What is an Essay?

What is an essay?

By Jacob 6B

An essay is a written composition on any subject. An essay is made up of 400 words. An essay is made up of 3 parts – introduction (at the beginning), body (in the middle) and conclusion (at the end). Each of these parts is made up of paragraphs. A paragraph focuses on one specific topic. The introduction lays out the stage for what you will be talking about. The body is most of your information is and the conclusion wraps up what you have said.

There are also a few other steps to guide you. These are discuss, compare, explain, contrast and give your opinion. Discussing is talking about all of your ideas. Comparing is discussing with other people your ideas. Explaining is telling everyone about your ideas. Contrast is the difference and giving your opinion is telling people what you think.

Usually, each paragraph will start out with a topic sentence. A topic sentence states the main idea of your paragraph. In each paragraph you have to give evidence to support your main points in the paragraph. Linking your paragraphs together is also important; for example, if you are doing an essay on sharks, you should say how sharks hunt and then what they eat – these two topics are related. But you shouldn’t go from where sharks live to how they hunt.