WRITING AN ESSAY AND A SHORT STORY / 103 STRUCTURING YOUR ESSAY Your work should be set out in paragraphs and each para- graph will deal with one topic (see Chapter 4). From your notes you must decide how you can group your points so that the essay will flow naturally from one paragraph to the next. How you arrange your plan is up to you but remember to keep to the point. Use evidence to support what you say and explain why your quotations or references are relevant. Remember that you must have an introductory paragraph showing what you are intending to do in your essay. The main body of the essay follows. From your notes pick out the main points that you will use and organise them under paragraph headings . Remember that a paragraph deals with one main idea but you may be able to group several similar points together. The concluding paragraph sums up the essay and shows that you have completed what you set out to do. Decide the best way to approach your essay. This will depend upon what type of essay you are writing. ◆ Is it going to be a piece of narrative told chronologically? ◆ Will it be a descriptive piece? ◆ Will you be expounding a theory and supporting it with your research? ◆ Will it be discursive? In this case both sides of an argu- ment are used and you must write a balanced essay with evidence supporting both points of view.