Advanced Essay Structure

Advanced Essay Structure Brainstorming means producing ideas related to a theme. There is no set model for an essay, but the English for Uni website presents one popular way to do it. The following example is based around a 1000 word discussion essay. To read about essays in greater detail, download this PDF or Word document. To write a 1000 word essay, ideally you should allow yourself about 3 weeks. You might wonder how you can include your own voice and still sound academic when you are writing about a subject area in which you have little knowledge. Including your voice does not mean that you should say ‘I think’ or ‘in my opinion’. Since Spanish explorers brought back chocolate from the new world, chocolate consumption has become a worldwide phenomenon. At first, chocolate, a derivative of the cacao bean, was consumed as a drink, only later achieving mass popularity in tablet or bar form. Concluding sentenceThe Concluding Sentence should echo the main point of the paragraph and function as a bridge to the next paragraph.N.B. Paragraphs should be balanced â€" keep to the ‘no less than 3 sentences per paragraph’ rule. Essays also sometimes begin with an issue, outline the scope and then move on to end the introduction with the thesis statement. Sometimes, particularly in very short essays, the essay will begin with an issue rather than a background statement. Writing your introduction last means you are more likely to have a tighter fit between the introduction, main body and conclusion because you already know what your essay will be about. Elaboration and examplesElaboration of the main point should add more detailed information in relation to the topic sentence. The last sentence is a broad statement relating to the significance of the argument. Main bodyEach paragraph should focus on one idea only. Essays help you discover more about a topic and write a reasoned analysis of the issues in question, using a range of external sources to support your position. Examples of this type of essay include compare, compare and contrast or differentiate questions. Your paragraphs should link together â€" use connective words, both within and between paragraphs, to keep a sense of cohesion and linkage. Scope â€" where you outline what exactly is going to be covered in relation to your argument.2. However, chocolate’s inherent popularity does not equate to it possessing healthy properties, as suggested by the title. The realities of chocolate are more down to earth; a number of these realities will be addressed in this essay. Chocolate has chemical properties that can influence mood and there is possible evidence for some positive impacts of chocolate on cardiovascular health. Yet, such positive attributes are counterbalanced somewhat by the argument that, in some instances, chocolate can be viewed as a drug rather than a food. The first sentence links the conclusion to the discussion in the previous paragraph. The first two articles have been cited 90 times and 103 times respectively, suggesting that they might be good sources for your essay. The links to the right indicate that you can access the articles through your university website. The best place to start (assuming you haven’t already been given a prescribed reading list!) is by using an academic database. If you are not sure how to use a database, then book an appointment with your subject librarian at your institution. Another possible positive dimension to chocolate is a correlation with cardiovascular health. Yet the potential benefits of flavanols in chocolate are currently offset by the high fat/carbohydrate content of most forms of chocolate. Whether chocolate is a food or a drug is also unclear. It can therefore be said that chocolate is not a healthy food, but can be enjoyed as part of a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle. Moreover, there is the possibility of some correlation between over-consumption of chocolate and obesity. Thus, it will be argued that despite chocolate’s positive effect in some cases on mood and the cardiovascular system it has also been linked to addiction and obesity. Leave yourself enough time to look at your essay more than once. For a 1000 word essay you need at least three days to redraft your essay. Try and achieve a balance between both types of in text-references in your essay writing.