The problem-solving essay - structure and organization

You have already been assigned the problem-solving essay, but you might be wondering just how to best organize your essay. It is important with these assignments to focus on your organization of ideas, building your idea around it.

You should use the following structure to build your paragraphs:

• Introduction - includes a one-sentence controlling idea
• One attempt that failed - who, what, where, why, when, how
• Another attempt that failed - who, what, where, why, when, how
• Any other attempts - who, what, where, why, when, how
• The attempt that was successful - who, what, where, why, when, how
• Bring story to finality

As we have discussed in class, there are other important areas to focus on with this essay. Use transitions between your ideas and vary your sentence structure.