This glossary of essential terms will help you whether you are providing feedback to a classmate or receiving feedback from an instructor, tutor, or peer.

Argument – A claim that can be supported with reasons and evidence. For more help, see Argument.

Audience – The reader(s) for whom the essay is intended. For more help, see Topic, Audience, and Purpose and Revising for Purpose and Audience.

Body – The middle section of an essay that develops and supports the essay’s thesis. For more help, see Drafting Body Paragraphs.

Brainstorming – An idea-generating invention technique that encourages writers to write down every fact or idea related to a particular topic that comes to mind. For more help, see Prewriting.

Coherence – The logical and orderly relationship between all pieces of an essay that helps the essay make sense. For more help, see Revising for Organization.

Common knowledge – Widely available and understood factual information. For more help, see Do I Need to Cite That?.

Conclusion – The final, closing sentences or paragraphs of an essay that summarize the argument, suggest a solution, and offer some resolution. For more help, see Drafting Conclusions.

Digression – A thought that strays from the main point of the essay. For more help, see Revising for Organization.

Documentation – Formal credit given to the essay’s sources. For more help, see Working with Sources.

Essay – A short piece of nonfiction writing that expresses and then supports an idea or an argument.

Evidence – Support for a claim, composed of facts and opinions. For more help, see Topic Sentences and Supporting Details and Revising for Support.

Example – Evidence offered to illustrate a point. For more help, see Topic Sentences and Supporting Details and Revising for Support.

Fallacy – A seemingly logical but actually flawed or distorted statement. For more help, see Argument and Critical Reading.

Focus – The essay’s central idea or scope. For more help, see Prewriting.

Forecast/Foreshadow – To hint at an idea that will emerge later in the essay. For more help, see Revising for Organization.

Introduction – The opening sentences or paragraphs of an essay that set a tone, identify a subject, and often include the thesis and argument. For more help, see Drafting Introductions.

Invention – The initial writing state wherein the author explores his or her subject, comes up with an idea, and begins to develop an argument. For more help, see Prewriting.

Organization – The way an essay is constructed. Its parts should be arranged so that introduction, body, and conclusion flow well from one to the other, with clear topic sentences and effective transitions. For more help, see Prewriting, Outlining and Organizing, and Revising for Organization.

Paragraph – The essay’s basic unit, usually consisting of a topic sentence followed by one or more sentences that support the idea presented in the topic sentence. For more help, see Drafting Stand-Alone Paragraphs and Drafting Body Paragraphs.

Paraphrase – Stating someone else’s idea in different words. For more help, see Summarizing, Quotation Marks, and Working with Sources.

Perspective – Similar to position or stance—a collection of thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about a particular subject or topic.

Persuasion – Convincing someone, usually through emotional appeals or intellectual argument, to see a subject in a different way. For more help, see Argument.

Plagiarism – The act of appropriating someone else’s work or citing an idea without giving credit to its originator. For more help, see Quotation Marks and Working with Sources.

Plausibility – Whether ideas seem reasonable and credible. For more help, see Critical Reading and Interpretive Reading.

Point of view (first person, second person, third person) – The perspective of the essay’s author—first person (the author refers to him/herself in the essay), second person (the author speaks directly to “you”), or third person (the more formal method that only uses “he,” “she,” and “they”).

Purpose – The author’s reason for writing, usually to express a feeling or argue a point. For more help, see Topic, Audience, and Purpose and Revising for Purpose and Audience.

Quotations – A source’s exact words, set apart from the author’s text by use of quotation marks. For more help, see Quotation Marks and Working with Sources.

Reasons and support – Examples, facts, and statistics given to bolster an argument. For more help, see Topic Sentences and Supporting Details and Revising for Support.

Subject – The idea or argument that is the essay’s focus, which is also called a topic. For more help, see Topic, Audience, and Purpose and Topics and Main Ideas.

Summary – The restatement of the main point of a cited source or, in a peer review session, all or part of a peer’s essay. For more help, see Summarizing, Quotation Marks, and Working with Sources as well as Revising with Peer Feedback.

Thesis – The main idea of the essay, stated in the introduction, supported in the body, and summarized in the conclusion. For more help, see Thesis Statements.

Topic - The idea or argument that is the essay’s focus, which is also called a subject. For more help, see Topic, Audience, and Purpose and Topics and Main Ideas.

Topic sentence – The first sentence of a paragraph, whose job it is to explain what the paragraph will be about. For more help, see Drafting Body Paragraphs and Topic Sentences and Supporting Details.

Transitions – The words or phrases that help link the ideas in one paragraph to those of the next. For more help, see Outlining and Organizing, Making Transitions between Paragraphs, and Revising for Organization.

Unity – The coherence of a paragraph, where every sentence relates back to the topic sentence; or of an essay, where every paragraph relates back to the thesis. For more help, see Making Transitions between Paragraphs and Revising for Organization.