Stages in Essay Wring

Step 1: Determine the genre (Type)

This will help you set the tone and stay on the right track. Inability to determine
the genre would jeopardize your entire work before you even start writing it. In
most cases, lecturers provide genre of the essay i.e. they tell you what they want
to see in your work (expository, persuasive, analytical, and argumentative
essay).
In case the topic is not given to you, this is the brainstorming stage. The primary stage of the
writing process with any form of writing is the brainstorming of ideas. Whether it is a novel,
a business report, or an academic essay, it is important to get all of your ideas into some kind
of visual format, rather than just inside your head.

Step 2: Analyse the topic (Question)

Analysing is essential for the rest of your essay. Spending more time on this
step will, actually, help you finish faster. Essay titles are usually in form of
questions that you have to answer throughout your work. Regardless of the form
of the title, it always contains the following aspects:
 Topic words or what the essay is about
 Direction words or what to do with the topic
 Focus words or limiting your topic to specific area.

Step 3: Create a plan

This step is important because it automatically navigates your work and makes
the following step easier. Having a plan lets you know what exactly you need to

research. Essay plan should be based on the title i.e. question from the title. List the required
research, and once you have identified everything that needs researching, go ahead and do it.
Be sure to note down important information and where you found it. This will help if you need
to revisit it or for referencing purposes in reports or essays.

If you have a deadline, be sure to factor in enough time for your research so that you can get
enough information, but also so that you don’t get sucked into an abyss of never-ending
research.

Step 4: Research
Now that you created a plan, you have to research. Use your plan to find
specific information in search engine. Instead of Wikipedia or personal blogs,
you should opt for books, journals, or other reliable sources of information.

Step 5: Start Writing

You have already noticed that the writing step is at the bottom of the process.
Although it might seem a bit weird to you, trust me, this is going to make your
life easier. By the time you reach this step, you will already have absolutely.

Essay Question Analysis

At university you must always answer the question as it has been asked, so analysing the
question is crucial to getting the essay right. Breaking the question down into several parts

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can help you know how to approach the question and understand what you are being asked to
do.
To do this you need to know:
1. Task words
2. Content words
3. Limiting words

TAKS WORDS: are verbs in the question that direct and tell you how to go about answering
the question. Understanding the meaning of the verbs will help you to know exactly what you
are supposed to do.

CONTENT WORDS: are words that tell us about the topic and direct to the area of an
assignment; half of the assignment are taken by content; the content is narrowed down so as
to help us to focus the exact area where answers are obtained.

LIMITING WORDS: these words bound you when answering the question, meaning there
shouldn’t be any exaggeration; they focus on the topic area and they direct you to the specific
aspect you should concentrate. For example, in the following question:

1. Computers have had a significance impact on education in the 20th century; discuss
changes that they have made?

In this question:
-task word is discuss
-content words are education and computer,
-Limitation word is changes in 20th century and significance impact.

2. Compare your own education to date with that of your own parent, one of your children (if
you have any), or a friend from a different generation. Which point of comparison seems
important to you and why?

-Task word is: Compare

-Content Words: Education of your parents, one of your children and
friend from a different generation.
-Limitation: your parents, children and friend, different generation, and importance.

COMMON KEY WORDS AND DEFINITION

INFORMATION WORDS: these are words which ask you to demonstrate what you know
about the subject such as who, what, when, where, how and why. Under information word
you may get a words such define.

to define: give the subject meaning according to someone. Sometimes you have to give more
than one view on the subject meaning.

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Explain: means giving reasons on why and examples on how something happened.

Illustrate: this means to give descriptive examples on how the subject and show how it is
connected with the subject. This is not an easy question.

Summarize: is to briefly list the important areas that you learned about the subject.

Tress: this means to outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to
the current time.

Research: is to gather materials from outside sources about the subject often with the
implication or requirement that you will arise what you have found. Such questions are in
assignments.

RELATION WORDS: are words in the question or assignment that demand you to
demonstrate how things are connected to each other.

Compare: means showing how 2 or more things are similar or connected

Contrast: it demands to show how two or more things are different.

Apply: means to use details or knowledge that you have been given to demonstrate how an
idea, theory or concept words in a particular situation.

Cause: shows an event or series of event made something else happen.

Relate: means to show or describe the connection between two things.

INTERPRETATION WORDS: these are words that demand you to defend the idea on your
own about the subject. These words do not request an opinion alone but require opinion that
is supported with concrete evidence.

Asses: to summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something.

Prove and justify: it means give reasons for example to demonstrate how and why
something is the truth.

Evaluate and respond; is to state your opinion of the subject as good, bad or combination of
the two.

Support: this means to give reasons or evidence for something you believe, be sure that or
state clearly what you believe.

Synthesize: to put 2 or more things together that have not been put together in a class or in
your reading. We do not summarize but you should deal with the similarity and differences of
2 different concepts.

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Analyze: to determine how individual part create or relate to the whole. Figure out how
something went, what it might mean or why it is important.

Argue: means to take a side and defend it with evidence against another side.

STRUCTURE OF AN ESSAY

An essay has a more formal structure: Introduction, main body and conclusion

Introduction

The main parts of an introduction paragraph of your essay are; attention grabber, topic
description, explanation of the topic’s relevance, an outline of the main points, and the thesis
of the paper. Each of these parts does not exist in isolation but as part of the entire paragraph.
Each is linked to the other to present a coherent and eye-catching introductory paragraph as a
whole.

Opening Statement or Question – Grabs the Attention

This should be the first part of an introduction. It is a way of getting the attention of your
readers so that they can continue reading your essay or paper.
The opening statement or question acts as a first impression that will determine the readers’
willingness to read. Here, you can choose to start your paragraph with either a statement or a
question depending on the essay’s purpose.
2. The Topic Statement – Introduces the Topic
This part should come immediately after the opening statement or question.
In this part of an introduction paragraph for an essay or a paper, you should tell your readers
more about the topic and what it is all about.
The reason for doing so immediately after the attention-grabber is to ensure that the readers
connect the topic to what has aroused their curiosity. The part of introducing the topic should
also provide some background information about the particular purpose of your essay or
paper.
Providing relevant background information about the purpose of the essay will also ease the
transition of your readers to the main points of the paper or essay.
3. The Relevance Sentence – Validates the Topic
This part explains the relevance of the topic to the readers. This should come between the
opening statement/introduction of the topic and the thesis statement.
Again, this part of the introduction paragraph bridges the attention grabber to the topic so that
the topic can be relevant to the readers. Therefore, connecting the attention grabber to the
topic demonstrates the topic’s relevance to the reader.

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4. The Main Points – outlines the essay’s body
Though the outline of the main points has been taken as the last part of the introduction
paragraph, it should not come after the thesis statement.
The thesis should be the last sentence of your introduction paragraph. In some cases, the
outline of the main points can be summarized and incorporated within the thesis statement.
In cases where the thesis statement and the summary of the outline are separate parts, then the
latter should come before the thesis statement.
Ideally, this part should provide your readers with an overview of the main points.
4. Thesis Statement – Gives the Purpose of the essay
This is the most important part of your introduction paragraph. It is a clear statement,
normally a complete sentence, providing the overall point you are going to make within the
body paragraphs of your paper.

The thesis statement states the argument of your paper. The thesis statement or purpose
should be clear and straightforward.

Main Body
The main body is presented in paragraphs; therefore, the main body will be discussed in
paragraphing.
Paragraphing
Paragraphing is the act of breaking writing into sections of an essay called
paragraphs. Paragraphing is important because it helps writers organize their writing and
Thought. To organise the paragraphs, we are going to adopt the TEEL format.
TEEL is a widely used acronym for essay writing. It is commonly referred to as “TEEL
Structure” or “TEEL Paragraph.” So, you can consider it as a structure which helps you to
organize your thoughts, opinions and relevant information. It will surely provide you an easy
and nice medium to put your paragraphs in order. Eventually, you will see yourself with not
only a well-written but also a well-ordered and developed draft. Your essay will also be
backed by stern evidence.

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Let me tell explain the acronym for you so that we can move to the details faster.
In TEEL:
T stands for Topic Sentence
E stands for Explain
E stands for Evidence
L stands for Link
Know the TEEL Structure a little more.
TEEL Structure gives you room to explore your ideas and provide your evidence and
arguments. An essay should contain between 3 and 5 body paragraphs. Each of the
paragraphs must have to be around five sentence length. Usually, they can be longer than this.
If we talk about a typed paragraph, it should not exceed more than half a page (if it’s being
typed with single line spacing). Every single body of the paragraph. A typed paragraph
should not be more than half a page in length (with single line spacing). Each body paragraph
will need to follow the TEEL structure. This means that every part of your essay will need:
– Topic Sentence
-Evidence
-Explanation
-Link
In order to write down a perfect essay, you will have to ensure that each paragraph of the
body has its own topic. Not only this, make sure that the main topic or say, argument links
with the overarching topic of the essay.
What you need to do is to explore your argument. In case you are re-narrating a story then
you are not analysing or thinking. This is something which should not happen to your essay.
It must not appear as a draft which only raises questions and doesn’t solve them. The purpose
of the task must be to show your capacity to think and analyse the topic in depth.

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Now, let’s explore each term of the TEEL structure in a detailed manner:
How to write a TEEL structure?
Topic Sentence
The topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph. It must tell us what the paragraph is
going to discuss or what all it has. This means that once a reader is done with your topic
sentence, he or she should know exactly what is the paragraph going to deal with. Your topic
sentence should necessarily provide an argument. Plus, it should also relate to the essay topic.
A topic sentence needs to provide an argument, and it must relate to the essay topic. For
instance, if topic sentence revolves around the status of endangered species of animals, then
every sentence that comes after, has to expound on that topic.
Keep this in mind:
– The topic sentence should relate to the thesis of your essay.
– It must give an overview of the paragraph to the readers.
– Topic sentence has a topic and a controlling idea which shows the direction the paragraph
will take.
The topic sentence should state an argument…
The very first sentence of a paragraph must not be a factual statement. A straight fact is lesser
expected to let the reader stay connected. This is because of two reasons.
First is that keeping the fact in the first line barely leaves any room for curiosity. When the
reader already knows the base fact at first glance, there are chances of getting distracted
afterwards.
The second reason is that such a statement is closed information. A closed piece of
information doesn’t need to be backed by evidence and explanations. At times they may look

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forcibly inserted in the paragraph. You may appear as an author who is writing just for the
sake of completion of your task.
Here is why you should start with an argumentative statement:
While writing down an argumentative statement, you will have to give evidence and
examples. This needs to be done for supporting the statement. Unlike the factual statement, it
is not simplistic. It needs to be proven by the examples and evidence. This is something that
keeps the reader engaged.
Explain
After the topic sentence, it comes to the explain it. This is the next step in the TEEL structure.
In the next three or four sentences (depending on your topic length) you must have to expand
the topic sentence. You should explain it to a length where the reader can get to know what
the argumentative topic was trying to convey.
Tips to explain the topic:
-Go for greater detail: Don’t try to summarise things. This is where you need to show up what
you need to convey. So, go for the greater details while writing an explanation. After all, this
is all you are supposed to do.
– Don’t add irrelevant facts or details. Keep your details specific to the topic.
– You can add a good amount of factual statements and supporting details to it. This will not
only add valuable content in your essay but will help your reader to stay connected. Use all
the factual statements you have to share to support the topic. This is the time to use the
information you have gathered after your hard efforts.
Evidence
After doing the explanations, you have to provide evidence to it. You have already forwarded
your view or an argument. This is the time when you have to support and justify them. You
have to back your own claims with stern evidence. This has to be done to show the readers
that you are right.
Being the author of an essay, you must know that it is important to make readers believe what
you are saying. This is because, if at any time your readers will feel that they are not
connecting with what you are saying, they will back off. Don’t be stressed by the term
“evidence.” It is generally used in legal terms, and there, it has a certain complexity around it.
Here, we are talking of evidence in literary terms. Finding out literary evidence is not a tough
thing to do. It can be a relevant quote. It can also be a saying of experts.
But again, you will have to make sure that you are not repetitive and boring. Check out
whether you are on-point or not. Whether the evidence you are going to provide is apt or not.

Link
Finally, you will have to provide a linking sentence. The motive of the linking sentence is to
summarise your para in a single sentence. Linking it back to the key terms from your topic
sentence (or the essay topic, if one is provided). This will happen after you have explained

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your argument and provided evidence. For instance, you could start your linking sentence by:
“This shows that ….” or any other sentence like this. A linking sentence is almost same to a
topic sentence. It is needed to link everything back to the main essay topic and provide a
mini-conclusion of the evidence.

Conclusion
A conclusion is the part of an essay that summarises your argument and recaps what has
come before it. So much is at stake in writing a conclusion. This is, after all, your last chance
to persuade your readers to your point of view, to impress yourself upon them as a writer and
thinker.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay. A strong conclusion aims to:

 Tie together the essay’s main points

 Show why your argument matters
 Leave the reader with a strong impression

Your conclusion should give a sense of closure and completion to your argument, but also
show what new questions or possibilities it has opened up.

There are steps to be followed when making a conclusion.

Step 1: Return to your thesis (Restatement)

To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an end by returning to your
overall argument (Restatement). However, do not just repeat your thesis statement—instead,
try to rephrase your argument in a way that shows how it has been developed since the
introduction.

Step 2: Review your main points (Summary)

Next, remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.

However, avoid simply summarizing each paragraph or repeating each point in order; try to
bring your points together in a way that makes the connections between them clear. The
conclusion is your final chance to show how all the paragraphs of your essay add up to a
coherent whole.

Step 3: Show why it matters (significance)

To wrap up your conclusion, zoom out to a broader view of the topic and consider the
implications of your argument. For example:

 Does it contribute a new understanding of your topic?

 Does it raise new questions for future study?
 Does it lead to practical suggestions or predictions?
 Can it be applied to different contexts?
 Can it be connected to a broader debate or theme?

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Whatever your essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of
your argument, whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.

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