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Academic Essay Structure

This page provides general guidance on structuring academic papers. Always consult your assignment instructions to see what your instructor is expecting in terms of structure. If you have questions about a specific assignment, contact your instructor.  

Introduction Paragraph Structure

  1. introduce your topic,
  2. present background information about your topic, and
  3. state the paper's overall argument (your thesis statement).

Example

When students begin college, they face many new challenges and stressors that can negatively impact their mental health. Colleges try to support students by offering mental health services like counselling and peer support groups, but there is so much demand for these services that it can take a long time for students to get the help they need (Colleges Ontario & Council of Ontario Universities, 2020, p. 3). Conestoga College is facing the same problem and needs to expand its mental health supports. One promising type of mental health service that some other Canadian colleges are implementing is therapy dog programming. In a typical session, a therapy dog handler welcomes students to drop by to visit with their therapy dog and other students in a relaxed, social setting (St. John Ambulance, 2021, para. 5). Other Ontario colleges such as Centennial, Humber, and George Brown have reported benefits to students after implementing this initiative (Geremia, 2014, para. 4; ETC Staff, 2017, paras. 1-2; Barber, 2014, paras. 4-10). Considering the positive impact that this type of programming has had at other institutions, Conestoga College should implement therapy dog programming to help students emotionally, socially, and academically.

 

Overall Introduction Structure

When organizing your ideas, consider starting with a broad claim about your topic in the world and then moving towards your most specific idea this paper's goal.

triangle in 3 parts: grabber, background, thesis

What is a Grabber?

A grabber is the first sentence in an introduction paragraph designed to introduce the essay topic and capture the reader's attention.

Review the following grabber styles that could be used to start a paper about college students' mental health and therapy dogs.

Grabber Styles

When students begin college, they face many new challenges and stressors that can negatively impact their mental health.

In 2019, the American College Health Association surveyed just over 55,000 Canadian students who revealed that their anxiety had been overwhelming during the past twelve months (American Health Association, 2019, p. 14).

Individuals who are diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders are often told that they must simply be strong and get over it, just as they would with a cold. Depression and anxiety, however, are far from being minor ailments; they are major mental illnesses that many college students experience.

The transition to college can be stressful, but do schools offer enough supports to alleviate this stress?

Reference

American College Health Association. (2019). National college health assessment [Report]. https://www.cacuss.ca/files/Research/NCHA-II%20SPRING%202019%20CANADIAN%20REFERENCE%20GROUP%20EXECUTIVE%20SUMMARY.pdf 

What Goes in the Background Section?

The background section of your introduction paragraph provides your reader with the knowledge needed to understand the rest of your paper and identifies the topic's significance in your field.

In this section, we recommend that you

  • summarize your topic and what others have said about it,
  • identify a problem or gap in existing research,
  • define key terms, and/or
  • indicate your topic's importance.

Example
Sentence from the Introduction Purpose
Colleges try to support students by offering mental health services like counselling and peer support groups, but there is so much demand for these services that it can take a long time for students to get the help they need (Colleges Ontario & Council of Ontario Universities, 2020, p. 3). Identifies a problem or gap at many Canadian colleges
Conestoga College is facing the same problem and needs to expand its mental health supports. Narrows this problem to Conestoga College
One promising type of mental health service that some other Canadian colleges are implementing is therapy dog programming. Introduces a possible solution
In a typical session, a therapy dog handler welcomes students to drop by to visit with their therapy dog and other students in a relaxed, social setting (St. Johns Ambulance, 2021, para. 5). Defines key terms
Other Ontario colleges such as Centennial, Humber, and Geroge Brown have reported benefits to students after implementing this initiative (Geremia, 2014, para. 4; ETC Staff, 2017, paras. 1-2; Barber, 2014, paras. 4-10). Summarizes what others have said about this topic

References

Barber, B. (2014, December 1). Take a paws from class to pet a therapy dog. The Dialogue: George Brown College Student Newspaper. http://dialognews.ca/2014/12/01/take-paws-class-pet-therapy-dog/  

Colleges Ontario & Council of Ontario Universities. (2020, February). In it together, 2020: Foundations for promoting mental health wellness in campus communities [Report]. 

ETC Staff. (2017, April 13). Percy the therapy dog provides stress relief to students. Humber EtCetera. https://humberetc.ca/percy-the-therapy-dog-provides-stress-relief-to-students/   

Geremia, A. (2014, October 16). Therapy comes on four legs at Paws Your Stress. Centennial College. https://www.centennialcollege.ca/centennial-college-blog/2014/october/16/therapy-comes-on-four-legs-at-paws-your-stress/ 

St. John Ambulance. (2021). Therapy dog program. https://www.sja.ca/en/community-services/therapy-dog-program