Why structuring an essay is like building a house
Organising the points you want to make in an essay around larger key ideas, and in a way that develops logically, is a challenging thing to do. The ultimate success (or otherwise) of many essays is often due to the thinking that goes in to the planning stages. The notes below argue that organising your essay in a way that is cogent, and in a way that develops, is metaphorically a lot like building a house over several floors. Read through the strategy below and then try it out for yourself.
How does the house analogy work?
Well structured essays are typically characterised by the following:
They answer the question in a way that is relevant and logical
- They collect together individual points in relation to defined paragraph topics
- Paragraphs develop from one to the next
- Paragraphs advance an argument in a logical, sequential manner
- Introductions and conclusions are relevant and meaningful
The significance of this is that you need to think about your argument in a way that moves from one position to another, and through a series of clear steps, which are organised in a deliberate way. Ideally, this means you cannot get to, say, step 5 before you have got to step 4, which requires you having reached step 3 - and so on. Much like stepping stones across a river.
Is is in this way that an essay, and the argument it puts forward, works in the same way as building a house. You can't build the third floor until you have built the second, and so on.
A bit like this:
Consider the floors of the house as being the main claims you want to make - the main points your essay goes through. This means that the paragraphs might be depicted by the different rooms in the house; the door is a bit like the introduction and the roof becomes the conclusion. Note, of course, that there may be more or less than three floors, and more or less than two paragraphs for each floor.
Consider how this might work in relation to a Paper 2 essay title:
Some literary texts, although set in a particular place or time, convey ideas that are universal. In what ways is this true in two works you have studied?
As we have shown you elsewhere, the first stage is to make notes in response to the title in terms of, for example:
- Where is the topic of the question present in my texts?
- How is it presented? Though what means?
- In what ways does the topic develop?
- In what ways does the topic generate narrative or dramatic interest? e.g. through conflict, contrast, ambiguity? In other words, what kind/s of pragmatic function does it fulfil?
- In what ways is the topic significant? In what ways does the subject generate meaning? How does it connect to the overall themes or ideas being explored by the text/s?
- What is being said either about the topic or through the topic?
Once note making along these lines is complete, you then need to group your ideas together, and organise them in a way that develops a line of argument. Suggestions for how to go about this can be found in this video.
In addition to the example on the video, below is a set of notes in response to the title above, using The Great Gatsby and poems by T S Eliot:
Note that, as indicated in the video, the student has recorded a range of notes, including examples of WHERE the topic is presented, HOW it is presented and WHY it is significant or interesting - what is being said about it.
Now look at the image below to see how these notes translate onto the house template:
