Essay Organization
An essay has three main parts
1. Introduction:
Hook, state the problem/question, state the thesis (thesis should answer your historical
question)
2. Body:
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Topic Sentence: each paragraph should start with an analytical topic sentence
(should answer a how/why question). Each topic sentence is a minor thesis that
supports the main thesis.
Evidence: Provide examples from the sources that support your minor thesis.
Analysis: What does the evidence tell you?
3. Conclusion:
A conclusion should re-state the thesis, but your conclusion needs to go beyond simply
regurgitating your main points. Re-state the thesis in a concise manner and then explain
why the problem is important. This is your time to place your problem in a larger
framework.
Introduction (see intro handout):
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Introduce the problem.
Define terms
Provide a road map to structure the paper
State the thesis clearly
Your introduction should be a paragraph and no more than two in a longer paper, so it is
important to define your topic quickly. Be precise rather than vague and get to the point
immediately. When and where are you in time? What are you discussing? If you are
discussing the life of Harriet Jacobs, it is overly vague to introduce the setting and topic
by referring to “slavery days,” because slavery has existed throughout the world and
throughout time. Harriet Jacobs was a slave in North Carolina in the antebellum period.
Be specific.
Hook: capture the attention of your reader using an example, quotation, or statistic.
Make sure this hook matches your theme. It is a great idea to refer back to your hook
later in the body and or conclusion.
Explain the structure of your paper—briefly provide a road map.
The most important part of your introduction is the thesis, which should come at the end
of the paragraph. The thesis should state your argument in one sentence. The sentences
leading up to the thesis should have introduced key concepts and ideas so that the thesis
makes sense when the reader gets to it.
Here are examples of a weak and strong introduction. (www.bowdoin.edu/writingguides/)
Weak Introduction: “Since the beginning of time humans have owned one another in
slavery. This brutal institution was carried to its fullest extent in the United States in the
years between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Slaveholders treated their
slaves as chattel, brutalizing them with the whip and the lash. The law never recognized
the humanity of the slave, and similarly regarded him as property. Consequently, there
was a big disparity between private and public rights of slaves.”
This thesis introduces two terms, “private” and “public” rights, that are not mentioned
earlier. What are these concepts and why are they important? The vague background
does not help to explain the premises underlying the argument. Furthermore, the thesis
itself is weak because it does not answer a how, why, or so what question.
More Effective: “To many supporters of slavery, the nature of slave rights had a dual
character. On the one hand, in order to maintain the total dominance of the white master
class, the law denied any rights to slaves. Publicly, the slave was merely property, and
not human at all. Yet the personal records of many planters suggest that slaves often
proved able to demand customary “rights” from their masters. In the privacy of the
master-slave relationship, slaves did have rights that the master was bound to respect, on
pain of losing his labor or subjecting himself to violence. This conflict between slaves’
lack of “public” rights and masters’ “private” acknowledgement of slaves’ rights
undermined planter hegemony and permitted slaves to exert a degree of autonomy within
an oppressive institution.”
This paragraph does a much better job of introducing the problem and the concepts
central to the thesis. All of the elements of the thesis are discussed in the preceding
paragraph and yet the thesis does not simply restate the paragraph. This introduction also
alerts the reader to the sources that will be used. The reader has a much stronger sense of
how the argument and paper will be structured and what the author needs to do to prove
the thesis.
Body: this comprises the majority of your paper. This is where you will argue, analyze
sources, and prove your thesis. How can you support your thesis? If you cannot easily
answer this question, you may need to develop a stronger thesis.
Your thesis can help you structure your paper. Think back to the thesis on our thesis
practice sheet.
“In his autobiographical Narrative, Frederick Douglass drew on techniques used in
popular texts of his day—sentimental literature, the Bible, and rip-roaring oratory—to
persuade his audience to reject slavery as a moral and political evil.”
This thesis indicates an organization. You will need to divide the paper into sections on
sentimental literature, biblical arguments, and oratorical techniques.
Paragraphs: each paragraph should have the following structure. (see topic
sentence/paragraph handout).
1. Topic Sentence
Each Paragraph should start with an analytical topic sentence (minor thesis). Avoid
descriptive topic sentences. Ask yourself if your topic sentence answers a “how” or
“why” question. The remainder of the paragraph will support this minor thesis.
2. Evidence
Provide support for your thesis that you paraphrase and quote from the sources.
3. Analysis
Interpret and analyze that evidence. It is a good idea to end your paragraph with a
sentence of summary analysis.
4. Transition. Your summary analysis can serve as your transition (see handout on
transitions).
Counter-arguments:
History papers make their arguments with evidence and reason. One excellent way to
prove your point is to predict and address counter-arguments. Ask yourself what counterarguments could be raised to cast doubt on your thesis.
You can prove potential counter-arguments untrue. “While the WPA slave narratives
seem to indicate that some former slaves recalled slavery with nostalgia, these sources
must be used with care. In the Jim Crow South, African-Americans responding to white
interviewers often gave calculated answers as a matter of personal safety.”
Or, you can accept certain statements or facts but discuss context and explain how they
do not, indeed, damage your argument. “While it is true that…”
You cannot simply include evidence that supports your thesis and ignore other evidence.
This will undermine your essay.
Conclusion:
This should be one paragraph long. It should briefly and clearly restate the thesis in the
first sentence. The conclusion should also go beyond restating the argument. It should
also address why the argument is significant, place the argument in a larger context, and
raise larger questions.