Writing Essays

     So far, we have written paragraphs in our class. We wrote a self-introduction paragraph, and we are in the process of writing a narrative paragraph. As we continue, we will be writing more and more paragraphs. When you write four or five paragraphs about a given topic, you are already writing an essay.

     An essay is a collection of paragraphs about a given topic, the paragraphs are divided into introductuion, supporting details and conclusion. Very similar to the parts of a paragraph.

     An essay is a literary composition that expresses a certain idea or topic, followed by supporting statements. It will follow a logical pattern, to include an introductory paragraph, a body (or supporting details paragraph), and a conclusion (summary of statements and support).

                                                                      Figure 1:

     Figure 1 shows the basic structure of an essay. As you can see, an essay often has five (5) paragraphs.

     Remember the hamburger in Parts of a Paragraph? Well, the Parts of an Essay is very much the same:

     Keep in mind that this is a five (5) paragraph essay format. Meaning, there are at least three (3) supporting paragraphs between the Introduction and Conclusion.

    Essay writing is just an extension of paragraph writing, there are many similarities in their structure and format. So, when you are writing paragraphs, you already have the ability to write essays.