Essay Organization: Parts of an Essay.
Each Part
Parts of the Essay
Purpose of Each Part
Should Include:
Introductory Paragraph
Lead in sentence or
sentences
Thesis statement
Three or more
supporting
paragraphs
Topic sentences for
Body Paragraphs
1, 2,3, or more
each paragraph—
each paragraph
should focus on a
distinct point
Paragraphs provide
evidence to support
the thesis statement
Introduce your topic
Capture the reader's
interest
State your thesis—
the main point you
want to make about
your topic
Set the tone
Provide evidence to
support and/or to
explain your thesis
statement
Include examples,
facts, descriptions,
statistics, etc.—
whatever helps
support your thesis
Linking sentence
reiterating your
thesis.
Concluding
Paragraph
A reference to the
thesis statement but
not an exact
restatement.
A summary
statement, question,
suggestion, etc., to
wrap up the essay
Leave your reader
with a clear
impression of the
main idea of your
essay
A closer look at body paragraph development
-Each body paragraph must have a distinct, organized structure; a beginning, middle and
end. –A precise and relatively short beginning and end, and a big chunk in the middle.
e.g.
Topic Sentence (Beginning)
1
2
3
Explanation/Evidence/Explanation
(Middle)
Linking Sentence (End)
*Remember when we talked about making 2-3 points in each paragraph to support that
paragraph’s overall contention? Here’s an even closer look at how to go about that:
Topic Sentence (Beginning)
1
2
3
i -Indicate you are going to present one bit of evidence showing the
topic sentence is true.
ii -Introduce the first bit of evidence.
iii -Present the first bit of evidence.
iv –Explain the significance of the first bit of evidence.
i - Indicate you are going to present the second bit of evidence
showing the topic sentence is true.
ii –Introduce the second bit of evidence.
iii- Present the second bit of evidence.
iv- Explain the significance of the second bit of evidence.
i- Indicate you are going to present the third bit of evidence
showing the topic sentence is true.
ii – Indicate you are going to present the third bit of evidence.
iii- Present the third bit of evidence.
iv - Explain the significance of the first bit of evidence.
Linking Sentence (End)
**The most important thing to be mindful of is that you need to repeat this pattern in each
body paragraph.
Style and purpose
Expository
to inform or explain
Persuasive
to persuade or
influence
Forms
Audience
Language
Essay
Depends on context –
usually educated adult
readers.
Authoritative,
moderate; usually in
third person.
News story
Newspaper/magazine
readers
Detached tone for
objective account,
third-person
Research piece
Readers with a special
interest in the subject.
Formal, serious,
specialized vocabulary
Personal letter
One reader well known
to the writer.
Personal tone,
descriptive.
Depends on contextusually educated adult
readers
All newspaper readers
Authoritative,
moderate, third-person
Essay
Letter to the editor
All newspaper readers
Editorial
Speech
Opinion piece
Imaginative
to entertain;
stimulate thoughts
and feelings
Any of the above forms
when a fictional
situation and/or
persona is chosen
Short story
Play or film script
Depends on context –
usually listeners
affected by the issue
Readers with a special
interest in the issue
Various- depends on
context and form
selected
Various- can be for
children, young adult
or adult or general
mainstream audience
(e.g. Hollywood
cinema)
Varies; tone is often
personal, can use firstperson
Objective,
authoritative, formal;
often uses inclusive
language
Clear, simple sentences
and expressions to
engage the audience
Can use sarcasm,
humour; tone can be
moderate or highly
emotive
Various – depends on
context and form
selected
Written in prose;
describes characters
and situations to draw
in the reader
Written as dialogue;
some stage directions
(play) or description of
cinematography (film)
Expository writing
Expository writing explains or informs the reader about a particular topic.
Expository writing can include narration, description, reasoning and definitions. It can be
fictional or non-fictional.
Forms of expository writing
Types of expository writing include:





Essays; analytical, informative, reflective.
Newspaper and magazine reports, e.g. a news story
Research articles, e.g. a paper presenting research findings and published in a journal
Personal letters, e.g. to family or friends describing travels or explaining new
circumstances
Biographies and autobiographies
Presenting a viewpoint:
*If you are given a prompt, your main contention is your response to it.
Expository writing puts a point of view without pressuring the reader to agree, but
rather to consider.
Incorporating ideas from a set text
 Compare and contrast ideas: if a text’s point of view is the same as (or
different) from that of the prompt, explore similarities and/or differences in
the body paragraphs of an essay. –You can choose to compare/contrast two
different texts, historical events, characters from different texts.

Focus on one key idea relevant to the prompt: show in two or more
paragraphs how that idea is explored in the text as a whole. Explain how the
text treats the idea to support your discussion of the prompt.

Examine a key scene and/or characters: to show close knowledge of the text.
Write one or two paragraphs explaining how an idea from the context is
presented in this scene or by the characters.
Expository writing in imaginative responses:



A news report written from a location in the text
A personal letter written by one character to another
An editorial referring to circumstances in the text and commenting on a
central idea.
Let’s test drive this...
Prompt: An individual is always shaped by the society they belong to.
You have several options in approaching this task. Remember that you are not restricted
to drawing on ideas solely from Freedom Writers. You may refer to other texts, history,
facts etc to discuss your point. The idea is that you refer to each text/historical reference in
its own paragraph. A kind of mix-and-match ordeal;
1. Comparing the ‘Identity and Belonging’ concept presented in 3 different texts to
support your contention.
e.g. Paragraph 1: The students, particularly Eva from Freedom Writers.
Paragraph 2: Jake Scully from Avatar
Paragraph 3: Death in The Book Thief
2. Comparing three characters (e.g. All 3 from Freedom Writers; Eva, Marcus and the
white guy) or one character from Freedom Writers/one from history/and another
from some other text etc)
3. Comparing 3 different historical examples.
e.g. P1: Italian migrants in Australia
P2: America: Civil Rights (white/black people living together)
P3: Jews in concentration camps.
Let’s have a go at Option #1.
Introduction: Discuss your theory (in direct relation to the prompt)
e.g.. A person’s environment and surroundings will always influence who they are and who
they will become. Should an individual be removed from their present society their beliefs,
behaviour and feelings would automatically change so that they can fit into that society.
This change happens because the need to belong is crucial to anyone’s survival (emotionally,
physically, mentally and spiritually). This is true of Eva in Freedom Writers, Jake Scully in
Avatar and Death in The Book Thief where each character demonstrates a change from their
initial self when first entering a new society, to the persona they become once they become
accommodated in their new society.
Paragraph #1: **Consider: How is this true of Eva in Freedom Writers?
E.g. Discuss the nature of Eva’s surroundings and society before and after she enters Mrs
Gruwell’s ‘society’.
She is surrounded by a group of racially diverse people who are extremely defensive of
‘their own’ and hateful towards each other. Eva finds herself in a situation where she must
witness against ‘her own’ in court after her boyfriend kills an African-American in a
convenience store. Since she belongs to the ‘latino’ society she must defend ‘her own’ even
though she feels it’s not right.
By that point in time, Eva had already entered Mrs Gruwell’s society; a society based on
trust, safety and racial peace. We see how eventually, Eva changes from the bitter, scared
person that she is, to the courageous girl who stands up for what is right. –An ultimate
product of the new society she was in. This transformation took place gradually as Eva
adapted to Mrs Gruwell’s society.
Bitterness, hatred and racism were traits that had no room in Mrs Gruwell’s society, so if
Eva was to survive in that society, she would have to dim those characteristics from her self.
Paragraph #2: How is the prompt true of Jake Scully in Avatar?
Just as in the paragraph above, discuss the initial ‘society’ the character belonged to and
how it influenced the person he was, then make note of the change that occurs in him
once he enters the new society.
e.g. Jake Scully is a bitter quadriplegic ex-soldier who has been called upon to replace his
brother in the government’s mission to obtain the priceless mineral from the planet of
Pandora. He possesses a bitter and careless nature, both qualities are results of his
circumstances (having lost his legs) so his only interest in the project is to gain his legs back.
Once he enters the Na’vi society and becomes closer to Neytiri who teaches the Na’vi ways,
although the purpose of his being there (that is, to destroy the Na’vi by taking their precious
mineral away from them, which happens to be situated under their Hometree) constantly
plays on his mind, his initial determination to see the mission through wavers as he spends
more and more time in the Na’vi society. His feelings and beliefs change dramatically as he
embraces his belonging to the Na’vi society.
Paragraph #3: Death in The Book Thief
How is your ‘theory’ (or contention) true of Death in The Book Thief?
Although Death’s individual transition is not evident in The Book Thief, he makes it known to
the reader that he has undergone a significant change while spending so much time amidst
the ‘human’ society. By making mention of his stereotyped image as The Grimm Reaper he
indirectly suggests his past identity that has faded since spending so much time among
humans during WWII. He develops feelings of hate towards Hitler, sadness for the empty
souls that he whisks away and curiosity as he follows Liesel around. All these feelings are
human traits that he has absorbed as a direct result of spending so much time among human
beings. –He even discusses his need for a holiday in the beginning of the novel when he
aims to establish his true persona to the reader.
Note: Refer to previous essay structure notes for assistance with formulating/structuring
your introduction and conclusion. 
YOUR TASK:
1. Remove the third paragraph on The Book Thief from this essay and substitute it with
one that is based on the text you spoke about in your oral presentation, or another text (if
you don’t want to refer to your oral notes).
2. Write an introduction and conclusion to the essay.