Essay Writing
How to make your case
A Good Essay…
Gives the reader something to think
about.
 Provides a single statement (thesis) that
begins a one-sided argument.
 Proves that the presented thesis is valid
through a series of examples and
observations supported by fact. (quotes)
 Leaves little to no doubt.

The Difference between an essay
and a report
A report is meant to simply inform the reader
about a specific subject.
 “Death of a Salesman is the story of a New York
family in the 1950s.”
 An essay creates an argument that
demonstrates the informed opinion of the
author.
 “To Kill a Mockingbird shows how racial
prejudice is the result of mob mentality, not
individual opinion.”

Writing a good thesis

A thesis is the heart of your argument.
It is the point you are trying to make.
A thesis consists of two parts:
i) The overall argument: PROPOSITION
ii) The details or reasons that make the
proposition valid: ISSUES
Good Proposition vs. Bad Proposition
Make an argument; don’t just state a fact.
“To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that takes
place during a time of racial oppression.”
-This is undisputed. Nobody could argue
this point.
“The most important life lesson that To Kill
a Mockingbird teaches us is that prejudice
is not inborn, but learned.”
Issues: A matter of Opinion
Proposition: Women are superior to Men
Issues: - Women are physically stronger
- Women are emotionally more
stable
-Women are more intelligent
-Women are socially more adaptable
OPINION + EVIDENCE = VALID
OPNION –EVDIENCE= INVALID
Evidence: Will your argument hold
up in court?
Evidence can take many forms…
Examples: An incident that demonstrates the
issues.
Quotations: Actual lines from the source
Appeals to Authority: An expert opinion
Statistics and Illustrations: Actual data that proves
your issue
Prewriting: before you begin
Clarify all the steps of your argument before you
begin
Proposition
Issue #1
Evidence
Evidence
Evidence
Evidence
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Issue #2
Issue #3
Issue #4
Evidence (a)
Evidence (b)
Evidence (c)
Evidence (d)
Evidence (a)
Evidence (b)
Evidence (c)
Evidence (d)
Evidence (a)
Evidence (b)
Evidence (c)
Evidence (d)
The Thesis Paragraph
Step 1: Begin with a sentence which catches
the reader’s interest. This should not be
the proposition.
Sometimes what seems new and inventive
has really just borrowed from a classic.
The Thesis Paragraph
Step 2: In a literary essay, it is necessary to
state the title of the author and the work
being discussed
Example: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Or
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
The Thesis Paragraph
Step 3: State the proposition in a single
sentence.
Example: The film Fight Club contains many
elements borrowed from Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman.
Do not explain the preposition at this point!
The Thesis Paragraph
Step 4: State each issue in a separate
sentence for each.
-The lead character of fight club is forced to
live in different sates of reality to cope
with life, just like Willy Loman.
-Fight Club, like Death of a Salesman, deals
with the fake desires of modern society.
-Fight Club examines the qualities of being a
man, a theme quite prevalent in Death of
a Salesman.
The Thesis Paragraph
Step 5: Conclude the paragraph by
restating the proposition.
Fight Club has based much of its message
on the themes raised first by Death of A
Salesman
Paragraphs: The body of the essay
Paragraphs of the essay must follow a
pattern to maintain unity.
Unity means that there is one idea per
paragraph.
One issue =one paragraph
Paragraphs: the body of the essay
Long essays (2500-5000 words) – the issues will
be stated in the thesis paragraph and which also
subdivides the issue into several component
parts. Each component will then have one
paragraph explaining it. Then a concluding
paragraph will summarize all the component
parts of the issue before the author moves on to
the next issue.
Thesis = Christmas Dinner
Issues = All the different dishes on the table
(turkey, stuffing, gravy etc.)
Component of the issue: the recipe of each dish
Paragraphs: the body of the essay
Long Essay:
Issue – stated in the Thesis Paragraph
Components of the issue – Also stated in
the Thesis Paragraph. Each component
has a paragraph to explain it.
Concluding paragraph – Each Issue has a
paragraph summarizing all components of
the issue.
There is also a concluding paragraph
summarizing all of the issues at the end of
the essay.
Paragraphs: the body of the essay
Short Essays (500 -750 words)
Don’t worry about components of the issue
(the recipe)
Just focus on the issues themselves (the
dishes)
One issue = One paragraph
One concluding paragraph summarizing all
the issues and the proposition.
Each paragraph…
Step 1: Start with a transition. State the
issue in a single sentence.
Issue #1:
The lead character of fight club is forced to
live in different sates of reality to cope
with the hardships of his life, just like Willy
Loman.
Each paragraph…
Step 2: Explain the issue as necessary.
(This step will not always be necessary)
Tyler creates an alternate personality; Willy
lives in the past.
Each Paragraph…
Step three: Provide evidence to support the
issue. Either an ‘example’ or a ‘quotation’.
Tyler converses with his alternate
personality in a hotel room in an attempt
to understand the turn his life has taken.
Each Paragraph…
Step 4: Explain how the evidence supports
the issue.
Unhappy with his job and his obsession with
material things, Tyler created his alternate
self as the embodiment of who he wanted
to be.
The lead character of fight club is forced to live in different
sates of reality to cope with like, just like Willy Loman.
Each paragraph…
Step 5: Repeat steps three and four for each
piece of evidence.
Willy Loman turns to the memory of his
dead brother for advice about whether he
would be more of a service to his family
by killing himself, “Does it take more guts
to stand here the rest of my life ringing up
zero?”(Miller, 126).
Each paragraph…
Step 6: Sum up the issue and refer to the
proposition.
Tyler uses a modern version of Willy’s
coping mechanism , showing the parallel
between these works.
Citing your work
Avoid plagiarism – you must cite all
quotations, summaries and paraphrases
that are not common knowledge.
 “Quotation marks are used around short,
direct quotes from an outside source.”
 Quotes 4 lines and longer must be
separate from the body and indented 10
spaces from the left.

Quotations within quotations

Use a single quotation mark to enclose a
quote within a quote.
According to Paul Eliott, Inuit hunters “chant
an ancient magic song to the seal they are
after: ‘Beast of the sea! Come and place
yourself before me in the early morning!’”
Inserting Quotes
Avoid ‘dropping’ quotes.
Nature has an important role in Macbeth.
“A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place
was by a mousing owl haw’k at and kill’d”
(Shakespeare 2.4.14-15).

Inserting Quotes

Quotes should be set up by the sentence.
Act 1 Scene 6 describes an air that “nimbly
and sweetly recommend itself unto our
gentle senses” (Shakespeare 1.6.3-4)
Inserting Quotations
Multiple sources
End each quote with author and page
number in (parentheses)

Example …Boo Radley” (Lee 78).
Followed by the punctuation
Inserting Quotations
Single Source
Only the page number is needed.
…Boo Radley” (78).

*For multi-source essay you can get away
with just the page number if you have
already identified where the quote comes
from.
Works Cited page
Book:
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New
York: Penguin, 1967.
Author. Title. Place of publication: Publisher,
year.