How do I structure an essay?

Once you have cracked the formula for doing an essay, you will start to see your grades get better and better. I always remember what I have to write by thinking of PEEL and FSL. But what do these have to do with essays? Well, PEEL (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link to question) is how you lay out each paragraph. FSL (Form, Structure, Language) is what each paragraph should be on. So your essay should look a little like this:
Intro - sum up your overall argument and the different points you are going to make
Paragraph 1 - Some people like to use the first paragraph to talk about context ie. talk about the author, or perhaps what was going on in History at the time of them writing
Paragraph 2 - Form (is it a novel, poem, play? What does this mean? How does it shape our understanding?)Point - What is the argument you are making about Form?Evidence - A quote which backs up your pointExplanation - Look closely at the quote and unpick what this meansLink to question - At the end of each paragraph, it is important to always say why your argument is linked to what the question is asking
Paragraph 3 - Structure (looking how the plot is laid out. Is it start - middle - end? Or end - start - middle? Or even middle - end - start? You can also look at sentence structures, are they "normal" or is everything jumbled? What could this mean?)Point - What is the argument you are making about Structure?Evidence - A quote which backs up your pointExplanation - Look closely at the quote and unpick what it meansLink to question
Paragraph 4 - Language (Metaphor, similies, semantic fields, etc.)Point - what is the argument you are making about structure?Evidence - A quote which backs up your pointExplanation - Look closely at the quote and unpick what it meansLink to question
Conclusion - Summarise your argument again and have your final say
I know this looks rather daunting! However, we will do plenty of practise papers and it will become so much easier to understand!