Your First Essay: Introduction, Body, Conclusion
B1 · Writing Lab · about 35 minutes
1 · Learn
An essay is a paragraph, grown up. The introduction opens wide (a hook — a fact, a question, a small scene), narrows through a sentence of context, and lands on the thesis: one sentence that states your whole position. Everything in the essay exists to serve that sentence.
Each body paragraph proves ONE point of the thesis, in the paragraph structure you already know. The conclusion does not repeat the thesis word-for-word: it restates the idea in new clothes and answers the reader's silent question — “So what? Why does this matter?”
2 · See an Example
Essay: Everyone Should Learn to Cook
Ask a room of adults who can cook a healthy dinner from raw ingredients, and fewer hands go up than you would hope. We order, we microwave, we snack — and we pay for the convenience with money and health. This essay argues that cooking is not a hobby but a basic life skill, as essential as reading.
First, cooking protects your wallet and your body at the same time. A home-cooked chicken dinner costs a third of the delivery version and carries half the salt. People who cook at home regularly, researchers find, eat more vegetables and feel better — the kitchen is quietly a health tool.
Second, cooking gives independence. A person who can cook is never helpless in a new city, a tight month, or a home with an empty fridge: some eggs, rice, and vegetables become a meal. That confidence spreads to the rest of life.
In the end, cooking is not really about food. It is about not depending on others for one of life's daily pleasures. The stove is the cheapest school of self-reliance there is — and it serves dinner.
3 · Analyze the Example
- Hook → context → thesis. A surprising scene (few hands), the background (we order and pay), then the thesis sentence, underlined by its position: last in the introduction.
- One point per body paragraph. Paragraph 1: money + health. Paragraph 2: independence. Each opens with its claim and develops it.
- Evidence habits. Costs “a third”, “researchers find” — simple, honest evidence signals that need no library.
- Conclusion = so-what. “Not really about food — about self-reliance” reframes the thesis and gives the reader a thought to keep.
Useful Vocabulary
Put your thesis at the end of the introduction.
Start with a hook: a fact or a question.
Cooking is an essential skill.
The stove is a school of self-reliance.
It saves money and time at the same time.
Useful Expressions
- This essay argues that …
- First, … Second, …
- … , researchers find, …
- In the end, … is not really about …
- It is about …
Common Mistakes
✗ Introduction: “Cooking is a topic that people talk about. There are many opinions. In this essay I will write about cooking.” Thesis: none.
✓ Introduction ends: “This essay argues that cooking is a basic life skill, as essential as reading.”
An introduction must land on a position. Announcing the topic is not a thesis.
✗ Body paragraph that argues money, health, history of cooking, your grandmother, and restaurants — in six sentences.
✓ One point per paragraph: money+health here; grandmother gets her own paragraph if she matters.
A paragraph with five points proves none of them. Divide, then develop.
✗ Conclusion: “In conclusion, cooking protects your wallet and your body, and cooking gives independence, as I said in paragraph 1 and 2.”
✓ Conclusion: “In the end, cooking is about self-reliance — the daily pleasure of not depending on anyone for dinner.”
Restate the IDEA in new words and answer “so what?” — never photocopy your body paragraphs.
4 · Guided Practice
Write a thesis for the title “Every Child Should Learn to Swim”.
See a model answer
Example: “Swimming should be taught to every child, not as a sport, but as a survival skill as basic as crossing the street.”
Split into two body points: “Public libraries matter because they give free knowledge and they protect people without money or internet.”
See a model answer
Point 1: free knowledge for everyone. Point 2: a safety net for people without money or internet. One paragraph each.
Fix the conclusion (it repeats): “So, as I wrote above, exercise is good for the heart and also good for sleep, like I said.”
See a model answer
Example: “In the end, exercise is the cheapest medicine we own — it treats the heart by day and the mind by night.”
5 · Write — Your Task
✍️ Write a complete short essay on a “should” topic (everyone should…, schools should…, cities should…): an introduction with a hook and a clear thesis, two body paragraphs (one point each, developed with reason + example), and a conclusion that answers “so what?”.
Goal: 4 paragraphs · Length: 220–260 words
- Write your thesis FIRST and tape it above the essay while you write.
- Each body paragraph: claim → explanation → example, nothing else.
- Conclusion: restate the idea in new words + the so-what.
6 · Check — Self-Check
Work through your checklist honestly, then run the Self-Check. It counts words and sentences and spots mechanical points — it does not grade your English. You are the editor.
Read a model answer for the task
When the last video store in our town closed, half the town went to the ceremony like a funeral. We stream everything now, instantly — and somehow we choose less carefully than when choosing cost money. This essay argues that public libraries have become more important, not less, in the streaming age.
First, libraries protect equality. A library card gives a poor student the same books, films, and internet as a rich one; no subscription wall asks for her father's credit card. In a world that charges for everything, the library remains gloriously free at the door.
Second, libraries protect attention. They are almost the only indoor public places where nobody expects you to buy anything — so the mind can wander, browse, and find the book it did not know it needed, which no algorithm would ever have suggested.
In the end, the library is not competing with the internet. It is compensating for it: a free, quiet, human corner in an expensive, noisy, automated world.
7 · Improve & Rewrite
Weak version — rewrite it in your notebook first, then compare:
In this essay I will write about dogs. Dogs are good animals. Many people have dogs. Dogs are friendly. Also dogs need walks. In conclusion, dogs are animals that many people have and they are friendly.
See an improved version
Few relationships in modern life are as one-sidedly generous as the one between a person and a dog. This essay argues that owning a dog makes people measurably healthier and kinder. Physically, a dog is a walking coach who never cancels: rain or shine, the walk happens, and owners' hearts benefit. Emotionally, a dog teaches daily, wordless loyalty — care given at 6 a.m. without negotiation. In the end, a dog is not a pet you keep. It is a better person you practice being, twice a day, at the end of a leash.
Quick Quiz
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