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BODY of the ESSAY 
Focus statement: 
Topic sentence identifies the purpose of the 
first major division of the body 
Focus statement: 
Topic sentence identifies the purpose of the 
second major division of the body 
-
-
-
etc. Each 
major 
division 
of the body has its own 
focus statement (topic sentence) 
CONCLUSION 
Closing statements:
Summarize the major points of the essay 
Sometimes repeat the focus of the essay 
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making it far easier to pick out the author's main ideas. 
In the same way that the introduction ends with a statement of the focus of the essay as a whole, each of the 
major divisions of the body of the essay also has a statement of focus, usually referred to as the topic 
sentence. However, these topic sentences in the body of the paper usually come at the beginning of their 
respective sections. Placing the topic sentence at the beginning of its section is a very efficient technique. 
The re
remem
Teach
imes poses problems. The greatest difficulty is that, 
although the body of the essay may consist of a large number of paragraphs when viewed in terms of its 
physic
y few major divisions. For 
example, in an essay about the American Civil War which has either of the two statements of purpose given 
above
or the
ral system of the South. How can students determine 
where the breaks between major divisions occur? 
So
up section headings for the major 
ivi
pick out 
the most general in scope. Topic sentences which begin major divisions of the body of the essay 
general, since their scope is only part of the scope of the whole essay. Within a major division, each 
concept of the outline. Teachers 
and outlining is often recommended as a study skill. Unfortunately, teachers too often fail to recognize the 
conceptual difficulties involved in learning to outline. Students must first learn to discriminate between 
different levels of generality, between main ideas and supporting ideas, before they are able to lay out those 
conceptual relations in outline form. 
ually the author does not state the focus in the first sentence or two of the introduction. Instead, the typical 
demic essay opens with a few sentences which set the scene and capture the interest of the reader. The 
thor may give some historical background or otherwise try to orient the reader to the topic of the essay. 
portant as these opening sentences are in terms of establishing a general frame of reference, the reader 
st remember that the most explicit statement of the focus of the paper is usually found near the end of the 
oduction. 
e first step in teaching the organization of academic essays, therefore, is to acquaint your students with 
idea of the author's statement of the focus. Students will need a lot of practice in recognizing these 
tements. It is a crucial microskill. It sets up the expectations with which the reader approaches the essay, 
ader is immediately alerted to the focus of the section and finds that it is easier to comprehend and 
ber the content. 
ing students to recognize topic sentences somet
al makeup, when viewed conceptually it may consist of only two or ver
, the body of the essay might have only two divisions: political differences and economic differences, 
industrial system of the North and the agricultu
metimes the designer of the textbook helps the reader by setting
sions in the body of the essay. However, it is a great aid to reading comprehension to be able to 
d
major divisions without the help of such typographical devices. The trick lies in being able to recognize 
differing levels of generality from one sentence to another. The sentence which states the focus of the whole 
essay is
re less
a
physical paragraph is likely to begin with a general statement, but its scope will be still less general than that 
of the topic sentence for the whole division. 
These differing levels of generality are of course what underlie the
ometimes require their students to outline a reading assignment as a way of ensuring better understanding, 
s

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es
nd major 
division of the body might set up a similar classification for economic causes. 
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de
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s its distinctive 
ha
tion is the relationship between a class and its 
me
sily recognized vocabulary. The classification 
rel
as "may be divided into," 
or 
Re
Wh
utside the classroom, that is)? Most 
com
, simply for pleasure, or perhaps to pass the 
tim
ew as you read for pleasure, the gathering of 
info
sure reading, most academic reading tasks involve the gathering and processing of 
retention. 
he chances are very good that your students will have learned one all-purpose strategy for attacking a 
t, whether a few paragraphs, several pages, or a whole book, 
h the first word and proceed sentence by sentence, page by 
earch paper, how 
o
the
If t
we
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a
e specific chapter title looks promising. Turn to that chapter and page through it quickly 
g at s
ings, tabl
figures, illustrations and photographs. These will give you a better 
fore, in addition to teaching your students to recognize the statement of focus for a whole e
to teach them to recognize the topic sentences which express the main ideas of the major div
ising these skills, readers are able to lay bare the conceptual map of a piece of academic d
d readers comprehend and retain what they read in terms of just such a map. They pro
rting details as they read and use them to aid comprehension, but they do not allow the 
their perception of the main ideas. 
In a dition to teaching the features of the discourse map, you will need to acquaint your student
of logical relationships commonly used to establish links between main ideas and support
The
that 
ocus statement of an essay may, for example, set up a classification. The first sample focus 
e suggested above looks at the causes for the Civil War (this is the class) and set
visions, political and economic (these are the two members of the class). Within the body,
nce for the first major division might also set up a classification. This time the class would 
poli
stat
al causes as a whole, and the members would be the specific causes such as disagreeme
' rights, arguments about strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and so on. The seco
B sides classification, other types of logical relationships commonly found in academic discourse are 
finition, generalization and exemplification, physical description, function or process description, 
parison, contrast, cause and effect, and chronological order. Each logical relationship ha
c
c
racteristics. For example, the essential feature of classifica
bers. Each relationship also is frequently signaled by ea
m
ationship is often introduced with sentences containing verbal expressions such
onsists of," or "includes." 
"c