Lecture Notes: Digging In On The Lego Model

What Is Essay Structure?

Essay structure refers to the organization of a paper or essay, encompassing the order and focus of your paragraphs, and how they work together to communicate clearly with your reader.

Most academic papers and essays — and a majority of writing you find out in the real world — follow the same broad structure: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. You have probably been taught that since middle school. However, you can likely name all three parts and still stall out at the keyboard, because knowing you need to start with an introduction, for example, is not the same as knowing how the different parts of an introduction function. The same is true for the body and conclusion of a paper or essay, as well.

A well-structured paper or essay gives readers a clear roadmap, guiding them through your thoughts and ideas in a logical sequence. When writing lacks structure, it becomes harder to understand. Readers lose the thread of the argument, miss main points, and may ultimately remain unpersuaded, no matter how good your writing is at the sentence level.

The Lego Model

The Lego Model is a response to the gap described above. Rather than three containers, it treats a paper or essay as a set of distinct pieces, each one doing a single, specific job.

Here is the way I want you to think about it. Did you ever play with Legos as a kid? As an adult? When you build with Legos, many times you don’t reach into the bin at random. Often, because you’re building a specific item — say a Formula 1 race car — you go digging for that one red corner piece, because you have a very specific need and only that piece will fill it. You know what the piece does before you go looking for it, and you know exactly where it will go, and have a pretty good idea how it will look.

You can use the Lego Model in the same way. When you sit down to write, you are never facing “the introduction” as a vague block of text. You are reaching for a particular piece, and you already know the job that piece is meant to do. Hopefully this will help you develop a more coherent structure for your paper, and help you figure out where certain ideas will go, as well as helping you to identify gaps as well.

The Lego Model: Piece By Piece

The Lego Model is built within the introduction, body, and conclusion framework we are all used to, but it provides more detail about how each section should be constructed.

Introduction. The introduction gets the reader’s attention, gives them the context they need, and states your claim. Three pieces: hook, bridge, thesis statement. For most academic coursework, your introduction will be one paragraph in length.
Body. Within the body, you develop and support your claim through evidence, reasoning, and analysis. There are three types of paragraphs: background, argumentative, and example. Each body paragraph, no matter the type, should focus on one main idea. Unlike the introduction and conclusion, whose sections come in a fixed order, body paragraphs have no fixed number and no fixed sequence. You might run three argumentative paragraphs in a row, alternate argumentative and example so that every main point gets a story, or drop a background paragraph into the middle of the body because a complicated point is coming and readers need context before they hit it. You pick the paragraphs that do the jobs your paper or essay needs done, and you arrange them so that a reader can follow you.
Conclusion. The conclusion reminds the reader what you claimed, summarizes key points that support your claim, and asks them to take action with the information they just learned. Three parts: restatement of thesis, summary of findings, call to action.

The Lego Model: Interactive

Point at any piece to see what it does. On a phone or tablet, tap instead.

Trouble with the interactive model? The same information is laid out in full on the static Lego Model page.

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Hover over each part of the Lego Model to learn more about it.

Introduction

Hook

Grabs attention

The hook is the first sentence or two of your introduction paragraph. Its job is to catch the reader’s interest and make them want to keep reading. A hook can be a vivid description, a metaphor, a provocative question, or a story.

ExampleDevon is writing a paper that argues that high schools start too early. He feels the fastest way to grab a student’s attention is to touch on a common situation, so he opens with a brief story about a 5:40 alarm going off in a dark bedroom, and a high school student trying to wake up, despite only having five hours of sleep.

Introduction

Bridge

Connects the hook to the thesis statement

The bridge follows the hook. Its job is to connect the hook to the thesis statement by giving readers the background they need before they reach your claim: the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your topic. It carries the reader from a general interest in the subject to the specific claim you are about to make.

ExamplePriya is writing about rural broadband internet access, and she knows most of her readers have never thought about it. Between her hook and her claim she explains who is affected — roughly fourteen million rural Americans — and why it matters now that schoolwork, job applications, and doctor visits have all moved online. In this way, readers will be ready when she makes her claim.

Introduction

Thesis Statement

States the claim

For our class, the thesis statement will be the last sentence of your introduction paragraph. Its job is to state the main idea or claim that the rest of the paper will support. A good thesis is specific, debatable, and concise.

ExampleMarcus is writing an essay about college athlete compensation. After drafting a catchy hook and providing some solid background info, he ends his introduction with a sentence that clearly states his position: colleges and universities should financially compensate athletes who generate revenue for their institutions.

Body

Background Paragraph

Provides context

A background paragraph gives readers the context they need to engage with your discussion: key concepts, historical details, or important data about your topic. These often appear right after the introduction, but can also show up later, just before a point that is hard to follow.

ExampleJamal is writing about hospital billing, and he knows most readers assume a treatment has a price the way a gallon of milk does. Before he can argue anything, readers should understand that two patients can get the same surgery and be billed wildly different amounts depending on their insurance. So he writes a paragraph explaining how hospitals set their list prices, how insurers negotiate down from those prices, and why the uninsured are the ones who end up paying the full amount.

Body

Argumentative Paragraph

Provides one reason why the claim is true

An argumentative paragraph presents a single main point that supports your claim, explains your reasoning, and backs it up with evidence. A claim without supporting reasons is not an argument, so these paragraphs are critical to persuading your reader.

ExampleOne reason Sophia believes hospital nurse staffing ratios (the minimum number of staff needed) should be mandated is patient safety. Her argumentative paragraph opens with that point, explains that a nurse managing too many patients at once can lead to missed early warning signs, and closes with a quote from a study linking each additional patient per nurse to a measurable rise in mortality.

Body

Example Paragraph

Shows a reason from an argumentative paragraph in action

An example paragraph brings a main point to life through a concrete story: a case study, an anecdote, or the steps in a process that show cause and effect. These almost always follow an argumentative paragraph, showing the reader how the point you just made plays out in the real world.

ExampleTrevor has written an argumentative paragraph arguing that one reason not to cut bus routes is because those who rely on public transportation may not have other options, but the point still feels abstract. So he follows it with an example paragraph telling the story of a home health aide who would lose her job if her route were curtailed, because no bus connection would get her to work before 10:30 a.m., and taking an Uber would be cost prohibitive.

Conclusion

Restatement of Thesis

Echoes your claim

The restatement of thesis is the first sentence or two of your conclusion paragraph. Its job is to remind the reader of the claim you have been supporting. You can repeat it word for word or rephrase it, as long as the claim does not change.

ExampleCaleb opens his conclusion by returning to his claim in different words. He argued that high schools should not steer students toward four-year degrees by default; now he puts it this way: High schools should not default to a four-year college plan, but should instead offer a wider range of options to serve a diverse population of students. Students have different interests and will take different professional and personal paths in life, and should be served accordingly.

Conclusion

Summary of Findings

Reviews key points from the body

Your summary of findings briefly reviews the key points you made in your body paragraphs. There is usually a close connection between the topic sentences you wrote earlier and the points made here. It reviews your earlier discussion rather than introducing new information.

ExampleIn her argument about statewide water allocations, Nadia reminds her reader where she has taken them: aquifer levels have fallen for two decades, agriculture consumes most of the state’s water, and the permit system still in force was written for a wetter century. There is no new information here, and her points match key points within the discussion from her paper’s body.

Conclusion

Call to Action

Asks the reader to take action

The call to action is the final sentence or two of your conclusion. Its job is to ask the reader to act or think differently based on what they have read, such as making a different choice if they find themselves in a similar situation.

ExampleLuis ends his paper about distractions while driving by asking readers to change their habits. He has argued that hands-free laws alone have not reduced vehicle accident rates, so he closes by asking drivers to put their phones in the glovebox before starting the car, instead of in a cupholder where they can still buzz and be a distraction.

Final Thoughts

The Lego Model exists to make it easier for you to organize your papers and essays.

Structure is where many student papers or essays could see some improvement, and not because students don’t have important things to say. Rather, good ideas delivered in a confusing order, or sections of a paper or essay that are trying to satisfy more than one function at a time usually create confusion and uncertainty for the reader. If you take the time to be clear about your structure and the order in which you conduct your discussion, that translates to clarity for the reader.

We will be practicing with the Lego Model all semester. Every paper or essay you write in this course will be built using this tool, so take some time to understand how the pieces fit together, and how it might help you with your writing.