Basic Format of a College Essay

All essay writing is practice for the next piece of essay writing. essay writing is a skill like many others that can be strengthened and developed with practice. In the same way that a professional musician or athlete spends hours each day practicing, and years before the desired level of skill can be achieved, so too must essay writing be developed. The essay writing exercises given throughout this course have helped me develop the skill of more effective essay writing by teaching me how to develop middle paragraphs.

A traditional essay takes the form of five paragraphs: an introduction, where the thesis is presented; three body paragraphs, where the thesis is supported with evidence; and a conclusion, where the evidence is brought together, showing that the thesis has been proven. In a shorter essay, the body may be only one paragraph. Therefore it is essential to provide concrete examples from the key phrases of a thesis statement. Developing the middle paragraph in an essay has been the most important lesson gleaned from the essay writing exercises. Without substance to an essay, the thesis is weak and unproven.

The essay writing exercises have taught me both the importance of developing this skill, and how to develop better and more effective examples. Exquisite language is but one ingredient to strong essay writing. Without a solid foundation of support, the most verbose of thesis statements is icing without the cake: unsatisfying and incomplete.