Planning and Structuring Assignments

Writing your answer

In the same way that essays have a clear structure (introduction, main body, conclusion), the paragraphs within your essay should also follow a pattern. Considering how you structure your paragraphs is important as it helps to improve the clarity of your writing by presenting your chosen evidence and subsequent critical response in a clear and effective way.

Paragraphs should be TIED together:

• Topic sentence – The first sentence of your paragraph should introduce the main topic, theme or next step of your argument. It should summarise what the reader can expect from your paragraph. If the paragraph links directly to the question or assessment criteria you’ve been set, think about what key words make this clear to the reader.
   
• Introduce evidence - Before discussing your evidence, it is helpful to signpost to the reader what aspect of the literature you will talk about in more detail. This can be achieved by drawing their attention to something interesting or contextually important that will be relevant in the following section of the paragraph.
   
• Evidence – This is where you introduce references and highlight how these support your argument. You could also include counterpoints to your position within this section (and why these challenges are not upheld) or you could have this as a separate paragraph – the choice is up to you!
   
• Discussion – Your paragraph should end with your interpretation of the evidence and how this links back to the assignment topic. Within these sentences you may explore ideas such as relevance, significance, impact and future directions – for more help with this, check out our guide to critical writing [insert hyperlink]

Let’s look at this in an example:

"As noted by Alexander (2017), talk has always been an essential component of teaching, and, consequently, learning. Evidence has demonstrated that talking about prose can enhance written responses to texts through increasing student confidence about qualities such as character, theme, and motifs (Coultas, 2006). Despite this however, the most recent version of the National Curriculum has hugely decreased the role of speaking and listening; this includes even going so far as to remove speaking and listening from formal assessment in GCSE specifications. Furthermore, as noted by Yandell (2013), this has included moving the focus of talk as a collaborative experience to only being on the speaker, thus relegating listening as a key skill. Parallel to this, the types of talk discussed within the classroom has considerably narrowed, to the extent that what students now understand as spoken English, is little more than public speaking. Consequently, teachers are now faced with the responsibility of instilling the foundational skills of speaking and listening in students at an earlier age, to ensure that they have the necessary skills to navigate the complex social world.