 The five parts of a typical essay  The role of the thesis statement  The purpose of the paragraph  Every paragraph has a specific job Mr. Matthew Tabeek English 090, Fall 2010

 The typical college essay is made up of five parts. The Introduction Body Paragraph A Body Paragraph B Body Paragraph C The Conclusion That’s it! 5 Paragraphs

 Grab the reader’s attention!  Introduce the subject and provide some background.  The last sentence states the thesis – the main idea.

 The thesis statement states the purpose of the essay. It conveys the main idea of the essay and often indicates how the main idea will be supported.  Ideally, it is a one-sentence summary of the whole composition located at the end of the introduction. What’s the point?

 The paragraph is a series of sentences developing ONE topic.  The topic of a paragraph is stated in ONE sentence.  This sentence is called the topic sentence.  The topic sentence states the thesis points in order (A,B,C).

 A topic sentence may be developed and supported in a number of ways: DetailsExplanationsInformation

m a i n i d e a sentence

 Going off topic is an easy way to lose the reader.  CAUTION: Remember to stick to the specific thesis point.

 The first sentence of the conclusion is a broad, thesis-level statement. It may restate the thesis.  The last sentence of the conclusion is satisfying and final-sounding.  Three types: 1. Summary 2. A prediction 3. A recommendation