Improving your writing skills can be hard work. Sometimes a cat and cup of tea will help.
Learning how to structure a text in a clear way is a basic skill which will be useful for you in so many subjects. An understanding of how texts are structured can even help you become more efficient readers. You will write many different types of texts in your life, but in the following we will focus on how to structure essays. We will look at the different levels of structure, the overall structure, paragraph structure and sentence structure, and how these all work together to give meaning and flow to a text.
There are different levels of structure in a text. Let´s call it a hierarchy of text structure and it could be divided into three: an introduction, a main body of text and a conclusion. That´s the top level. To make that overall structure work, you need to work out the structure on the level below, and that´s where the building blocks we call paragraphs come in. A paragraph is a chunk of text organized into a coherent unit, usually with a beginning, a middle and an end. The third, and last level we will concern ourselves with, later this year, is on the sentence level. Something like this:
Make it Match
An introduction should lead the reader into the text and provide guidance of what is to come. An idea could be to start with some context for the topic you’re writing about, then outline what your essay will deal with, and, if relevant, define key concepts or terms. At the end of your introduction, you provide a thesis statement, which says something about the main point of your essay. Here is an example of an introduction:
A paragraph needs a clear point. Usually, that point comes at the beginning, often in the very first sentence. That is called the topic sentence of the paragraph and is perhaps the most important ingredient. So much depends upon that sentence. It needs to be strong enough to carry the entire weight of the paragraph on its own, and if it fails, all of it will fall apart and strike the reader as confusing or right out pointless. When you get to now the patterns and structures of paragraphs even better, you will find that if you can just spot and isolate the topic sentence of each paragraph in a text, those few sentences together, if they are properly structured, will basically give you all the information you need to understand the main message of the entire text.
I use that strategy all the time when I read academic and factual texts. 4 paragraphs = four sentences. 16 paragraphs = still just 16 sentences. This study technique can help you become a quicker, more efficient reader. So, please take to heart just how important the topic sentences are, and how writing them in school is not something you should take lightly. Write, and rewrite them until they´re up to the standards of the goals you have set for yourself.
India is a beautiful country.
That is a simple, well-functioning topic sentence. Notice how it does at least two things:
With the topic sentence in place, it is time to focus on another ingredient, the supporting sentences that go with it. Even though the topic sentence carries the gist of the paragraph on its shoulders, it needs to be supported by the other sentences in that paragraph. In tandem, these elements should aspire to create a coherent “package”, easily accessible to the reader. Depending on the topic and function of the paragraph, the supporting sentences are sometimes there to exemplify. Other times they need to maybe describe something, provide a definition, or reflections on a dilemma. It will vary, and you need to be able to adjust to that in each writing process.
From the monumental mountains of Uttar Pradesh to the serenity of the Kullu Valley, you will find your piece of mind or a chance to realize your adventures. The warm hearts of a welcoming people can be felt everywhere you go, and there is a kindness to be sensed from the quiet riverbanks to the busy city streets.
There are two supporting sentences that help fulfill the promise of the topic sentence. They are descriptions of landscapes and people that inform the reader about the beauty of the country. Sometimes a paragraph can be very long and consist of perhaps ten sentences, maybe even more. Sometimes maybe just three or four. To give you an idea to start out with I suggest the following guideline: If the paragraph only includes three sentences, skip it, add to it or try to incorporate it into another paragraph. If it is eight to ten sentences long, or more, double-check that you are still on point through all of it, and consider ways of splitting it up that could make your point even more accessible to the reader.
So, go there. Explore. Enjoy. Learn about this beautiful country. Maybe learn about yourself too.
These sentences work almost like a conclusion in the paragraph, a logical culmination of the information of the preceding supporting sentences. The point comes full circle and provides the reader with a kind of closure that makes it hard to disagree with the main message of the paragraph. A short, but coherent paragraph, of eight sentences.
Beas River, in Kullu Valley and the lower Himalayan Range.
Vivek Vikram Singh, 2015 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Let´s look at another example. Below I have quoted a paragraph from an old English textbook. The title of the text is “A Global Language” and it deals with the spread of English and how it gained its present-day position as the dominant world language. Can you spot the sentences that make up the PEEL-structure?
More than half a century on, the spectacular rise of English shows no sign of ending. In fact, it looks as if it has only just started. For every native speaker of English – and there are some 375 million of them – there are now three non-native speakers. Some of them are people like you, learning English because it is an important foreign language. Others live in countries where English is an official language even though it isn´t a mother tongue. India, Singapore and several African countries fall into this category. English has become a global language and the world´s foremost lingua franca – a term used to describe a language used as a means of communication between people whose native languages are different.
This example is from (Burgess & Sørhus, 2013, p 62). Here is my take on it:
➽ Topic sentence, the P: Placed at the beginning. 2 sentences, actually, in tandem.
➽ Supporting sentences, the E and E: 4 reasons/examples that the claim made (in the topic sentence) is valid. 1 sentence per point = 4 sentences.
➽ Conclusive sentence, the L: A kind of conclusion. A summing up of the consequences of the examples given.
Touchdown!
Skirenn (approx. 1920 – 1930)
Photo: Henriksen, Hans (1893-1942) or Paulsen, Gard (1911-1944).
Burgess , R., & Sørhus, T. B. (2013). Access to English. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Undervisning.
Søvik, K. (2021, April 27). How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay. Retrieved September 2022, from www.ndla.no: https://ndla.no/nb/subject:1:06270029-7aa7-4a7a-b383-128b275ff150/topic:2:185612/ resource:1:99692
UNC Writing Center(a). (n.d.). The Role of an Introduction. Retrieved September 2022, from www.pomona.edu: https://www.pomona.edu/ administration/writing-center/student-resources/general-writing-resources/role-introduction
UNC Writing Center(b). (n.d.). The Art of the Conclusion. Retrieved September 2022, from www.pomona.edu: https://www.pomona.edu/ administration/writing-center/student-resources/general-writing-resources/art-conclusion
Arne Mjelde Sæther
47 69 59 80
arnemjeldesaether@gmail.com
Arne Mjelde Sæther
47 69 59 80
arnemjeldesaether@gmail.com
Arne Mjelde Sæther
47 69 59 80
arnemjeldesaether@gmail.com
