The Basic 3 to 5 Body Paragraph Essay Organizational Pattern

This is a pattern that should allow you to easily organize any argumentative writing from essays, to answers to essay questions on exams, to research papers. If you look closely, you will see that it is an extension of the format you have been using for the weekly timed essays.

Title Page   [Only for LONGER works, like research papers]

• Title of Paper
• Your name
• The course the paper is for
• The instructor
• Date

The rest of this information is applicable for all argumentative type writing.  Especially Regents' style essays.

Introduction

• Get the reader's attention (See: A.G.D.s for more info)
• Set the context of the document and provide an overall framework that the reader can quickly grasp. This framework should allow them to place the details in perspective later.
• State the REASON FOR WRITING (Why are you writing this paper?)
• State the PURPOSE OF THE PAPER (What do you expect the reader to gain from the paper?)
• PREVIEW The Key Points

For longer works, you should have 3 to 5  body points (composed of multiple paragraphs). Each point should be separated by a header.
For plain old essays, you should have 3 to 5 body paragraphs.

Header (That underlined thing to the left of this is a header)

For longer works, use headers to separate key ideas. This helps to reinforce the key ideas.

Body Paragraphs

Each Paragraph should contain the following:

• Start with a "paragraph thesis" for the skimming readers.
• Use significant statements, key definitions and ideas early.

Remember to maintain structural parallelism within body paragraphs.

Use a transitional sentence at the end of sections to reinforce key ideas and tie the piece together.

See paragraph construction for more information.

Conclusion

Here you restate all of the matters you brought up in the intro and bring the matter to a close.

Bibliography

Here you provide a correctly formatted list of all works cited in the body of the text. Your text provides examples of bibliographic entries for both APA and MLA formats. Be sure to correctly and consistently cite your research in the text of your work as well. Anytime the idea, words, or pictures aren't uniquely your own, you need to cite the source from whence it came.

Overview of Outline:

• Title Page
• Intro
  • Context
  • Define Key Terms
  • State Reason for Writing
  • State Purpose
  • Preview
    Header, if necessary
• Body Point I
  • Transition, if necessary
    • Header fornext point if necessary
• Body Point II
  • Transition, if necessary
    • Header for Next Point, if necessary
• Body Point III
• Conclusion
• Bibliography