Methods
An essay is not a pile of sentences. It is a question, a position, a sequence of claims, and proof that those claims are true. Folio makes each of those a stage you cannot skip without noticing.
School methods — PEEL, PETAL, TEEL, PEAL — are the same idea in different jackets: make a claim, prove it, analyse the proof, and show why the claim belongs in this essay. The letters are training wheels. The thinking is the point.
Point · Evidence · Explain · Link
Most school essays — history, geography, science, general English
It forces every paragraph to argue, prove, analyse, then earn its place in the thesis.
Point · Evidence · Technique · Analysis · Link
English and literature — when the method of the writing is the argument
It stops you treating a quote as proof on its own. You have to name the craft, then say what the craft does.
Topic · Evidence · Explain · Link
Australian classrooms and any essay that wants a clean topic sentence
Same discipline as PEEL, with a topic sentence that names the paragraph’s job in the whole essay.
Point · Evidence · Analysis · Link
Shorter responses and exams, when you need analysis without an extra technique step
It keeps the PEEL discipline but names the third move honestly: you are analysing, not ‘explaining what happened’.
Folio cannot invent your argument. These are the inputs only you can supply:
The question
What you have been asked
Unpack
Command words and key terms
Contention
One sentence you will prove
Mind map
Arguments before sentences
Evidence locker
Quotes for this essay
Paragraphs
Write in the method
Intro & close
Open and land the argument
Compile
Read it as one essay
The first noun in the question is not the job. The verb is. If you treat “discuss” like “describe”, you will write a competent essay that still fails.
| Word | Means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Analyse | Break the thing into parts and say how the parts work together. | Name mechanisms, relationships, causes. |
| Assess | Weigh strengths and limits, then judge. | Use criteria. Come down on a side. |
| Compare | Set two or more things against each other. | Organise by point of comparison, not by text A then text B. |
| Contrast | Emphasise meaningful differences. | Say why the difference matters to the question. |
| Discuss | Put more than one view in play, then take a position. | Steel-man the other side, then argue. |
| Evaluate | Judge value or success against stated criteria. | Make the criteria visible. Weigh, then conclude. |
| Examine | Look closely and test assumptions. | Interrogate a claim, a source, or a method. |
| Explain | Give reasons and show how a process works. | Cause → mechanism → consequence. |
| How | The method is the answer — craft, policy, process. | Name techniques, instruments, turning points. |
| To what extent | How far is the claim true — and where does it fail? | A scaled judgement: largely, only in X, not in Y. |
| How far | Same family as ‘to what extent’. | Draw a line: true up to here, false beyond. |
| Discuss the extent | Both discuss (views) and measure (how far). | Map the debate, then place your judgement on it. |
If your sentence still works after you swap “shows” for “is about”, you are describing. These verbs force a move.
revealsimpliesexposesundercutsrecastsdestabilisesunderscorespositions the reader tocollapses the distinction betweenmakes visiblereframescomplicatesironisesheightens
The checker is blunt on purpose. A point must be a claim. Evidence must be specific. Analysis must not retell. The link must earn the thesis.
Point · Evidence · Explain · Link. Most school essays — history, geography, science, general English.
What one claim will this paragraph prove?
A point is an argument, not a topic. It should be a sentence a thoughtful reader could disagree with.
WeakMacbeth is ambitious.
StrongShakespeare presents Macbeth’s ambition as a force that isolates him from every human bond that once defined him.
What specific proof makes that claim hard to deny?
How does that evidence actually prove the point — and what is the writer doing?
Why does this paragraph have to exist for the thesis to stand?
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