We’ll assume that you’ve read widely about the particular subject of your essay, and have a good understanding of the broader area within which that topic is located. Broad and deep research is the essential basis of an essay. You will have lots of notes on the subject – see the ICS Study Skills Guide to Note-Making for tips on how to do this.

So now it’s time to write the essay. You sit down in front of the keyboard and start typing : you put the title, you try to group some similar bits of information or argument together, and then you put a conclusion on the end saying that there are many interesting points of view on this subject, right ?

No, of course you don’t. You’ve got to start off with an essay plan. By designing this you’ll come up with the structure. A well thought-out structure is at the heart of every good essay.

What is a good structure ?

It isn’t enough to make sure that you have an introduction at the start, a conclusion at the end, and the other stuff in between. So what do you need ?

1. You do need a solid introduction. It will probably contain something about how you have interpreted the question, and it is often a good idea to state a thesis (an argument) which you are going to illustrate or explore in the body of the essay – although you may prefer to save the ‘findings’ of your exploration to the end, in which case you have to introduce the question carefully at the start.
2. And you need a tight, powerful conclusion which is the logical consequence of everything that has gone before. The good essay has developed a number of related strands which the conclusion ties together. It may also contain an extra, surprising thing which you saved to throw in at the end with a flourish.
3. So what happens in between ? Well…You need to organise your material so that it flows from one area, sub-section or argument to the next in a logical order. Each part should build upon, or at least reasonably follow on from, the previous parts, and the whole thing should be pulling the reader, clearly and inescapably, to your triumphant conclusion.
   The box on the right shows unimaginative kinds of essay structure, which are likely to get low marks.
   But what can you do instead ?
   One good approach is to look through your notes and identify a handful of themes within the discussion, and to structure your essay around consideration of those. You should order the analysis of each theme so that the essay builds up towards the conclusion.

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