How many examples should be used in an essay

Use the on-line library catalogue to search for the books held by the University Library. In some areas, the Social Science Citation Index SSCI , now available from the on-line University Library via Web of Science, for example , will allow you to search for any publication mentioned in the bibliography of any journal article. It will also let you search for any publication citing your target article in its bibliography.

In an Honours essay, you should look around a bit to see whether anyone else has already made an argument that you believe you have been the first to work out.

Your Essay Supervisor will be able to direct you towards the right material. The use of examples is essential to a good essay. Each point you make should be supported by one or two good examples. But remember that using an example is in itself not sufficient to support your point of view.

Be explicit in stating why this example is good evidence of your argument. In the case of economic examples, you should also be very careful to make clear the context. Being able to analyze the various factors that can shape a particular situation is an important skill to acquire. Often you will be given a word limit, or suggested length for an essay. Use this information to gauge the level of detail, and degree of coverage that is expected. Obviously, an essay of words will have a narrower focus and will require greater summarizing skills than one of words.

Note that markers will penalize essays that are too long. Keeping to the limit tells the marker that you understand what is important in your argument. Although there is no strict convention on layout, do consider how the essay looks on the page.

For longer essays with distinct sections, you may consider using headed sections as in these guidelines. Doing so may disrupt the flow of the essay, however. For essays of less than words, it is unlikely that you will need to section.

You may feel that a diagram could help illustrate a point. This has the added effect of breaking up large chunks of text that can be subconsciously off-putting to the reader. But beware the added complexities involved in formatting your document if you incorporate the diagram electronically or the added time required to add a diagram by hand. Some versions of the software available on public machines produce graphics that cannot be printed from other machines. Narrative essays are often the closest thing to pieces of journalism.

If you master the narrative essay, then you are likely well on your way to being a successful journalist. Of course, if you use EssayJack in a class setting, your teachers or professors can create all kinds of custom templates just for you.

And by popular request from educators and students we've also added the following additional templates to our EssayJack offerings:. TED Talk Speech. Compare and Contrast Essay. So now you have all the information that you ever wanted or didn't know you wanted about essays!

If you want to write your essay with confidence, make sure you get good grades, and really learn the structure of the different types of essays to make your academic life easier, then go ahead check out what EssayJack is all about today! If you also need help with subjects such as Maths, Science biology, chemistry, physics , or accounting check out Wize.

Concepts are simplified and delivered to you in easily digestible chunks through video tutorials and notes, with the opportunity to ask tutors for help to better understand concepts or just apply them with practice problems and solutions. Get essay writing tips from educators and offers from partners sent directly to your inbox regularly. The following are the four main categories of essays that are generally the norm in academia thank you, Purdue Online Writing Lab and m ost essays you will ever have to write in your life will fall loosely under these four categories: Expository Essays ; Argumentative Essays.

Descriptive Essays ; and Narrative Essays. My essays improved dramatically due to EssayJack: " - Shi-Tashes, Student George Brown College, Canada The Expository Essay These are probably the most common types of essays you will come across and are a common format of essay required in exams. The basic format for an essay is known as the five paragraph essay — but an essay may have as many paragraphs as needed.

A five paragraph essay contains five paragraphs. However, the essay itself consists of three sections: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. When you first start writing essays in school, it's not uncommon to have a topic assigned to you. However, as you progress in grade level, you'll increasingly be given the opportunity to choose the topic of your essays.

When selecting a topic for your essay, you'll want to make sure your topic supports the type of paper you're expected to write. If you're expected to produce a paper that is a general overview, then a general topic will suffice. However, if you're expected to write a specific analysis, then your topic should be fairly specific. For example, let's assume the objective of your essay is to write an overview. However, if the objective or your essay is to write a specific analysis, then "RUSSIA" would be far too general a topic.

If you're expected to choose your own topic, then the first step is to define the purpose of your essay. Is your purpose to persuade? To explain how to accomplish something? Or to education about a person, place, thing or idea? The topic you choose needs to support the purpose of your essay. The purpose of your essay is defined by the type of paper you're writing.

There are three basic types of essay papers:. Once you have defined the purpose of your essay, it's time to brainstorm. Don't choose just one topic right off the bat. Take some time to consider, contrast and weigh your options. Get out a piece of paper and make a list of all the different topics that fit the purpose of your essay. Once they're all down on paper, start by eliminating those topics that are difficult or not as relevant as others topics. Also, get rid of those topics that are too challenging or that you're just not that interested in.

Pretty soon you will have whittled your list down to just a few topics and then you can make a final choice. Some students get scared to start writing. They want to make sure they have all their thoughts organized in their head before they put anything down on paper. Creating a diagram or outline allows you to put pen to paper and start organizing your ideas. The middle paragraphs of the essay are collectively known as the body paragraphs and, as alluded to above, the main purpose of a body paragraph is to spell out in detail the examples that support your thesis.

For the first body paragraph you should use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some other more obvious beginning point as in the case of chronological explanations is required. The first sentence of this paragraph should be the topic sentence of the paragraph that directly relates to the examples listed in the mini-outline of introductory paragraph.

A one sentence body paragraph that simply cites the example of "George Washington" or "LeBron James" is not enough, however. No, following this an effective essay will follow up on this topic sentence by explaining to the reader, in detail, who or what an example is and, more importantly, why that example is relevant. Even the most famous examples need context. The reader needs to know this and it is your job as the writer to paint the appropriate picture for them.

To do this, it is a good idea to provide the reader with five or six relevant facts about the life in general or event in particular you believe most clearly illustrates your point. Having done that, you then need to explain exactly why this example proves your thesis. The importance of this step cannot be understated although it clearly can be underlined ; this is, after all, the whole reason you are providing the example in the first place. Seal the deal by directly stating why this example is relevant.

You may have noticed that, though the above paragraph aligns pretty closely with the provided outline, there is one large exception: the first few words. These words are example of a transitional phrase — others include "furthermore," "moreover," but also "by contrast" and "on the other hand" — and are the hallmark of good writing. Transitional phrases are useful for showing the reader where one section ends and another begins.

It may be helpful to see them as the written equivalent of the kinds of spoken cues used in formal speeches that signal the end of one set of ideas and the beginning of another. In essence, they lead the reader from one section of the paragraph of another. Hopefully this example not only provides another example of an effective body paragraph but also illustrates how transitional phrases can be used to distinguish between them.