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[typingtimtam]

Is this a correct essay structure I can use for the 40 mins I have to write the essay:

Introduction
Body Paragraph 1 - prescribed text (idea one)
Body Paragraph 2 - sup text (idea one)
Body Paragraph 3 - sup text (idea one)
Body Paragraph 4 - prescribed text (idea two)
Body Paragraph 5 - sup text (idea two)
Body Paragraph 6 - sup text (idea two)
Conclusion

If you only have to use one sup text then you just cut body 3 and 6. Is this too much to be taking on? This is what my teacher has taught us to use but I have no idea if I can write this much in 40 mins?

 

[buriza]

Personally it is a structure I have never used since I always express three points, but it is really dependent on what you are comfortable with. A structure I usually use for my body is:

Prescribed
Prescribed/related 1
Prescribed/related 2

But with that said, there are many other structures individuals will utilise for their essays. As for your specific structure, you will have to figure out how long you are going to take for each paragraph. Given introduction and conclusion take at most 5 minutes each, you are left with 30 minutes. This means you will also have 5 minutes to complete each body paragraph, which sounds a little short to me.

As you can see in my structure, I have a comfortable 10 minutes to complete each body paragraph, which is likely to enable more detail. However, again, it all depends on your own writing speed and what you believe you are capable of.

 

[typingtimtam]

Personally it is a structure I have never used since I always express three points, but it is really dependent on what you are comfortable with. A structure I usually use for my body is:

Prescribed
Prescribed/related 1
Prescribed/related 2

But with that said, there are many other structures individuals will utilise for their essays. As for your specific structure, you will have to figure out how long you are going to take for each paragraph. Given introduction and conclusion take at most 5 minutes each, you are left with 30 minutes. This means you will also have 5 minutes to complete each body paragraph, which sounds a little short to me.

As you can see in my structure, I have a comfortable 10 minutes to complete each body paragraph, which is likely to enable more detail. However, again, it all depends on your own writing speed and what you believe you are capable of.

So are you saying you only do three body paragraphs? Wow, I never thought to do it like that, I've always been told that you have to express more than one idea in your essay for your texts.

 

[buriza]

So are you saying you only do three body paragraphs? Wow, I never thought to do it like that, I've always been told that you have to express more than one idea in your essay for your texts.

I did express more than one idea in my essays.

Prescribed (idea 1)
Prescribed/related 1 (idea 2)
Prescribed/related 2 (idea 3)

And yes, I found doing three body paragraphs much more manageable. In my school I only otherwise heard of students doing two or four as an alternative, but never six.

 

[typingtimtam]

I did express more than one idea in my essays.

Prescribed (idea 1)
Prescribed/related 1 (idea 2)
Prescribed/related 2 (idea 3)

And yes, I found doing three body paragraphs much more manageable. In my school I only otherwise heard of students doing two or four as an alternative, but never six.

Okay thanks. So for paragraphs 2 and 3 do you compare and contrast them in that paragraph?

 

[buriza]

Okay thanks. So for paragraphs 2 and 3 do you compare and contrast them in that paragraph?

Yes, in paragraphs 2 and 3 I do repetitive integration, since the body paragraphs have to be relatively detailed. The reason why I do one whole paragraph on the prescribed text, just in case you are wondering, is more to "set the scene" so to say. Ultimately, the prescribed text is the most important text in the essay and related texts are merely being used to reinforce the meaning of the prescribed text.

But once more, it really depends on what you are comfortable with. Not all students I know did the same structure I did, in fact some of them did find dedicating a whole paragraph to just the prescribed text as odd (and understandably).

 

[typingtimtam]

Yes, in paragraphs 2 and 3 I do repetitive integration, since the body paragraphs have to be relatively detailed. The reason why I do one whole paragraph on the prescribed text, just in case you are wondering, is more to "set the scene" so to say. Ultimately, the prescribed text is the most important text in the essay and related texts are merely being used to reinforce the meaning of the prescribed text.

But once more, it really depends on what you are comfortable with. Not all students I know did the same structure I did, in fact some of them did find dedicating a whole paragraph to just the prescribed text as odd (and understandably).

Thanks! But I guess ill have to go with the structure I already have otherwise I wont know what I am doing. I just did a practice one and I was only 1 minute over which isn't too bad at all! Last year this is the structure my silly teacher taught me - I failed with it.

Introduction
mini intro
Body 1 - prescribed
body 2 - prescribed
body 3 - prescribed
mini conclusion
mini intro
body 1 - sup 1
body 2 - sup 1
body 3 - sup 1
mini conclusion
mini intro
body 1 - sup 2
body 2 - sup 2
body 3 - sup 2
mini conclusion
conclusion

Now that's a long essay! I tried it once, never again!

 

[Mdyeow]

I used the same structure as buriza, except without referencing the prescribed text in the related text paragraphs.

So I'd have:

Prescribed 1 (idea 1)
Prescribed 1 (counterpoint to idea 1); or Prescribed 2 (if you have, say, two poems as a prescribed)
Related 1 (idea 2)
Related 2 (idea 3; or counterpoint to idea 2)

It seems like everyone on BoS disagrees with me but I strongly advocate the "one paragraph, one text" rule - simply because it is really hard to cleanly discuss two texts together in a single paragraph when under time constraints. Nor is this an issue solely for "weaker" students - virtually all of my academic peers (UAIs of 99.8+) took the same approach as me. It's just easier for you to keep your ideas clear, and easier for the marker to delineate between the points you're making.

 

[strawberrye]

You certainly don't need six paragraphs, three or four paragraphs should be the maximum you should aim for in any good essay to ensure you are able to explore each idea in a substantial way