Organize Your Essay for Greater Effect

A good essay is well-organized, clearly thought-out, and articulate. As with any construction, say of a building or car, essays likewise require blueprints, plans that allow the essayist to create a foundation that is unimpeachable. This essay will look at the structure of a good essay and how to organize your thoughts for your essay in a way that will allow you to articulate the ideas you are most passionate about.

The first thing to understand about a good essay is its structure. Most high school students are often told that the standard essay structure is five paragraphs beginning with an introductory paragraph, the body, and conclusion. That is only partly correct. While most high school or college essays are generally limited to five to ten pages, an essay can be as long as you need it to be in order to express or argue your ideas. But one factor of an essay form that is standard throughout is the introduction, body, and conclusion. Let's look at this form and the ways in which you can clarify and strengthen each section of your essay.

First, there is the introduction. The introduction always begins with the first paragraph of your essay. It is a way to tell your reader what the essay is about and the manner in which you plan to argue your ideas. Generally, the introduction is where you state the thesis of your essay (your argument or opinion on the topic) and the topics you plan to bring up to argue your thesis. While the thesis and topics are often found in the introduction, this is not always a given. For instance, the thesis can be stated in the conclusion of your essay. And your topics don't necessarily have to be stated explicitly or at all, though it is important that your body have a clearly organized list of topics in which to argue your thesis. An introduction can be of any length and can even take up two or more paragraphs, though, depending on the subject, it is generally best to keep your introductions short and to the point.

Your introduction is basically like introducing yourself. It is a first impression that you make with your readers, so it is important that your introduction gets off to a good start. You want your reader to continue reading your essay, to be interested in the topic you are discussing. One sure fire way of getting your readers interested in your topic is by introducing your essay with a personal story or an anecdote that is closely related to the subject you're writing about. Let's say you want to write about farmers' markets and how they are the best way to buy produce. A great way to begin such an essay would be to include a personal anecdote involving farmers' markets. The same can be true of any topic about which you choose to write. If you do not have any personal anecdotes or stories about the topic, then include a story that is universally understood or otherwise linked to the subject. For instance, in an essay I wrote about the state of journalism in America today, I introduced the topic with a story about former Vice-President Al Gore:

"Former vice-president Al Gore isn't thrilled about the current state of journalism these days. In a recent interview with the New York Observer, he said: 'The media is kind of weird these days on politics, and there are some major institutional voices that are, truthfully speaking, part and parcel of the Republican Party.' He added that with the advent of cable-television and Internet news, the 'news [has become] a commodity, available from an unlimited number of sellers at a steadily decreasing cost, so the established news organizations became the high-cost producers of a low-cost commodity.' (Benson, pg 1). Considering the drubbing Gore got from the media during the 2000 presidential election his disgruntlement (albeit mild) is understandable. But what he left out of his critique was how his administration helped to degrade journalism even further with the signing of what was then one of the most significant pieces of legislation to change the entire media landscape."

With the introduction, the reader is thus given an impression of what the topic will be about, but also the tenor in which the write intends to approach the subject. A good introduction is guaranteed to interest the reader in your topic and the arguments you wish to bring up on said topic.

The body of your essay will of course include the topics and the arguments you wish to bring up on your subject. As I stated before, most high school students are instructed to include at least three topics on the subject, which will then be argued within three paragraphs. Again, there are no rules regarding how many topics or paragraphs you want to include in your essay. If you are tackling a subject that requires a lot of topics or arguments, then you are free to write at whatever length you feel is needed in order to argue your points articulately and thoroughly. Sometimes a single topic can involve more than one paragraph. While the number of topics and their length in which you argue them depend on the subject you are writing about, there are some standard rules that must be followed in order for your ideas to be articulate and well thought-out. One of those rules is topic organization.

It is important that the body of your essay is organized by the topics you wish to bring up in your paper. Each paragraph, or series of paragraphs, must deal exclusively on said topic. For example, let's use the farmers' market example. Let's say the writer has three topics (and again, it is not necessary to have only three topics, but for the sake of argument, I'll settle on this number) she'll want to use to argue her point that shopping at a farmers' market is better than at a grocery store. The three topics she'll use to argue this point are: 1) cheaper prices, 2) produce are fresh and organic, and 3) family atmosphere. In the body of her essay, she will go into further detail, using evidence, anecdotes, or other means to argue each point in her thesis. Each topic will thus be examined in the order in which she introduces them in her introduction. The first topic (cheaper prices) will be written in more detail.

She will write as much as she needs to about said topic in order to convince her reader that the prices at farmers' markets are inexpensive when compared to prices at grocery markets. Here, actual facts in comparative pricing will be needed in order to make a convincing argument. Once the writer has finished writing as much as she needs to on said topic, then she'll begin the next topic: fresh and organic produce. Again, evidence will be used to back up her argument. She'll keep writing in this manner, giving each topic the fair amount of detail and attention to evidence, facts, or anecdotes. One mistake students often make in writing essays is blurring topics together or not giving enough evidence for each topic to make a conclusive argument. As I stated before, while it is not necessary to devote a single paragraph to each topic, it is important to discuss each topic one at a time so as not to confuse the reader. The reader should be able to follow each topic and idea in your essay in the same way she might follow a graph or a chart.

Once you've completed arguing your points in the body, you will want to write the conclusion to your essay. As with the introduction and body, the conclusion is important in creating a strong paper. Another instruction given to high school students is that the conclusion should wrap up your argument. While this is true to a certain extent, the conclusion should not simply restate what you've already argued in your essay. Nor are you restricted to introducing new ideas in your conclusion, which is another bit of advice given to high school students. Rather, the conclusion should present larger or more universal themes regarding the subject.

For instance, in the essay about farmers' markets, a writer might want to suggest in her conclusion that shopping at farmers' markets will help the local farming economy or have a positive effect on environmental concerns. While such ideas are not necessarily a part of your thesis, they do sharpen the readers' understanding of how significant or far reaching their actions will be if they follow the writer's advice. In other words, the conclusion of the essay should have a lasting impression in the reader's mind about the subject and why it is so important to you as a writer and should be important to the reader, as well. All essays, beginning with its introduction, body, and conclusion, follow the same structure with a flow of ideas and topics to create a concise and articulate argument that works in concert with one another.

As I stated before, it is important that your essay be well-organized and thought-out. One way to turn off a potential reader is to introduce ideas in a muddled or unclear manner. In order to organize your essay, it's important to start off with an outline. Outlining an essay allows you to know exactly the topics you want to address and the order in which you want to address it. The typical outline often follows the roman numerical structure, though it's not necessary to use roman numerals nor the alphabetical form in order to outline. As long as there is a structure and order to the ideas you'll be presenting in your essay then any outline will do. Typically, an outline would look like this:

I. Introduction: Farmer's markets
A. Cheap prices
B. Fresh and organic produce
C. Family Atmosphere
II. Cheap prices
A. comparative pricing between farmer's markets and grocery stores
B. why farmer's markets are cheaper
III. Fresh and organic produce
A. growing practices
1. small farmers
2. corporate agriculture
a. chemicals
b. health effects
B. Healthier
IV. Family atmosphere
A. Child/Family friendly
B. Activities
V. Conclusion

Of course, this is just a bare outline and anyone writing on such a topic might have other arguments to use in each topic. But this gives you an idea of how to organize your topics and ideas in a way that is easy to follow for you as a writer and will be easy to follow for your readers. By outlining your essay prior to writing, you'll be able to write your paper in a clear and concise manner, thus making a strong argument in support of your thesis.

Another way to write a strong organizational structure for your essay is through topic sentences. A topic sentence introduces each topic in the body of the essay. For instance, a possible sentence introducing the topic of cheap pricing at farmers' markets could begin something like this: "One of the reasons why farmers' markets are preferable for produce shoppers than grocery markets is because their prices are much cheaper." This lets the reader know exactly what the topic will be about and the argument the writer is presenting in her thesis.

After you've written your topic sentence, it is therefore important to continue its flow of thought. The next sentence thus should compare prices at farmers' markets to prices at grocery stores. To put it another way, each sentence should be like climbing up a flight of stairs. Each step is an idea you are introducing to your reader. As you ascend the flight of steps, you are growing closer and closer to more specific examples of your idea. The first sentence is a general topic (cheaper prices), while the next sentence is more specific (actual comparisons of prices), and so on. Each topic should introduce more specific evidence or anecdotes which argue your thesis.

Student essayists often make the mistake of writing vague or incomplete arguments. Usually, the student introduces ideas that she does not follow up on or back up with facts or examples. Writing an essay is sort of like convincing a friend to see a movie that you loved or patronize a certain restaurant or bar. You want to convince your reader that your argument is the correct one or at least convince the reader that you have a strong command of knowledge on the subject. You want your reader to be compelled not repelled (or disinterested) in your ideas. So it is important to be as thorough as possible on each topic, providing the necessary amount of evidence or anecdotes to convince your reader that your argument is a strong one. Organize each thought or idea in a way that builds one on top of the other so that there is a complete and coherent argument. Each topic sentence introduces the topic you are approaching, while each subsequent sentences offer evidence or anecdotes that back up the argument you are making. By structuring each topic in the body of your essay this way, your reader will be able to follow, understand, and, perhaps, agree with your argument.

However you wish to approach the topic, it is important that you guide your reader along the path of ideas you are tackling in your essay. If your reader is at any point confused about what you are writing about, then you have failed to engage her in a dialogue. A good essay is precisely that - -a dialogue between the writer and the reader. While this dialogue is one-sided (more like a monologue), this does not suggest that the reader is passive. Rather, the reader will argue and have counterpoints to your opinions, so therefore it is also important to take into account and address those differing points of view. But a good and strong essay has a declarative point of view that reveals your opinions about said topic. By understanding the basic structures of a good essay and organizing and planning your essay ahead of time, you'll be able to engage your readers in an honest dialogue that will introduce them to differing ideas and spark conversations.