The different parts of an essay – Prof. Skosana tells all
Prof Kennedy Skosana outlines the different parts to writing an essay.
Kwatsduza – As part of his book Action Learning Methods into why students fail, Prof Kennedy Skosana shares and outlines the different parts of writing an essay.
The introduction
The introduction of an essay will start with an introduction that briefly describes the main ideas that a student will be discussing in the rest of the essay.
Do not give your opinion on the subject.
The introduction must be short.
There are a number of ways to start an essay.
You might:
• Explain why the subject is so important.
• Write about some new facts regarding the causes and effects of issues involved.
You might use the following words and phrases to start your introduction:
• Recently…
• Nowadays…
• It is certainly true that…
• In the past…
The main part of the essay
This is the part of the essay where you explain and develop the ideas that you briefly described in the introduction.
You may want to give some facts.
Start you sentences with:
• Recent research shows or suggests that…
• A recent report or survey showed…
• There is evidence to suggest…
You may want to give reasons for something.
• Perhaps this is because…
• This may be the result of…
• This may be due to…
The word ‘also’ at the start of a sentence is too informal for an essay.
There are more formal ways of saying ‘also’ which sound better in an essay, such as:
• Furthermore…
• More importantly…
• What is more…
• In addition…
You want to say what the result of something is:
• Thus…
• As a result…
• Consequently…
• This has an effect of…
• Therefore…
You will probably need to show that you are aware of different opinions on the subject.
Start as follows:
• However…
• Nevertheless…
• On the other hand…
The conclusion
The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay.
In your conclusion you should describe briefly the essay and give your opinion of all the points you have made.
Try to answer all the questions that you might have raised in your introduction.
Here are some useful phrases to start your conclusion:
• To conclude…
• To sum up…
• In conclusion…
Where you use opinions of other authors make sure that you acknowledge them to satisfy academic requirements.
Avoid plagiarism.
Read your essay and make sure you correct mistakes.
Always have a dictionary to make sure about spelling of words.
Read: Prof Skosana shares his expertise
