Umenwanne Emeka
Department Of Political Science
Faculty Of Social Science
River State University Of Science And Technology Nkpolu-Oroworukwu Port-Harcourt Nigeria
DE.2019/PT/2442
Topic : How to Write an Essay

Components of a Good Essay
An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone of something or to
simply inform the reader about a particular topic. In order for the reader to be convinced or
adequately informed, the essay must include several important components to make it flow in a
logical way. The main parts (or sections) to an essay are the intro, body, and conclusion. In a
standard short essay, five paragraphs can provide the reader with enough information in a short
amount of space. For a research paper or dissertation, however, it is essential that more than five
paragraphs are present in order not to overwhelm the reader with too much information in one
paragraph.

Intro:
 Must contain an attention grabber for the reader or at least make the essay sound
interesting, may begin with a quote about the particular topic
 Ensure that the intro moves from the general to the specific in regards to the topic
 Provides the reader with a “road map” of the essay in a logical order
 At the end there should be what is called a thesis statement, arguably the most important
component of the intro
 The thesis statement states the aim of the paper and may give insight into the author’s
examples and evidence

Body:
 Includes the evidence and support of the paper in addition to the author’s ideas
 Paragraphs must include a topic sentence which relates the discussion back to the thesis
statement
 Logical ordering of ideas: 3 types of order

1. Chronological order—order of time, good for narratives
2. Spatial order-good for descriptions of locations; top to bottom, e.g.
3. Emphatic order-least important to most important; most common for
   college writing
    Ensure that transition sentences are present to create a good flow to the essay
    Include substantial examples and evidence to support your argument and remember to
   cite, cite, cite!
    Make sure each example is relevant to your particular topic
4. 
   Conclusion:
    This section should wrap all of your arguments and points
    Should restate the main arguments in a simplified manner
    Ensure that the reader is left with something to think about, particularly if it is an
   argumentative essay.