A guideline to follow when writing an academic essay.

1. Essay
How to write an academic essay

2. An essay structure should comprise of an
introduction, body and conclusion
1.Introduction
• An introduction is supposed to tell the reader or give
the reader an idea of what the essay is all about.
• Refrain from discussing main points of the essay in
the introduction.
• An introduction can have up to 5-6 lines
• Refrain from using personal pronouns in an
academic essay eg) “I”
• The introduction is important because this is where
you make your first impression.
• Do not ask questions in the introduction

3. Introduction (10 Marks)
Topic: The SA youth is affected by unemployment
• General background statement: Connections speaks louder than qualifications in South Africa
• Theses statement (Your position/point of view): There are many individuals in possession of
degrees and diplomas that are not in use, this is due to the fact people now get employed
because of the connections they have.
• State what the essay is going to discuss: Therefore, this essay is going to discuss the negative
implications of corruption taking place in South Africa. Various ways to minimize corruption and
the unemployment rate will also be discussed in the essay.
Let’s create an Introduction together, and the topic is “A high rise of teenage pregnancy in schools”

4. Body : Here
you discuss
the main
points of the
essay
• Avoid writing a “fat” thing on the body, avoid
writing a body with 12 lines. You can write 6
lines, make it a paragraph and skip to the next
paragraph, write another 6 lines and that will
still be a body of the essay.
• This is very important, there should be a link in
your essay. Whatever it is you’re explaining
make sure that you apply the theory and make
examples using situations in the education
context. This shows that you understand the
topic.
• Refrain from gathering information of the
philosophers and fail to link it to the education
context, use the theories to support or back
your claims or arguments. That shows that you
understand

5. Intext
referencing
• We’ll quickly explain in text referencing
because people reference more in the
introduction.
• Refrain from writing links when in text
referencing
This is how you intext reference
Roberts (2007) “claims that government
officials are the ones who are corrupt”
If you took the phrase as it is from the source
you will use direct quotations

6. Paraphrasing
• When you paraphrase, you change the
structure of the phrase but make sure that it
does not loose its meaning
This is how you paraphrase
One may see fit to argue that the levels of
corruption are at peak because of the greedy
government officials (Roberts, 2007)
And this is how you reference a paraphrased
text, can you see the difference?

7. Essay
• Do not write sub-headings in your essay
• Do not write your essay in a point form
• Use a full page to write your essay.
• Instead of writing pronoun “I” say “One
may” see fit to argue, emphasize, assert
and “In my view”

8. Conclusion
• A conclusion, you give a brief summary of what the essay has discussed
• Do not introduce nor discuss new information or ideas in the conclusion
It is evident that the government officials are the main course of corruption in our
country. This essay has discussed the negative impacts of corruption leading to
unemployment of the South African youth. Comments on how to end corruption have
also been discussed in this essay.