Academic Essays: form and function
Essays have a particular structure, and understanding this can improve your writing
Learning Skills Centre • University of Canterbury
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10% of
word count
Introduction
Body
Defining terms
Sometimes, if there are
many key words and
concepts to define and
explain, it is useful to have
an entire paragraph doing
Overview of topic area
Problem/issue presented by the focus
of the question
Definitions of key words or themes (if
no separate definition paragraph)
Thesis statement, perhaps with
rationale, perhaps with “roadmap”
The structure of a
1000–3000 word essay
