Step 4B: Writing your draft

Now that you have your thesis or main argument and your main ideas are in sentence form, you can start to lay them out into the essay structure. Use this structure as a guide to put your ideas down on paper!

Remember, different people have different writing styles. You may find it helpful to have this outline to guide your writing. You may find it easier to free write all the information you want to discuss onto the page. This is called a brain-spill or a free-write. Then, you can go back and sort the information into this structure. Do what works best for you!

*Quick Tip: Sometimes it can be easier to write your thesis statement at the top, then start writing the body of your essay. Come back to write the introduction after you have written your main points. This will make it easer to tell the reader what they are going to be reading, since you have already written it!

Activity

Read the sentences on the right. Drag and drop each into the correct area in the Essay Structure. Sometimes it is easier to first identify which one is the thesis statement for the introduction, and which one summarises the ideas for the conclusion.

Hint: a thesis statement is usually one sentence that captures the whole argument.