How to Organize an Essay

Concluding Paragraph

Just as important as our top piece of bread, our bottom piece needs to be as strong and well thought-out. Imagine picking up a sandwich and noticing the person used a slice of sourdough bread on the top and a slice of pumpernickel bread on the bottom - would you be confused? Just as the top and bottom pieces of bread complement each other and almost mimic each other in taste and texture, this should also be the case with your concluding paragraph. It should read similar to your introductory paragraph, reiterating your thesis statement and main points.

Transition Statements

Okay, while what we have so far might look like a sandwich, the taste isn't there without some wonderful background notes of condiments and accenting flavors. Like mayo and cheese, transition statements are the notes that hold the sandwich together, ensuring it doesn't get too dry and that it has enough background flavor to guide the reader through. There should be transition statements following your introductory paragraph, between your main points, and before your concluding paragraph. Again, consider them the wonderful accents that give your essay the flavor that sets it apart, that makes it more than just a summation of the big parts. Like mustard on bread, transition statements are easy to forget to add, but the reader will always know if they are missing. Make sure to flavor your essay sandwich accordingly.

The Packaging

Now that we went through all the trouble of making an amazing, gourmet essay sandwich, what a waste if we didn't package it appropriately. How would you feel if you walked into restaurant, ordered a sandwich and they brought it to you wrapped in a dirty towel or maybe even toilet paper? Would that leave a bad impression on you? Would you even choose to consume it? For the purpose of essay-writing, the packaging piece is your editing. No matter how well the content is written, if an essay is filled with grammatical errors and misspelled words, it won't be seen as a good essay. It will leave a bad taste in the mouth of the reader, and all your effort of writing will have been in vain. Make sure you package your essay so that the reader is willing to consume that which you have written.

Putting it All Together

Let's recap what we have learned in this video. An essay is a shorter piece of writing that includes skills such as close reading, comparing and contrasting, analysis, persuasion, conciseness and clarity. The parts of an essay are the title, the introductory paragraph, the main points and the concluding paragraph. In writing an essay, we look at the process the same as we would for putting together a gourmet sandwich. We start with the top piece of bread - the introductory paragraph -which includes our thesis statement and introduces our main points. We fill it with wonderful, high-quality ingredients - the main points. We end with the bottom piece of bread - the concluding paragraph. This concluding paragraph should complement and almost mimic our introductory paragraph, reiterating our thesis and main points. We want to make sure to include our condiments - our transitions and transitional statements. We want to make sure people know what to call our masterpiece by adding an appropriate title. And we want to make sure to package our essay sandwich well - with a good final edit, including a good look at spelling and grammar.

Follow these steps and you are on your way to creating a great essay!