Planning Your Essay

1. What question or issue are you exploring?  What is your thesis (main idea) as you best understand it now.

2. What do you think you could write to introduce this question or issue?  What would pull the reader in?

3. What are the parts of your essay?  What does each of these parts DO in relation to the whole (i.e., your thesis)?

4. What order to they go in?  Can you explain why each part necessarily goes before the one that follows it?  That is, can you explain how each part sets up the next?

See pages 28-31 in The Bedford Handbook for assistance.