Simple Essay Format

You see, the conventions of English essays are more formulaic than you might think – and, in many ways, it can be as simple as counting to five.Though more advanced academic papers are a category all their own, the basic high school or college essay has the following standardized, five paragraph structure: Paragraph 1: Introduction Paragraph 2: Body 1 Paragraph 3: Body 2 Paragraph 4: Body 3 Paragraph 5: Conclusion Though it may seem formulaic – and, well, it is - the idea behind this structure is to make it easier for the reader to navigate the ideas put forth in an essay.You see, if your essay has the same structure as every other one, any reader should be able to quickly and easily find the information most relevant to them.

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Despite the fact that, as Shakespeare said, "the pen is mightier than the sword," the pen itself is not enough to make an effective writer.

In fact, though we may all like to think of ourselves as the next Shakespeare, inspiration alone is not the key to effective essay writing.

In fact, it took him more than 1,000 attempts to make the first incandescent bulb but, along the way, he learned quite a deal.

As he himself said, "I did not fail a thousand times but instead succeeded in finding a thousand ways it would not work." Thus Edison demonstrated both in thought and action how instructive mistakes can be.

If yours is much longer you might want to consider editing it down a bit!

Here, by way of example, is an introductory paragraph to an essay in response to the following question: "Do we learn more from finding out that we have made mistakes or from our successful actions?

For the first body paragraph you should use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some other more obvious beginning point (as in the case of chronological explanations) is required.

The first sentence of this paragraph should be the topic sentence of the paragraph that directly relates to the examples listed in the mini-outline of introductory paragraph.

The introductory paragraph not only gives the reader an idea of what you will talk about but also shows them how you will talk about it.

Put a disproportionate amount of effort into this – more than the 20% a simple calculation would suggest – and you will be rewarded accordingly.