The Parts of an Essay-Review

Many of you probably remember the parts of an essay from highschool, but heres a quick review. Note that these are the basicparts that belong in every essay. Each time we discuss a new typeof writing, I will also fill you in on any specific parts that need tooccur in that type of essay.The examples offered here are from The St. Martins Guide toWriting, Ninth edition, by Alexrod and Cooper.

HOOKS: The hook is generally the first sentence, or the first fewsentences in an essay. This is what grabs the reader (hence thename hook). There are a variety of ways to write a hook. You canuse humor, you can say something to shock or disturb your reader,you can state a really interesting fact or opinion, you can starttelling a story, or you can build up suspense in some way. Thehook you choose will be a reflection of your style, and the purposeof your paper. If youre writing a persuasive paper about thedangers of texting while driving, you might use a scary, shockingstatistic about the number of people killed while texting. If yourewriting a casual paper where you talk about working on a farm,you might use some humor or tell a story about something thathappened to you at work. Here are examples:Every day, three completely innocent people will be killed by thecarelessness of someone texting while driving. Any of us could benext. -That hook shocks the reader and scares them into continuing onthrough your essay.I was 16 the first time I got kicked by a cow, and it wascompletely my fault. I was distracted while going about my dutiescleaning out the stalls, and I started a cow named Betty. Her footcame up into my stomach, and down I went. -This hook tells a quick story that relates to the topic of theessay. Everyone likes stories, so now the reader is engaged. Theymay also wonder if your skills as a farmer improve, so theyll keep

on reading.

THESIS: This part deserves some stars and underlines *****THESIS******The thesis is really important. This is the most crucial sentence inyour whole entire paper. Your thesis lets your reader know exactlywhat your paper is going to be about. Unlike in creative writing,you dont want to leave your audience guessing. They need toknow from the start what your main points and topic will be. Thethesis acts as their roadmap, stating the topic for them andoutlining the main points in the order in which they will occur.The thesis usually occurs at the end of the first paragraph, thoughin longer, more complex papers it is sometimes moved around.Here are some examples of good thesis statements from essays inyour textbook:Within these categories are several functional types ofcannibalism, three of the most common being survivalcannibalism, dietary cannibalism, and religious and ritualcannibalism-from Cannibalism: It Still Exists by Linh KieuNgo, page 132-134. Informative essay.As an adult I have concluded that using an ethnic groupessentially as a sports mascot is wrong from Sticks and Stonesand Sports Team Names by Richard Estrada, page 275-276.Persuasive writing.These jobs undermine school attendance and involvement, impartfew skills that will be useful in later life, and simultaneously skewthe values of teen-agers-especially their ideas about the worth of adollar-from Working at McDonalds by Amitai Etzioni, page

280-283. Persuasive writing.If professors gave additional brief exams at frequent intervals,students would be spurred to study more regularly, learn more,worry less, and perform better on midterms, finals, and otherpapers and projects-from More Testing, More Learning byPatrick OMalley, page 326-330. Solution writing. These essays represent many different types of writing, but eachone displays a strong, clear thesis that tells the reader exactly whatthe main points or argument of the essay will be. All of theseauthors let the reader know what the topic is, and what generalpoints they will make about it. Thats exactly what you want to doin your own thesis statements.

TOPIC SENTENCES: A topic sentence is the first sentence of a major paragraph, and itintroduces the topic or point of that paragraph. In general, it sumsup or foreshadows what will be discussed in that section, so manystudents prefer to write the topic sentence AFTER they havecompleted the rest of the paragraph.Here are some topic sentences found in the essays whose thesisstatements we just saw.Survival cannibalism occurs when people trapped without foodhave to decide whether to starve or to eat fellow humans-fromCannibalism: It Still Exists by Linh Kieu Ngo.What makes naming teams after ethnic groups, particularlyminorities, reprehensible is that politically impotent groupscontinue to be targeted, while politically powerful ones who biteback are left alone from Sticks and Stones and Sports TeamNames by Richard Estrada.Closer examination, however, finds the McDonalds kind of job

highly uneducational in several ways.-from Working atMcDonalds by Amitai Etzioni.Another, closely related argument in favor of multiple exams isthat they encourage students to improve their study habits- fromMore Testing, More Learning by Patrick OMalley.

These are all prime examples of awesome topic sentences. Whenwe read any one of these sentences, we know exactly what thefollowing paragraph will discuss. We know Ngo will offer usexamples of survival cannibalism, Estrada will discuss whichgroups are targeted by sports teams and which arent, Etzioni willoffer support for why McDonalds is not an educational job, andOMalley will provide evidence that when more exams are given,students improve study habits. Excellent!

SUPPORTING DETAILSThe last component that every single essay needs to have issupporting details. These are the examples, evidence, quotes,descriptions and personal experiences that illustrate or prove yourmain point. Think about it: you wouldnt write an essay that justsays People shouldnt text while driving. People get killed doingthat. Its unsafe. No one is going to be convinced unless youoffer examples, statistics, quotes, or interviews by people whohave been injured because of texting. Those are the supportingdetails that make or break your paper. Here are some of thesupporting details our textbook essays offer:Ngos essays gives us specific examples of when ordinary groupsof people had to resort to survival cannibalism. He goes into detailto help his reader understand why this happens.Estrada talks in his essay about specific sports teams whose nameshave been contested or changed because they were deemed racist.This is much more effective than just saying some sports teams

have offensive names.Etzioni cites a study that tracks the unemployment rates of studentswho did and did not work part time jobs in high school. He usesthis evidence to support his point that these jobs are not beneficial,and the effort should instead be put into school. This makes hiscase much more credible for the reader.OMalley describes the type of short exam that a teacher whowanted to implement more frequent tests might give. This helpsthe reader understand exactly what he proposes.

There are many different types of essays, and they all requirespecific parts, but no matter what type of essay youre writing, youneed these 4 elements, so practice writing your hooks, thesisstatements, topic sentences and supporting details, and be sure toread lots of essays. That will give you ideas on how to presentthose pieces in your own work.