Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

E
XAMPLE
2
Below is a paragraph from an essay about whether young people should
be responsible for their own future pensions rather than depending on
the state to provide.
The welfare state was meant to provide for the needs
of all citizens from the cradle to the grave. When it
was established after the Second World War, that was
the laudable aim. However, changing demographics
and the increase in the proportion of citizens living
well into their eighties have put an unforeseen
strain on the public purse. Hence, politicians are
now saying the country cannot afford to carry such
a burden of pension pay-outs. People, and
particularly young people in their twenties, are
going to have to plan for their own retirement
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3 – T
HE BODY OF THE ESSAY

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pension so that they can live a decent life without
fear of poverty. They will no longer be able to look to
the State to provide adequate provision for their old
age. The State, it seems, is going to opt out well
before they reach the grave.
The key sentence of the paragraph is the first sentence. It makes the
point about the expectations raised by the welfare state.
That point is developed in sentences two, three, four, five and six by
emphasising the difficulties caused by changing life spans, the problems
that causes and the implications for young people. The last sentence acts
as a kind of summary and echoes the first sentence of the paragraph.
E
XAMPLE
3
Below is a paragraph from an essay which is discussing whether or not
the BBC should no longer be funded by the money raised by television
and radio licences.
Those who profit from working and owning shares in
commercial television and radio argue that the BBC
enjoys unfair advantages compared to its rivals. The
BBC, they say, does not have to operate in the open
market like commercial operators do. Unlike them,
the BBC is insulated against failure. Whereas
commercial television and radio must attract
audiences so that they can charge appropriate rates
to their advertisers, the BBC need not worry about
ratings quite so much because its revenues are
guaranteed because of the licence fees paid by the
general public. The BBC, however, argues that it has
a ‘public good’ mandate which demands that the
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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organisation makes programmes that serves the
public interest: educational programmes,
documentaries, serious news bulletins and the
televising of important public events.
Sentence one makes the key point of the paragraph that the BBC enjoys
unfair advantages over its commercial rivals. This point is expanded on
in sentences two and three. Sentence four puts the counter argument on
behalf of the BBC and points the way to the next paragraph where this
point about the BBC can be discussed further.
The individual paragraphs of your essays must have a
coherent structure: a key sentence that makes the key
point of the paragraph, followed by a development of that
point using specific example and illustration. A closing
sentence should round off the paragraph acting as a summary of
the paragraph’s content, perhaps drawing an intermediate
conclusion and/or pointing the way to the next paragraph.