Essay Writing: An Exploration

Michael Cobden Dalhousie Writing Centre

Help! “I have no idea what a thesis is,” a student said to me, “and no idea how to write an introduction or a conclusion. I always think I’ve got something to say, but I’m freaked out by having to write it as an essay.”

The Subject “Imagine,” I said, “that you and I are having a coffee, and you say, ‘Which do you think is the best supermarket around here?’ That’s like the subject of an essay.

Picture by Jim (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alphageek/121953651) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Introduction I could just answer, ‘The Superstore on Quinpool Road,’ but if I wanted to show you that I can think, which is what one has to do to get good marks for an essay, I might start my answer — this would be the essay’s introduction — by saying something like this:

I long for the days when shopping for food meant dropping off a list at my local grocery store and coming back an hour later to pick up the order, or phoning in my order in the morning and having it delivered that afternoon — and getting a bill once a month. In those days the grocer knew you and knew your likes and dislikes. But those days are gone, and now the only choice I have is which supermarket to go to. As far as I'm concerned — here, at the end of my introduction, comes my thesis statement—it makes no difference which supermarket one shops at because there's no significant difference in price, quality or service.

Body Paragraphs Then in the body paragraphs, I would present my evidence and analysis (or arguments) on each point. First, prices.

�  I might quote someone I was talking to the other day who said she shopped in different supermarkets each week just for the fun of it but always ended up spending the same.

�  I might refer to my own research on prices.

�  Or I might refer to research I'd read on prices in different supermarkets.

The Topic Sentence I would start by making the point I want to make about prices. ‘You know, the price of individual items may vary (slightly) from one supermarket to another, but the price of a family’s weekly order of groceries would be much the same in any supermarket.’ In writing an essay, that’s what’s called a topic sentence.

Transition to the Next Paragraph

After I’d said what I wanted to say about prices (which would be my first body paragraph in an essay), I’d find a way to move to my next point (my next body paragraph), which is about quality. I’d say something like this:

So, prices aren’t a reason for choosing one supermarket over another. But what about quality? Which supermarket has the best food?

Second Body Paragraph Then (my second body paragraph) I'd talk about quality, again starting with the point I want to make (the topic sentence) and then reporting evidence (in this case about quality) and analyzing it.

Another Transition And when I was done with that, I’d find a way to move onto my next point (my next body paragraph), which would be about service. I might say something like this:

Last week, I went to a supermarket that has a bakery I like. It was just after 5 p.m., and all the baguettes were gone. I complained at the customer service counter and was given a lecture about how much bread is wasted every day.

That would lead me nicely into what I wanted to say about service.

Additional Body Paragraphs And when I’d finished making my point about service, if I had other points I wanted to make to support my view (my thesis), I’d discuss each one (in a separate body paragraph).

Conclusions OK. So now I’ve made all my points and it’s time to wrap up (my conclusion): So you see, I might say (re-stating my thesis and summarizing my main arguments), all supermarkets are much the same. Some people might prefer this or that product at one over the others; some might find the service more congenial at one than at the others; some might find the prices better for individual items if not overall. Taken together, these advantages and disadvantages tend to even out, and it makes no difference where you shop.

That would re-state my point (my thesis), but not in the exact same words I used when I started (in my introduction). Now I have the benefit of all my arguments and evidence (in the body paragraphs). It isn't enough just to freshen my language. I need to say something fresh — something that grows out of what I’ve said (in the body paragraphs). The fresh thing I’m saying is that though various supermarkets do offer advantages to shoppers in individual aspects, taken altogether the individual advantages disappear.

The Clincher I could end there, but I like to end with what's sometimes called a clincher. It’s something I hope will leave the person I’m talking to (the person marking my essay) thinking that I know something about this subject and how to analyze what I know and how to argue and that I can say things with a bit of flair. But I must be careful at this stage not to introduce new material or to go off on a tangent. I need to say something sexy that emerges from what I've said (in the body of my essay) or that it implies. So, I might end by saying:

Isn't it ironic that with all the choice one has in every supermarket of which cereal to buy, which kind of sausage, or which brand of bread or milk, the choices are much the same in all supermarkets. Sure there are three different kinds of milk — but the same three kinds in every supermarket. For the shopper, there's a sameness about every supermarket and a sense of being caught in a system that knows nothing about the individual customer and frankly doesn't care to know.

So take that!

Clincher #2 I might add (or substitute) something like this: I asked the manager of my local supermarket why the store no longer sold Lactantia unsalted butter (in my view the best butter in Canada). He said, “I honestly don't know. We didn't make that decision. It must have been made at head office.”

Clincher #3 Or I might return to my opening thought — you know, the one about grocery shopping in the old days: When I was a child, my parents shopped at Wolfson's grocery store, rather than Kalinikos's or Smith's, because Mr. Wolfson stocked a particular brand of salami just for us and sliced it the way my father liked it, thick and juicy – and because if my mother ordered a pound of apples and they weren’t very good that day Mr. Wolfson would phone her and ask if she’d like to have pears instead. Now that was a grocery store. And those were the days.