Your Name

Today’s Date

Class (e.g. English 9, Mr. Benjamin)

TITLE: SAMPLE Essay Format

What are the ingredients in a solid essay? Start with a hook sentence or blimp shot; a sentence designed to draw the reader into the paragraph or provide a broad overview of your topic. Include sentences introducing the topics you intend to cover. Remember that topics are ideas, not examples. Write sentences introducing topics for body paragraph #1, #2, and #3. These topics should build to your thesis statement. Remember, the thesis needs to be arguable; it should be the answer to the essay question.

The first sentence in your paragraph should be your topic sentence. This topic sentence should relate to the thesis. It should be very similar to the sentence that introduces the topic in the introduction. This sentence should be supported by specific details. These details might include passages from the text, properly referenced (see the Bedford Handbook).

Remember that passages longer than 3 lines need to be blocked. That is, they need to be separated from the main text of your essay, indented five spaces from the left margin and five spaces from the right margin. These “blocked” passages will remain double spaced. For additional guidance, see The Bedford Handbook.

Wrap up the paragraph with a clinching sentence and transition to the next paragraph.

Each succeeding body paragraph should mirror the format of the initial body paragraph. Remember to start with your topic sentence. Make sure the topic clearly relates to your thesis. Support this topic with specific evidence. Sum up your paragraph, transition to the next topic.

The third body paragraph is structured like the other body paragraphs. It begins with a topic sentence, relates to the thesis, and contains specific examples to support the topic. The paragraph finishes with a clinching sentence that helps transition to the concluding paragraph.

Begin your conclusion by restating the topics and the thesis. Your intent is to show how the topics you have addressed lead to the truth of the thesis. This paragraph sums up your argument. Good conclusions go further than a mere restatement of the introduction; they address the “so what?” questions. A good conclusion might even generate additional questions that a subsequent writer could address in a different essay.