Essay Papers

Essay Papers are basically the same as academic essays: both are used to assess a student's ability to write lucidly and logically about a topic and/or texts in order to examine a thesis statement. The Essay Paper is based on the thesis statement.

What is a thesis statement in an essay paper?

A thesis statement is your point of view or argument formed by your reaction to the question and the texts. It should give the reader a good idea of what your essay is going to cover but should not be too long. It should form the main part of your introduction, which should not, usually, include quotations.

How should an essay paper be structured?

An essay paper should be structured in the same way as an academic essay. There are different kinds of essay papers, though; so you need to make sure what sort of work is expected. For example, a research essay paper would be quite different from a critical essay paper.

Ensure you are doing exactly what is required or you might lose marks. Having said that, the basic structure for most Essay Papers is:

. The introduction containing the thesis statement as outlined above. The introduction should be kept brief and not include any quotations

. The main body. This should be sub-divided into separate but connected paragraphs, each on a different aspect of the topic. The paragraphs should begin and end with hooks in the sentences to connect the paragraphs and make the argument flow more smoothly

. All your points should be supported by textual evidence properly referenced in the style your college or university has requested you to use. Longer quotations should begin on a new line following a colon, shorter quotations i.e. a line or less, should be incorporated within the text and enclosed within quotation marks. Quotations are very important, as they are your evidence

. Remember to analyse your quotations as this can give you more ideas for your essay paper, which you can follow up if relevant

. The conclusion. This should be a summary of the points you made in your Essay Paper and indicate what direction further study might take. You should not introduce new evidence into a conclusion, as your work might appear incomplete if you can't expand on the new ideas so avoid them

. The bibliography. This should list every book from which you have quoted and/or consulted during the writing of your Essay Paper. It should be completed in the referencing style requested by your school, college or university. Make sure you are using the correct style before you begin.

Any more I should know about the essay paper?

Well, there are some basic tips that should help you with writing a good essay paper or, indeed, any good academic essay:

. Make sure you are answering the question properly. This sounds obvious but actually many students lose marks simply because they just write down everything they know about a topic without thinking whether or not it is relevant to the question in hand

. When you have analysed the question, research the topic thoroughly before proceeding. All works of any type - books, journals, websites etc. - should be listed in your bibliography so make a note of them as you go along, this will save you time later

. When your essay paper is complete, proofread it carefully; better still, get someone else to proofread it and/or read it aloud. You will be simply throwing marks away if you make careless errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation and nothing makes a worse impression - especially if you misspell an author's name or the title of a book!