When writing an essay, you want to present your argument coherently. Following the proper essay structure will help you pass your ideas accurate and help your reader understand your overall point. Proper formatting will help express your knowledge in the essay and convey a degree of professionalism.
The type of layout to use on your essay depends on the type of essay you’re writing. Different essay types have different layouts, and you need to master each to ensure you follow the right structure when writing your essay. Here are five types of essay layouts to guide you when writing your next essay.
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Argumentative Essay Layout
Most students struggle with argumentative essay layouts because they tend to be complicated and multi-layered. It doesn’t help that most argumentative essays as usually a part of your coursework assignment in high school and college. The goal of the essay is to demonstrate your ability to assess circumstances and make informed comments based on the facts of the case. Most of the aspects of this essay are similar to other essays.
Introduction
This will be the foundation of your essay and the cornerstone of your argument. The introduction must be flawless because it introduces the rest of the paper. The introduction will also carry the hook, the context detail and the thesis statement.
Body paragraphs
These are the main paragraphs that comprise the rest of the essay’s body. These will carry the claim to link the key sub-argument to your thesis statement after presenting your topic sentence, the evidence and the topic sentence.
You should also consider having a counter-argument in your essay and disapprove of the viewpoint and claims with proof.
Final thoughts
End the body section with a conclusion that has a thorough explanation. This section will summarise the claim’s overall relevance to the study. Be sure to revise the essay before submission to iron out any grammatical errors and typos. Make sure everything reads clearly and flows nicely.
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Persuasive Essay Layout
Persuasive essays work to convince the reader to agree with your position. This type of writing is quite common, especially in advertisements. With persuasive essays, study, logical thinking and analysis are all part of the process. Once you’re ready to start writing, follow this layout;
Introduction
You will introduce the topic and discuss why the topic is significant or controversial and why a decision is necessary.
Thesis
Introduce yourself and your point of view to the reader. Your writing should be well-informed and useful to the reader. Performing extensive research before writing will have this effect, so you shouldn’t be hasty about writing.
Main body
At this point, introduce a new argument to support your thesis in each paragraph. Be sure to back up your claim after introducing it and back it up with facts. All your paragraphs should be connected to create a bigger and flow.
Conclusion
Link all of your key points in the conclusion. Do not introduce anything new at this point. Instead, summarise and make your closing remarks.
For persuasive essays, consider the following guidelines as well;
- 500, 1500 or 2000 words are allowed
- Unless otherwise specified, stick to Times New Roman 12-point font. Use a 16-point for your essay title. You can also use Arial and Georgia fonts.
- Double-spaced is the gold standard, but you can use 1.5 also.
- Justified alignment.
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Narrative Essay layout
Narrative essays are easier to work on. They serve to inform the reader about encounters, experiences and events that happened to the author at a specific time. Narrative essays have an exciting storyline, while descriptive ones try to paint a picture of an individual, experience, location, or object without a specific sequence of events.
It’s best if you start your narrative essay by making a journal about your experience and make a rough description of what will happen. Look for proof where necessary and make a list of your ideas.
Introduction
Before the writing process begins, always make sure you read a little more of the criteria, select the subject and gather some relevant details that you can use as a guide. Use a hook to commit readers. It can be a hook, an interesting comment, a fact or a quote.
Main body
The main body will have various paragraphs. Cover the history of your story in the first paragraph. It will give readers the most critical information. Keep it clear and concise.
You will also have a paragraph setting up the main characters at the story’s beginning and give examples. Try to be as detailed as possible in the plot.
The second body paragraph should get to the core of your story. Get the story to climax or the turning point. You can use a few anecdotes or details.
Conclusion
Describe all you’ve written and reiterate the key topic in your story. Explain how it applies to the lives of your readers. This should be a call to action, asking the readers to consider the subject further.
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Expository Essay Layout
In an expository essay, you will reveal a sequence of events, a novel or other subject as indicated by the teacher or professor to the reader. An expository essay should follow the below layout;
- Introduction
- Main body (this contains multiple paragraphs)
- Conclusion
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A Five Paragraph Essay Layout
Five-paragraph essays have the easiest layout. Possibly because they are also among the easiest and most straightforward. The essay includes an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. The introductions carry about five sentences. Because of the short nature of the essay, the introduction should have an attention-grabbing opening sentence and conclude with the thesis.
The body paragraphs support the thesis. You should organise the points from the least to the most important. Finally, the conclusion should restate the thesis and tie the body of the essay together.
Closing Remarks
Each type of essay will have a different layout. Even those with a similar structure will vary slightly in the details of what is covered in each paragraph. But regardless of the type of essay or layout, you should always endeavour to start with a strong introduction that hooks the reader and makes them want to keep reading.
