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Study Skills- Essay Structure

A guide focussing on university essay structure expectations.

Main Body of your Essay

The main body of your essay will be divided into a number of paragraphs.  

  • It is important that you have one main point per paragraph. This should be clear and include evidence to support the point. It will ask  analytical questions such as so what or why? This means that sources have not been taken for granted and have been questioned. 
  • Do not use bullet points in an essay but use full sentences and clear, formal language. 
  • Your argument will not be convincing if you do not back up your point with evidence. This comes from literature and potentially from your own experience if you have been asked to collect data or complete a reflective essay. 
  • Many students miss out the explanation or analysis of their points meaning they miss out the critical element of their essay. You are expected to tell us why different sources agree or disagree and what this may mean overall.
  • You can also link your points together or link them to the topic of the essay. 

When forming academic paragraphs in your essay, can you say why the paragraphs are in that order? If not, you may need to check your work to ensure you are answering critical questions such as: 

  • Why should anyone care about your point?
  • Does this point add to my argument and to my overall answer to the question?

Discover more to develop your academic writing skills by visiting the Being Critical and Academic Writing Library Guides, linked below. 

There is more information in the example paragraph structure and paragraph below. 

PEEL Paragraph Structure

The POINT refers to the point the paragraph is making. 

When writing, we need to be kind to the reader and guide them through our work. Therefore, we need to introduce the point of each paragraph to the reader. This is often done in the first sentence or two of the paragraph. Making this introduction means the reader knows what to expect in the rest of the paragraph and can follow your thinking. 

 

You will need to support your points with EVIDENCE.

  • this will likely be information that is either quoted, paraphrased or summarised from sources
  • you can use multiple sources of evidence within a paragraph too
  • don't forget you must reference all of the evidence that you use

In order for your writing to be persuasive you will need to EXPLAIN to your reader how the evidence supports the point. This will involve analysing and evaluating the evidence. 

You could answer questions like how, why, so what to help you to do this within this part of your paragraph. 

Finally, you will need to LINK this paragraph to the next so your writing flows. You might also link this paragraph back to your overall assignment question or overarching argument to help the reader see how it is answering the task you have been set. 

Example PEEL Paragraph

Although studies have shown that medical cannabis may have some analgesic effect, this remains controversial (POINT). Several U.S. studies have indicated that cannabinoid analgesia is equally as effective, or more effective than, opioids for pain management in patients with chronic pain (Abrams, 2018; Yanes et al., 2019). However, NICE (2019) point out that few studies examining the efficacy of medical cannabis are of high enough quality to provide conclusive evidence.  In addition, medical cannabis use can result in side effects such as cognitive impairment and depression (Chou et al., 2009; Volkow et al., 2014) and long-term patients have been found to build up a tolerance to the drug and thus require ever-larger doses to achieve the same level of relief (Wakley et al., 2014) (EVIDENCE and EXPLANATION). This lack of high-quality evidence, and concerns about the safety of the drug, support the Department of Health and Social Care’s (2018) decision to place strict restrictions on the prescription of medical cannabis and suggests that physicians should therefore be careful to ensure that their patients meet all essential criteria before prescribing cannabis-based medication (LINK).