Developing An Essay Structure – How And Why?

Whenever you start to work on your writing assignment, you remember the structure. All guidelines about academic papers writing stress the importance of the essay structure. It is not rare for students to get lower grades for their college papers with the professors’ remarks about “weak structures.” It is a pretty serious thing. The next question is how to secure yourself from this failure and how to make sure that your writing piece’s structure is vital. 

For those seeking answers, we’ve prepared this article. Here, we’ll describe why you need an appropriate structure, what it should be, and how to build it in your custom writing.  

Why Is It So Important to Develop the Structure of an Essay?

First of all, let’s clarify what the structure of an essay is. One the one hand, it is a well-known “three-part” structure of the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion. Any paper you compose in college, except for creative writing, must include these parts and obey each one’s academic requirements. 

On the other hand, the concept of an essay structure is broader. It is the totality of all components of your writing and their order. 

The meaning of the structure covers all statements, evidence, references, transition words, and so on. It can be a central pivot determining all the other sections and their dependencies. You might also consider it a pattern where each fragment has its place and impacts the neighbors. 

A text without a structure is a mess of irrelevant fragments. It does not have a clear beginning or end, and the logic to follow it is vague. This is why it is so crucial to develop the structure: 

• it makes your thoughts clearly formulated, as you obey the inner logic and care for the cause-and-effect relations;
• it helps the audience follow your plotline. Readers can identify your statements, understand the arguments, and track the logical connections between all parts of the paper;
• it also makes your narrative of any kind polished, as you appeal to the harmony and keep the paper in balance with the right structure;
• finally, it is much easier to absorb and analyze the information when it has an appropriate organization.

Dealing with an academic writing assignment, note that the “structure” idea appeals both to the whole piece and to each of its integral parts. For instance, an essay introduction structure defines how you should organize the information in this short opening fragment. 

How to Elaborate on the Essay Structure Types?

We’ve already clarified the concepts of the essay structure types, both general and particular. Let’s now consider the specific examples. After conducting researches on your topic, you have a lot of materials to analyze. These preparations give you an idea of what you will write in your essay.

Two approaches are applicable for planning different essay structures: mapping and outlining. Which one you choose depends on your preferences and the assignment requirements. For instance, in many cases, you need to present the outline together with the paper itself for evaluation. Then, you have to compose it. Otherwise, you might choose the structure-building method that suits you best.

Essay Mapping 

Mapping is a very general sketch that can come in many forms. You might use pictures, bubbles, different arrows for it. The goal of this method is to determine your elements and state the fundamental connections between them. You start by defining the thesis statement as the pivot and relate the other elements to it.

The helpful method is analyzing the audience’s possible reactions. Ask yourself what you have to present to your readers, what they also need to know to accept your ideas, and how to deliver the information to them. This approach allows you to get your writing bases and develop the right tone and elements’ sequence.

Consider how you’d start to share your findings with the readers, and what you’d tell them further. Make notes and visualize the logical connections. The “map” may be a kind of diagram, not a plan, but it lets you understand how you build your essay.

Essay Outline 

Outlining is a more formal method of planning the paper. It is a detailed skeleton of your narrative where you define the contents of each section. Visually, the outline is a multi-level list that can be up to five levels deep. It goes from the most general idea to the more and more precise clarifications and particular cases. 

The outline format is strict, and there are regulations for each level’s markers – Roman numbers, capital and low-case letters, periods, and parenthesis. Still, here we are talking about the essay structure – the outline is its visual incarnation on paper. One of the advantages of this method is that it allows you to sketch each paragraph. For instance, a separate Body section would look as below: 

• the topic sentence – exposition of the main idea of the paragraph;
• explanation of the main idea – the writer’s thoughts and reasoning;
• evidence in support of the author’s ideas;
• considering the opposite point of view, if necessary – its evaluation;
• mini-conclusion of the paragraph;
• transition to the next section.  

This way, you can plan every part of your college essay writing, develop the correct layout of elements, and test their efficiency in different combinations.

Essay structures created with an outline are more precise. Instructors always recommend their students to use the outlining techniques instead of mapping.

Practical Tips on How to Organize an Essay for Writing

Suppose you have all the necessary materials to use in your paper. It is time to put all your knowledge and conclusions into the essay. Let’s review how to organize an essay in the standard way. As we know, any article requires the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion.  

The Introduction should present the following elements in the direct order:

1. The hook is a catchy statement, question, quote, or else related to your topic. The hook’s role is to attract the audience and get it engaged and motivated to listen/read your essay.
2. The Description is the explanation of your essay theme and its value for you and the audience. It prepares your readers or listeners for what they will learn.  
3. The Thesis Statement is the central idea that you present in the essay and prove it is right.  

The Body consists of several paragraphs:

1. One paragraph is for one idea.
2. Each paragraph is a mini-essay, with its opening and conclusions. 
3. Put the arguments in order according to their value. Most writers prefer to place the strongest arguments in the end. It helps to make them more impressive.
4. After the final of the section, add the transition to the next section. 

The Conclusion is the closing part:

1. Summarize your findings and ideas.
2. Refer to the thesis statement and stress that you are right. 
3. Finish the essay with a strong sentence showing the importance of your work and that topic. 

As there are many papers with their peculiarities, essay structure types have to match those specific issues. However, the above pattern would match any essay. 

Pay Attention to Different Essay Structures

Speaking of different essay structures, we don’t mean that a narrative essay would differ from an expository essay in basics. They all follow the same three-part pattern. The difference is in specific elements’ choice and layouts that depend on the particular essay type: 

• the chronological structure is the default approach for narrative essays telling some stories. There, you usually share some piece of your experience, and it is better to retell it “as it was.”;
• cause and effect dependencies – focus on logical connections. The order of statements and arguments should be direct. You start from defining the subject and then proceed to the examination of its effects;
• problem and solution – present a problem initially, offer the solution, and analyze the possible outcomes;
• compare and contrast – sort your materials according to similarities and differences, and compile a pattern to present them one by one, to make these dependencies evident;
• classification-division – you need several general topics and more specific categories to group the information according to some markers.  

Make sure to consider these specific features for each essay when you face each assignment. 

Get Practical Help With Argumentative Essay Structure

Developing the argumentative essay structure is the most common for college assignments. The good news are, it matches the “patterns” defined in this article precisely. An outline will ensure the correct layout. Use it as an example and put your materials into it.  

On the other hand, if you still face trouble with polishing the structure of an argumentative essay for your assignment, we’ll be of help. Our professional custom essay writers can edit the ready paper you have and fix its construction, making your arguments more impressive and smoothing the text. 

Or, we can even compose a paper of any kind on your demand. It will match all your needs and present the most polished structure for the most captious academic requirements.