Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

E
XAMPLE
3
Below is a paragraph from an essay which is discussing whether or not
the BBC should no longer be funded by the money raised by television
and radio licences.
Those who profit from working and owning shares in
commercial television and radio argue that the BBC
enjoys unfair advantages compared to its rivals. The
BBC, they say, does not have to operate in the open
market like commercial operators do. Unlike them,
the BBC is insulated against failure. Whereas
commercial television and radio must attract
audiences so that they can charge appropriate rates
to their advertisers, the BBC need not worry about
ratings quite so much because its revenues are
guaranteed because of the licence fees paid by the
general public. The BBC, however, argues that it has
a ‘public good’ mandate which demands that the
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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organisation makes programmes that serves the
public interest: educational programmes,
documentaries, serious news bulletins and the
televising of important public events.
Sentence one makes the key point of the paragraph that the BBC enjoys
unfair advantages over its commercial rivals. This point is expanded on
in sentences two and three. Sentence four puts the counter argument on
behalf of the BBC and points the way to the next paragraph where this
point about the BBC can be discussed further.
The individual paragraphs of your essays must  have a
coherent structure: a key sentence that makes the key
point of the paragraph, followed by a development of that
point using  specific example and illustration. A closing
sentence should round off the paragraph acting as a summary of
the paragraph’s  content, perhaps drawing an intermediate
conclusion and/or pointing the way to the next paragraph.