Even though the thesis statement may contain your opinion, the evidence supporting your opinions will be factual and unbiased. Using a specific set of criteria to judge the topic, the essay must contain strong pieces of evidence from reputable or scholarly sources.

Introduction:

The introduction for an essay will include specific information that will be used to introduce your audience to the opinion or claim that will be identified in the thesis statement and discussed throughout the essay.  

• The introduction will include an interesting hook to capture the reader's attention. This hook can be a quotation from a popular or well-known source, a thought-provoking question, or a statistic or it can be a short anecdote (story) to add a personal touch to this essay.  See “How do I write a hook?” for more information. 

• Then, introduce the subject of your essay.  Keep this simple and focused. 

• Next, give the audience some needed background information.  This will be 2 - 3 sentences discussing the main points of "what" the subject is.  Use these sentences to provide the necessary information the reader will need to know in order to understand the essay and your evaluation. 

• Finally, your thesis statement will be the last sentence of this paragraph.  The thesis statement is the "road map" to your paper.  It will highlight the main points that will be addressed in each body paragraph.  See “How do I write a thesis statement?” for more information. 

Body Paragraph:

The body paragraphs create the bulk of the information needed to write this essay.  While the entire essay is working to defend or support your opinion stated in your thesis, the purpose of the body paragraphs is to provide facts and evidence-based research to support your claim.  Use this space to tell your reader exactly why your claim is correct by using outside sources. 

Use transition words to vary the sentence structure throughout all three body paragraphs.  Each body paragraph will have a similar structure.  Each section of the body paragraph will be roughly 1 - 3 sentences in length.  

• The body paragraphs begin with a topic sentence.  Explain what this paragraph will be mostly about.  This will be one of the claims stated in your thesis.  

• Then, provide an evaluation of this idea.  Tell more information about this topic.  Analyze the importance of this claim. 

• Next, introduce the evidence.  The evidence is the quoted material and states the quote.  Be sure to use a transition word to interject the quote into your writing.  See “How do I use transition words?” for more information. 

• Finally, evaluate the importance of the quote and relate it back to the importance of the thesis statement.  At the end of this, use another transition word to transition to the next paragraph. 

This will be repeated for all three body paragraphs.  For more information about writing body paragraphs, click here. 

Conclusion: 

The conclusion of this essay will consist of three sections.  

• First, restate the main points of the essay using different words.  

• Then, think about the question "so, what?".  Use the next few sentences to explain why this is important for the reader to know.  Explain why the audience should care about this information.   Tie this information together with the hook of your essay.  If you asked a question, provide some answers or if you told a short story, explain the implications of this story.  

• Next, tell the reader what they need to do now.  This is a "call to action" where you, the author have the opportunity to explain the importance of your own actions, or how this information can have an impact on your life. 

• Finally, ask a question, or tell the reader to take action.  Be direct and sincere in your evaluation.

For more information about writing a conclusion paragraph, click here.