemas which are
usually located inside interesting
shopping malls. Besides,there are
hundreds of restaurants from a lot
of different parts of the world, so
you can eat meals from China,
Italy, Spain,India, Mexico,etc.
Finally,The existence of numerous
parks helps citizens break the
monotony of boring afternoons
with their children at home
 4. The closing/conclusion

This paragraph closes

the essay.
It can be a summary or
opinion
It must be short and
clear
It MUSTN'T introduce
new ideas but reflect
what you said in the
body
 Advantages of living in the
city
Are you tired of boring weekends in your village with nothing interesting to do? Would you like to break
the monotony and have the opportunity to experience something new every now and then? Living in the
city may be what you need

People who live in the city have the opportunity to have fun in many different ways. Cities are usually full
of cinemas, restaurants, gyms,cafs, nightclubs, theatres, monuments, etc. In addition, if you are
football lover, you will be able to see your team play in their stadium every now and then and even ask
your favourite players for an autograph. In contrast, in villages, people tend to do the same things all the
time

You will never get bored in a city as you will be able to enjoy your favourite pastimes in a different place
each time. For example, if you want to see a film, you can choose from a wide range of them at different
cinemas which are usually located inside interesting shopping malls. Besides,there are hundreds of
restaurants from a lot of different parts of the world, so you can eat meals from China, Italy, Spain,India,
Mexico,etc. Finally,The existence of numerous parks helps citizens break the monotony of boring
afternoons with their children at home

To sum up, if you decide to live in the city, you will not get bored easily as you will find a good deal
of activities which you will be able to do at a different place whenever you like.Then, what are you
waiting for? Move to the city!
5. Steps and tips to write an
essay
1. Before writing,
brainstorm ideas
2. Decide which ideas
are topic
sentences and
which ones are
supporting
sentences
3. Discard irrelevant
ideas
4. Think of
connectors to join
your ideas.
5. Use synonyms,
antonyms, or
similar expressions
to avoid repetion of
words
6. Use referencing
devices (pronouns,
demonstratives, etc)
7. Write your
introduction and
conclusion only
AFTER you know
the ideas which
will go in the body
8. Think of grammar
rules and revise
your work before
handing it to your
teacher
That's it! You can be
a great writer!!