ONE METHOD FOR ORGANIZING AND PLANNING AN ESSAY

The Writing Backwards Method- A Scientific Approach

Most of us don’t automatically have a thesis when we start to write, and, in many cases, even when we do, we don’t know exactly how we’re going to prove it in the essay. Although coming up with a thesis and main arguments at the beginning of the writing process is helpful, it is not necessary. Often, a thesis and main arguments become clear only after we start seeing what we can discuss in the essay. The following tips can help you to begin to organize your essay whether you don’t have a strong thesis or you have a thesis but are not sure about your smaller arguments and how to arrange your evidence. Remember that these tips are NOT strict rules for writing well, but rather provide a framework that you can use to start to organize your essay and come up with a strong thesis.

1) Calculating the number of body paragraphs

A double-spaced, Times New Roman font page contains roughly 250 words or two paragraphs of 5-7 sentences each (A “good” paragraph has, generally, 3 pieces of evidence with analysis, a thesis that relates to the essay’s overall thesis, and a conclusion.). If you are given a minimum word count or page amount, simply convert that into how many equivalent paragraphs that would be. This will give you a rough idea as to how many paragraphs your essay will have to include. Generally, your introduction and conclusion paragraphs will not introduce ideas that you will have not already discussed in the body of the essay.

So, now you know that total amount of body paragraphs you will have to write: the total page length multiplied by 2 (because each page has roughly 2 paragraphs) minus 2 (the intro and conclusion paragraphs).

For example, if an essay needs to be 10 pages, you know this is means there should be about 20 total paragraphs