Have a go at this activity. There are some suggested answers on the next page.

It can help, once you have written a first draft, to take a step back and review the structure of your essay. One way of doing this is to summarise each paragraph in one sentence, then put these sentences into a list and consider whether each follows logically from the previous one. Is there a sense of progression in your essay? Were you able to summarise the point made in each paragraph? If you couldn’t, it may mean you have tried to make too many points within a paragraph, or that the main focus of each paragraph is not clear.

Have a look at the example below. This writer has summarised each of their paragraphs in one sentence. Do you think their structure is effective? What could they change?

Essay title: How serious a problem is childhood obesity in the UK?

Summary of each paragraph:

Intro: At least 10% of six-year-olds and 17% of 15-year-olds are now clinically obese, and this is having major effects on their health, both physical and mental.
Paragraph 1: The main health problem that obesity causes is cardiovascular disease, which has immediate effect on children’s arteries and so prevention is better than correction.
Paragraph 2: Obesity also causes long-term mental effects, including depression and low self esteem
Paragraph 3: Another consequence of obesity is Type 2 diabetes, which is preventable through diet and exercise.
Paragraph 4: Obesity also has a financial impact on the NHS.
Paragraph 5: Childhood obesity is more of a problem now than in previous years.
Conclusion: More education about healthy living is needed in order to reduce childhood obesity.