What is an Essay? Essays come in all shapes and forms. For example, different types of essays include expository, narrative, and persuasive. We all realize that essays come into our lives at one point or another. The purpose of essays are to help us establish ideas and concepts to further our academic growth. Through research you make yourself an expert at these topics and make yourself an expert in these topics. All essays have three things in common; an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. An introduction consists of an attention getter and a thesis. An attention getter seizes the reader’s attention and makes them want to read more. You can grab the reader’s attention using a number of techniques. One technique is to use a startling fact to entice the reader’s attention. An introduction also includes a thesis statement. A thesis statement consists of three main points that you will write about in your body paragraphs. This will be the last thing in your introduction. It also sums up what you are going to write about, and tells your reader where you are going and why. To have a truly good essay you must have a good thesis. Without a good thesis your reader wouldn’t know what ideas your whole essay is about. Speaking about thesis statements our next idea is about body paragraphs. A body paragraph is the paragraph in which the points in the thesis statement are explained. Each body paragraph contains supporting evidence on the topic at hand. For example, in this essay, paragraph one contained detailed description on thesis statements in an introduction paragraph. A body paragraph must begin with a topic sentence to introduce the reader to the information that follows. Also there needs to be supporting evidence to back up your claims. In the process of writing a paragraph you want to make your ideas clear, so the reader understands the information. In addition you want to make it like you are having a conversation with the reader. By using your “voice” you make it easier for the reader to apprehend your information. After your body paragraphs is your conclusion. A conclusion is the paragraph