Structure for research essay?

Okay, firstly I haven't written essays since high school which was now more than 5 years ago. I've previously been studying science based subjects so I've gotten good at reports but my essay skills are sorely lacking. To put it another way, if I know what I want to say I can write it down, but figuring out what I want to say and when is a challenge.

Largely because I haven't really written essays at university before, I've signed up for a 300-level essay-based economics paper. It definitely feels like I've been thrown in the deep end. The essay we're working on at the moment requires reading several papers to determine three different authors views on a subject (does anarchy work?), then researching some more on Somalia to find evidence to support (or not) the three different views.

I'm struggling to get as far as an outline to write from. And then, if I do write something, my paragraph structure is all over the place and I can't order and write the paragraphs so they flow from one to the next.

Given the three different views to explain, I figure my essay needs an introduction, three main sections, and a conclusion. But each section needs several paragraphs itself. Is it okay to write an introduction then a few paragraphs for each different section? Are there any tricks to writing an essay requiring this sort of structure? It feels like I'm missing something really basic in my approach to this essay.

Greetings!

It sounds to me like you are on the right track! Your introduction will provide the thesis to your paper, which, in this case, will be a little more complex because you will be discussing three different authors' viewpoints. However, just because there's a bit more to it doesn't mean it has to be more difficult. The basis of your thesis will probably be that the evidence supports (or disproves) the views of ____ and ____ but not ____, or whatever. Remember that a thesis takes a position and the rest of the paper provides the evidence which supports that position.

Writing about each of the three authors can be like a mini-essay within your essay. When you have trouble structuring your paragraphs remember that each one will start with a topic sentence and the rest of the sentences in that paragraph (usually a minimum of three all together, but more is fine) will relate back to that topic sentence.

I think an outline is a good idea, especially with this sort of essay. Try keeping it simple. I. Introducion. II. Author 1. III Author 2. IV Author 3. V. Somalia (perhaps broken down into A, B and C).

You might want to check out our Free Essays and Articles section for more guidance, but I think the most important thing you can do is to stop second-guessing yourself and just get something down on paper. I'd be happy to have a look at your rough draft and give you some suggestions!

Best of luck!

Thanks,

Sarah, EssayForum.com