The question of how to structure a research essay can be difficult. Many people, especially when they havenât written these things before, find it difficult. Luckily, there is a lot of help out there! You can find everything you might need to help structure an essay, starting with this article.
Look at Samples
Your first step in trying to structure an essay should be to look at samples. A good professional essay writing service will have what they call pre-written essays. These essays are not written on the instructions of clients but are ready-made for anybody to buy.
Buy some pre-written research essays and have a good look at them. Look at how they are put together. Try and compare a few different essays. See how they are the same, and how they differ. Then use this information in your own work.
Do your Research
Do you know the topic of your research essay? The first step is to start your research. Get all of your research into one place, and then you can start fitting it into a research essay.
You need to know what you want to say before you can really and truly settle on a structure. There are different ways to handle and present your work. But until you sit down and do your research, you wonât know which way suits you best. Do the research you need for your essay. Then you can sort it into the separate arguments you want to make.
Write an Outline
Before you start, write an outline. Even writing an introduction paragraph is a bad idea without a proper outline.
Your outline can contain anything you want it to, but it is very good for planning structure. An outline can show you how to properly phrase your argument. Say you had an idea of how to structure your essay. An outline gives you the chance to try it out before you write. It might work or it might not. Either way, you will have saved a lot of time and effort. Outlines are a good tool to have.
Write your Introduction
The first step is to write your introduction. It is the start of your essay, so give it your full attention. Because of what goes into an introduction, it can also be helpful to keep you on track.
When you do your essay, do you normally write the conclusion and introduction at the same time? They contain a lot of the same information. The same principle can also apply for the conclusion. Where the introduction contains your arguments, the conclusion can contain what you want to finish with. Writing it beforehand can give you something to keep you on track when writing.
Write the Main Body of the Essay
The body writing is where the bulk of your research comes in. The body paragraphs, as they are referred to, are where you lay out your argument. They have their own rules:
- One argument per paragraph
- Only use quotes in the body of your essay
- Each paragraph should lead on to the next.
This part of your essay has its own structure rules. A good body paragraph structure includes this
- Each paragraph should have a topic sentence
- Each paragraph should have a lead-in to the next paragraph
- Each paragraph should refer back to the essayâs thesis statement in some way.
Check your Structure
Once youâve finished the essay, you need to check it over. Look at your sample research essay â how well does it follow that structure?
You donât need to follow that structure exactly. There are different ways to handle the structure of research essays. But if you are new to it, then following a template can be useful. If you are more used to research essays, then a template can still be useful. Maybe you have decided to deviate from the norm in some way. In that case, having a template of the ânormalâ way to handle this type of essay can be good as a comparison.
Edit and Proofread
When you look at any examples of research essays, what do you see? Do you see spelling mistakes and sloppy grammar? No, you see an essay which has dotted every I and crossed every T.
This is what you should aspire to in your own work. Your spelling and grammar will directly affect how people see your work. You could have the best argument in the world! If you have terrible spelling, no one will care. This also applies to structure. You need to have the proper structure in your essay. The argument needs to flow smoothly from one point to the next. This then leads people to the inevitable conclusion. Bad structure pulls them out of the narrative you are trying to create.
So, you need to structure a research essay. Hopefully, these tips have cleared up some issues for you. Research essays are among the most common types of essays out there. You will need to learn proper structure at some point. The more practice you have, the better you will be.