The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.
problem essay template
This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and organize your text logically.Table of contentsThe basics of essay structure
Chronological structure
Compare-and-contrast structure
Problems-methods-solutions structure
Signposting to clarify your structure
Frequently asked questions about essay structure
The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex. The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.
The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay. General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.
The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.
Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting. For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.
This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.
Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows. It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.
In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.
Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.
Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.
The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement, a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.
This paper analyses and discusses the extent to which the modified essay question (MEQ) in the Final MB Part II examination of the Queen's University, Belfast, assesses the three levels of cognitive ability described by Buckwalter et al. (1981). The 1978 and 1980 Final MB MEQs are analysed and compared question by question using Bloom's taxonomy and Buckwalter's cognitive levels. Scores obtained for each question were factor analysed to determine any underlying relationships between the questions. The findings (Table 1) indicate an uneven distribution of cognitive questions (Buckwalter's Levels I, II and III) in each MEQ and between the 1978 and 1980 MEQ papers. This reflects partly variation in the type of problems presented, and partly problems posed by having to mark large numbers of paper by hand against an objective marking schedule. The statistical analysis in Table 2 shows a consistent and strong correlation between scores in the MEQ Final MB papers and the Final Clinical examination. The factorial analysis shows that comprehension and evaluation questions do not, as perhaps expected, dominate the loading of any factor. The 1980 MEQ paper emerges as a testing of 'knowledge' paper compared with the 1978 paper, which tests much more analysis, synthesis and evaluation of knowledge. The appropriate balance between cognitive levels to be tested must be determined beforehand. The study shows however the potential of the MEQ to measure the entire span of Bloom and Buckwalter's levels.
The essay question type provides the option of answering by uploading one or more files and/or entering text online. (For longer essays, text or file uploads, you may wish to consider using the Assignment activity rather than this question type.)
Essay questions are created in the same way as other quiz question types. The difference is that essay questions have to be marked manually, and the student will not get a final grade until the teacher has marked their essay.
It is possible for a teacher to create a template to scaffold the student's answer in order to give them extra support. The template is then reproduced in the text editor when the student starts to answer the question. See YouTube video Essay scaffold with the Moodle quiz It is also possible to include grading information for teachers marking the essay to refer to as they assess the essays:
To grade essays answer in quizzes using the Boost theme, click on the quiz and then, click the Results tab, in the dropdown menu choose Manual grading. For other themes, click Manual grading from the Quiz results section of your quiz administration block.
Problem-solution essays consider the problems of a particular situation, and give solutions to those problems. They are in some ways similar to cause and effect essays, especially in terms of structure (see below). Problem-solution essays are actually a sub-type of another type of essay, which has the following four components:
The 'situation' may be included in the essay prompt, in which case it will not be needed in the main body. If it is needed, it can often be included in the introduction, especially for short essays, as with the example essay below. The 'evaluation' may be included as part of the conclusion (also as in the example below), or omitted altogether, especially for short essays. For these reasons, problem-solution essays are more common than situation-problem-solution-evaluation essays (or SPSE essays).
There are two main ways to structure a problem-solution essay. These are similar to the ways to structure cause and effect essays, namely using a block or a chain structure. For the block structure, all of the problems are listed first, and all of the solutions are listed afterwards. For the chain structure, each problem is followed immediately by the solution to that problem. Both types of structure have their merits. The former is generally clearer, especially for shorter essays, while the latter ensures that any solutions you present relate directly to the problems you have given.
The two types of structure, block and chain, are shown in the diagram below. This is for a short essay, which includes the 'situation' in the introduction and 'evaluation' in the conclusion. A longer essay, for example one of around 1,000 words, with citations, would probably have these two sections as separate paragraphs in the main body.
Below is a problem-solution essay on the topic of obesity and poor fitness. It uses the block structure. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay, i.e. Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation. This will highlight not simply the paragraphs, but also (for problems and solutions) the thesis statement and summary, as these repeat the problems and solutions contained in the main body.
IELTSproblem solution essays are the most challenging essay type for many people.The way they are worded can vary hugely which can make it difficult tounderstand how you should answer the question.
Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.
Itis common for an essay to consist of a list of problems and solutions without anyof them being expanded on or linked to each other. Sometimes, a studentwill focus on just the problem or only the solution which leads to anunbalanced essay. Both these issues will result in a low score for taskachievement.
Thiswill give you an essay of just over the minimum 250 words. To write about twoproblems/causes and solutions will require you to write between 350 and 400words which are a lot to plan and write in the 40 minutes allowed.
Go through this lesson as many times as youneed to in order to fully understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS problem solution essays from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improveyour skills.
These days a sedentary lifestyle is becoming more and more popular despite a big number of sport facilities. This essay will discuss the main problems associated with this epidemic and propose some possible solutions to avoid them.
In my opinion, the best solution to these problems is promoting active lifestyle. Firstly, millions of people stay less active because they use cars instead of walking. Therefore, an effective way to make people more active is to advertise walking and cycling as safe and attractive alternatives to motorized transport. Moreover, inactive lifestyle is gaining popularity because nowadays a lot of people prefer passive rest to workouts in the gym. And the best way to avoid the hazards of unhealthy living is to obtain a regular dose of physical activity. Thus, promoting gyms and regular exercising would increase the level of activity. 2ff7e9595c
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