Wahoo, I
love writing
essays!
How to write an amazing, fantastic, persuasive,
engaging and effective introduction,
paragraph(s) and conclusion 
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An ESSAY is an ARGUMENT
An essay is an argument because the purpose
of an essay is to take position on a question,
and then argue your viewpoint based on
evidence.
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Planning is a vital step to writing an effective
essay.
Writing a plan will help you!
a) write more logically
b) write more coherently
c) write faster – you will get more done in
less time.
Often you are given an essay topic, and you end up sitting
there wondering what on earth you are going to write
about: either you have too many possible ideas; or you
might be sitting there thinking: ‘I don’t know the first
thing to say in this essay – I’ll never complete it!’.
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Write down all the possible ideas you have for the
essay/topic
Next, highlight the 3 best ideas for the particular topic.
These 3 ideas become your 3 main paragraphs, find some
evidence and quotes to back them up, and away you go! 
It is always better to focus on 3 main ideas and expand on
these (give analysis & depth) rather than present 15 ideas
in less depth.
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Think about the ORDER of your 3 main
points: what is the most effective way to
order these ideas in order to develop your
argument best?
It is often a good idea to lead into the
strongest point and keep the reader wanting
to know more until the final paragraph!
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Remember: being a great writer is not about
having all sorts of imaginative adjectives and
witty language.
The goal of great writing is CLARITY
CLARITY is better than CLEVERNESS because it
will be more effective at ARGUING your point!
TAKO
TEXAS
LATE
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WE LOVE ACRONYMS!!!!
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Aside from a delicious treat, in
English, TAKO stands for:
T Title (must be underlined!)
A Author
K Key Words
O Outline of the main points you will provide in
your essay
If you remember TAKO, you will always know
what to write in your awesome introduction!
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An effective introduction will tell the reader
precisely what your essay is going to be
about, and the main point/argument that you
are making.
It doesn’t matter what you intend to argue in
your essay, what matters is that you make it
absolutely clear to the reader in the first
paragraph what your argument is.
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There are FOUR basic steps to writing a simple but
effective introduction.
These are:
◦ Sentence one: A neutral sentence. For example “Khaled
Hosseini’s first novel The Kite Runner is rife with key
messages and themes.
This commences the essay in an informative way.
◦ Sentence two: Context sentence. Give us a bit more
detail/introduce your topic/novel. For example: The novel
is set in both Afghanistan and America and is thus
underscored with the historical and political issues
prominent in these countries.
◦ Sentence three: State the argument/your thesis
statement. We will discuss this in more detail soon...
◦ Sentence four: Sum up. This reinforces the main point you
will be discussing in the essay.
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A thesis statement:
tells the reader how you interpret the question/subject
is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the
reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
directly answers the question asked of you and clearly
states your argument.
is usually a single sentence (2 max) somewhere in your
first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader.
The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and
organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the
logic of your interpretation.
If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a
claim about a subject, you may need to convey that
position in the statement.
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The thesis statement tells the reader your
purpose in writing the essay.
Thesis statements do not use ‘I’, ‘my’, etc –
although they are your opinions/ideas, use third
person for a stronger, more confident approach
FORMAT:
Write your topic (the question), write your
opinion about it (what are you arguing), write
three reasons/examples (how does the text show
this). These reasons will become the focus
paragraphs of your essay.
Example question:
- Who is the true father figure for Amir in The Kite Runner?
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Rahim Khan was Amir’s true father figure, shown in the
novel by Baba’s hostility towards his son, his tendency to
seek fatherhood advice from Rahim, and through Rahim’s
influence over the major events of Amir’s life.
This immediately addresses the characterisation of Baba,
significant events, and the theme of father/son
relationships.
A second sentence could strengthen this further:
Since the novel is a bildungsroman, Rahim’s position as
the true father figure shows that......
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Don’t fall into the trap of writing a thesis
statement without an ARGUMENT
E.g. Don’t just describe the process “In this
essay I will discuss the presentation of the
father figure”....
You need to start straight away with your
POSITION and what you are ARGUING. If your
introduction does not state your opinion and
argument, there is no point continuing yet!
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TEXAS is an acronym for the key components
of a paragraph.
TEXAS is a logical way to organise your
thoughts and ideas in a paragraph, so that
you can get your ARGUMENT across to the
reader in a PERSUASIVE way.
It doesn’t matter how good your ideas are, if
you can’t structure them correctly, the reader
won’t get it!
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T: Topic sentence (Your main idea)
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E: Explanation and elaboration (Add more
information to your central idea)
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X: eXample(s) and evidence (Back up what you are
saying with evidence or examples
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A: Analysis (This shows that….) – tell the reader
what you have learnt/what your argument means
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S: Summary (Therefore….) Sum up your
argument.
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As your writing becomes more sophisticated,
you can add more examples and analysis to
your paragraphs.
TEXaXaXaXaS (remember, you need at least 3
amazing examples for Excellence grades in
NCEA!)
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A topic sentence tells the reader what your
paragraph is ABOUT.
This includes WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHEN,
WHERE.
The topic sentence states the TOPIC or
SUBJECT of the sentence; a short, one
sentence introduction. Remember you only
present ONE idea per paragraph
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This gives further details about your topic
sentence. Explain it in more DEPTH
The explanation should be 2-3 sentences
long.
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The examples and proof for the idea that you
have outlined in your topic
sentence/explanation.
The examples need to SUPPORT the point that
you are making.
You might quote/reference a text, quote the
opinion of an expert, use statistics and data,
etc.
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We could talk about this as “And Shows…”
You need to state why the example is relevant
to the topic –
e.g. what are the consequences?
What does this make you think about?
What have you learnt?
What ideas/issues does this raise?
A good way to structure this part is to say “This show
that…….. because………..”
Or, “from this the reader can understand that……..
because …………
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TOPIC SENTENCE
EXPLANATION
EXAMPLES/EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS
SUMMARY
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Let’s write one as a class based on Birkenhead
College...
Birkenhead college is a small school, but a great
school. There are only 750 students, so everyone
knows each other. There are only 5 blocks that
make up the college. Despite its small size, it has
great academic success. As Mr. Mathewson states
“where everybody is somebody”. This quote is of
particular reference to Ms. Eichstaedt’s Y12
English class who will have straight excellences
in English this year. This shows that Birkenhead
College is small but effective.
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It’s the end of the essay, you just need to
write an amazing conclusion….
An easy way to remember the key
components of an amazing conclusion, is
LATE
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Some people find it challenging to write a
conclusion. They think: “I’ve said everything
that I want to say in the essay – what on earth
am I going to say in the conclusion!?”
Conclusions are your opportunity to drive
home the points that you are trying to make
across your whole essay and drive these
home.
Importantly, they are a good place to add
strong, thoughtful comments
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L = link to question/key words identified in introduction.
You need to prove that you have answered/addressed the
question. Restate your argument here!
A = Author’s purpose. Why did the author write this book?
What does the key ideas in your essay show about their
purpose? What were they trying to make the reader think
about? This is your thoughtful analysis!
T = Topic/theme = You need to connect the topic of your
essay to a major theme.
E = End well!  End your essay in a way that is memorable.
It could be a quote, an opinion, a thought-provoking
statement, a rhetorical question, etc… Give the reader
something to ponder!
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Felix, in Once is an interesting character
because he demonstrates the theme, his
outlook changes from naïve to perceptive and
he provides the narrative voice. Morris
Gleitzman uses Felix to make the reader think
of the negative effects of war on society.
Because of war, Bruno lost his family and
friends, and this tragedy is summed up in
Alfred Adler’s words: “war is organised
murder and torture against our brothers”.
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To gain Merit and Excellence grades, your
writing will need to demonstrate ORIGINALITY
and ideas BEYOND THE TEXT (i.e. discussing
personal insight and observations)
- what has the text taught you about your
own life/society?
- what was the writer’s purpose?
- how do the themes in the text help you
understand your world?
This is why ‘ANALYSIS’ is so important to
TEXAS.
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In a written text response, you need to demonstrate your awareness that
the text was CRAFTED. Where possible, discuss literary techniques,
author’s purpose, etc.
You must show a strong awareness of the reader-writer relationship
Analyse – don’t just describe! Always explain WHY something was used
or WHAT IT SHOWS/EXPLAINS 
Be Specific – For example, don’t say “Leonardo Da Vinci was a highly
creative Renaissance painter”... DO say: “Leonardo Da Vinci was a highly
creative Renaissance painter who gave us many masterpieces, including
Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and The Return of the Magi.
Use formal language: In general that means avoid slang, do not use
contractions, avoid made up words (and quotes!) and try not to waffle.
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Showing insightful awareness that the text is
constructed by discussing particular narrative
techniques
Appreciation of the writer’s purpose
Use analysis-related terminology to
insightfully discuss features of the text
Writes a cohesive, integrated response
Weaves a range of insightful evidence
throughout the response to support and
expand on key arguments.
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Essays can be really boring (and not very effective at arguing)
if you consistently use the same sentence structure.
On average, you want your sentences to be 20 words or less
(approx). Don’t freak out if some are 25 and some are 10-15,
but try for an average of 20. This keeps your writing to the
point.
Here are some different sentences you could try to use to mix
it up a bit.
1: The simple sentence
The subject of the sentence is at the start (i.e. “The cat
lived up a tree”, “John ate an apple”, “New York is one of the
biggest cities”
2: The very short sentence
Use 5 words or less to break up a paragraph and capture the reader’s
attention. Don’t overuse or it will lose its power.
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3: The W-start sentence
◦ Remember the 5 W’s (who, what, where, why, when). Try
starting a sentence with one of them! For example “When
he recovered....” or “What was interesting was that....”
4: Adverb at the start
Stick an adverb at the start of your sentence! It adds
some interest and enjoyment. But don’t overdo it! For
example “Fortunately, Henry had....”, “Easily, Donna
got.....”, etc
5: The Paired-Double (a.k.a the semi-colon)
When you have a sentence containing two independent
clauses and joined by a conjunction such as but or and. An
independent clause is a part of a sentence that is in fact a
mini-sentence which could make sense by itself. If you
want to be more creative, replace the conjunction with a ;
For example: Rather than “he walked into the room and
there was no sign of anyone” you could say “he walked into
the room; there was no sign of anyone”.
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6: Prepositional introduction
◦ These are easy  All of them begin with a
prepositional phrase at the start of the sentence.
Remember: prepositions are little words indicating
movement or position.
For example: “In the start of the book....”, “Behind the
poetic language....” or “Through the difficult
situation....”
7: Verb beginnings
Try starting with a verb. The –ing verbs are the
easiest to do this with. For example “Running to the
nearest shop, he....”, or “Leaving town, before anyone
saw him, was the best....”
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When you want to use ‘I’ but are stuck for a
different starter, try some of these:
“It is clear that...”
“It appears that...”
“The suggestion that...”
“As this essay has argued...”
“The point remains that...”
“What seems obvious...”
“This essay will show...”
“As this essay has demonstrated...”
“This essay will examine the...”
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On one level...
The character represents...
The overall message...
The impact of...
However, an alternative view is...
The writer’s intention....
As the plot develops...
The deeper meaning...
We soon discover...
Despite his good intentions...
The vivid imagery...
This symbolises....
The use of [language feature] reinforces...
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Rather than say that something is “important”
over and over again, try using some different
words.
For example:
Useful
Influential
Concerning
Significant
Perceptive
Valuable
Insightful
Vital
Critical
Noteworthy
Powerful
Telling
Of consequence
Far-reaching
Choose one of the following questions:
1. An anti-hero is a protagonist who “lacks heroic
virtues and qualities”, such as being morally
good, idealistic, courageous, and noble.
Analyse how Amir could be seen as an anti-hero in
The Kite Runner?
2. We have an obligation to remain loyal and
truthful to our family and friends.
Analyse how this statement is applicable to The
Kite Runner?