Essay Structure: TEEL

This is a pretty simple essay structure to use for most subjects. I've been taught and using it for about three years now, and it's pretty foolproof and simple. The following structure, however, is for the main body of the essay, not the introductory or concluding paragraph of your essay.

Title
Explanation
Evidence
Link

Title
Usually the introductory/topic sentence of the paragraph explaining to the reader what the paragraph will discuss. Avoid making it too lengthy and detailed.

Explanation
Discuss your ideas/reasons/argument regarding the topic sentence (whatever you had mentioned in your 'title').

Evidence
Give support and proof for your ideas/reasons/argument. If this is an essay for a novel study, give quotes and refer to the novel. If it is for a history essay, again, you can use references to back up your explanation. If it's an argumentative essay, give statistics (if applicable).

Link
A sentence or two which refers back to your essay topic or title.



A good paragraph following TEEL will have an explanation and evidence throughout the paragraph. By this I mean a paragraph will not strictly have the explanation and then the evidence in order. You can have an explanation and evidence and then another explanation or the evidence first and then an explanation. However, a good essay will include the TEEL points.