No 18
Essay No 2: "Modern (future) ICT trends"
1. The Structure of an Essay
Essay No 2: "Modern (future) ICT trends"
1. The Structure of an Essay
Your essay should start with an
introductory paragraph. There are actually many different ways to begin an
essay; therefore, the format of the introductory paragraph is flexible. Often,
essays begin with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an
anecdote, description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your
thesis, etc. Beginning this way, you will use the first few sentences to
prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis, and use the last
sentence of the first paragraph to present your thesis. However, your thesis
statement can be anywhere in your introduction. In a longer essay, you can even
wait to present your thesis until the second paragraph or later. Also for a
longer essay, you should begin to introduce a few supporting ideas in the first
couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas should be the topics that you will
discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For a short essay, presenting
supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.
Your second paragraph generally begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea (the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next paragraph.
Your next two body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting ideas, but the three paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this format.
The form of your conclusion, like your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves a strong impression and provokes further thought.
2. The essay
To define the essay briefly, one can
say that it is a piece of writing usually short (3 to 10 pages), written in
prose, and that may be on any subject. The essay is generally based on other
people's statements. In the essay you can include your personal opinion, and
some examples to illustrate your point of view. It is written about one topic,
just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay is too long and too
complex to discuss it in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic
into several paragraphs, one for each major point. In general, essays have
three basic parts: introduction, body and conclusion.
- The Introduction
It is the first section of your essay. This makes it extremely
important, because first impressions are often lasting ones. It consists of two
parts: a few general statements about your subject to attract your reader's
attention, and a thesis statement, that states the specific subdivisions of
your topic and/or the "plan" of your paper. The introduction then,
begins with remarks to interest people. As it progresses, it should present
general ideas or facts to orient the reader. Then, it will narrow its focus,
and move from general to specific facts smoothly and logically.
- The body Paragraphs
They are the longest section of you essay. In a short essay there are usually three body paragraphs, each one considering in detail one
aspect of the essay's controlling idea. This is called a three-point essay. At
the beginning of each of your support paragraphs, there is a topic sentence that
tells what the rest of your text is going to be about. This sentence should
direct your readers back to the controlling idea and indicate which aspect of
it you are going to discuss. Once you present your topic, you need details and
facts to support it. It is not enough to state your position; your reader needs
to be convinced that your point of view is valid an accurate. There is not any
rule that determines how long a body paragraph should be. The more relevant
detail you can bring in to support each of your topic sentence, the clearer
your points will be.
- The Conclusion
