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An essay should include:

1. a brief introduction (which focuses on the question)
2. the main body (four or five paragraphs)
3. a short conclusion (which focuses on the question)

Writing an introduction

When you’ve planned your points, and ordered them, it’s time to start writing. Your opening sentence should summarise your main argument. The rest of the essay then shows how you've come to that conclusion.

Example

In this article from the 'Comment is free' section of The Guardian newspaper, how does Charlie Brooker use language to persuade us of his point of view on the television show MasterChef?

Have you seen MasterChef? Of course you have, even if you've been trying to avoid it, because it's always there, like the sky or the ground or that skin you're in. MasterChef dominates the schedules like a slow-moving weather system dictating the climate. Your TV's stuck on MasterChef mode. It's not even a TV these days, more a MasterChef display unit. Cooking doesn't get more omnipresent than this.

Masterchef is the best television show in broadcasting history, if you ignore all the other ones, Charlie Brooker (2014)

Suggested introduction

In this article, Charlie Brooker establishes a sarcastic tone through exaggeration and simile to persuade us that he does not like the programme ‘Masterchef’.

This:

• specifically answers the question rather than just rephrasing it
• says what the text is effective in doing (by creating a sarcastic tone)
• says in general how that effect is created (using exaggeration and similes)