Journal 7 - Parts of an Essay

An essay is a piece of writing that tells your thoughts about a topic. A multi-paragraph essay does the same thing, just in multiple paragraphs. First, there would be the title, which is the name, the student's number, the date, and the assignment. This would be usually placed on the top-right corner of the page. Then, there comes the introduction of the essay. All the paragraphs of the essay should be indented so we would indent the introduction first. The first part of the introduction is usually the hook. At the end of the paragraph, the thesis of the essay would be stated. A thesis is a sentence with the subject of the essay and the author's opinion on the subject in it. After the introduction, there would be multiple body paragraphs. The body paragraphs start with a topic sentence. The topic sentence is a subject and opinion about the paragraph. Mind the details here. It is a paragraph. It is followed by a concrete detail, or CD, which are specific details from the topic. It can be direct quotations from the text or person you are writing about or even just a paraphrase of it. Following the concrete detail is the commentary which is also known as the CM. It is mainly what you have to say about the detail such as what you thought about it or what you could connect it to. There is a ratio between the CD and the CM. For 1 CD there would be 2 or more CM. The complete set of CD and CM is a chunk. Finally there would be a concluding sentence which adds a finished feeling to the paragraph or your personal statement. There would be about 3 paragraphs in the body of the essay. Finally, there is the conclusion. The conclusion sums up, reflects and gives a finished feeling to the essay. It says more commentary about the subject and gives a personal statement. If done well, an essay is never boring to read.