RedGage

Do you remember writing those "How I spent my summer vacation" essay? Or how did you survive college with two or more essays for each class? Did you have trouble putting together an essay that your teacher liked?

Well I am here to tell you that the basic essay form is the most important tool in a writer's toolbox. Just because you have left school doesn't mean that essay writing is over because this basic beginning, middle, and end are used in writing academic, literary, and magazine essays. Even memoirs sometimes use this format.

In this article, I will be showing you the elements and sub-elements of a basic essay format.

Beginning

When I first started writing essays for my English professor, Dr. Atkins, she would draw an inverted triangle on the board. This is what your beginning paragraph should look like, she would say to us. Well, I didn't have a clue. Should I make my beginning paragraph visual?

What she meant is that you should start with a general statement with each sentence becoming less general until you reach the topic sentence.

The topic sentence tells all the good stuff. What are you trying to accomplish in your essay. The topic sentence in this article is "I will be showing you the elements and sub-elements of a basic essay format."

If you are writing a magazine article, then the topic sentence would be your hook. The hook is a promise to the reader.

I have heard from other students and writers that the beginning is probably the hardest part of writing an essay because you must hook the reader and give them something to look forward to reading.

Middle

The middle of the essay is where you keep the promise of your topic sentence or hook.  It is the meat of the essay. The least amount of paragraphs you should have in the middle is three. For some reason, three, five, and seven arguments (supporting paragraphs) are the best numbers for supporting a paper. Anytime you use more or less arguments, it makes the reader hesitant in trusting your judgment.  Behavioral scientists think these numbers are hard-wired into our brain.

For instance in this essay, I have divided the middle into beginning, middle, and end.

End

The end is where you put your conclusive arguments. The reader will hopefully understand your end arguments because you have given them the facts in the middle of the essay.

Also, in a magazine article, this is the paragraph where you will release your reader from your hook. The reader should feel satisfied. If they don't, it is because you didn't fulfill the promise of the hook.

If you can write within the basic essay form, you will be able to freelance in most of the online markets today. I can thank some great professors in the University Maryland University College for their help in understanding and internalizing this structure.