Writing an essay

Writing an Essay

Portuguese essay writing follows a clear structure with specific discourse markers:

Introduction - presenting the thesis:

• *Neste ensaio, pretende-se analisar...* (In this essay, we intend to analyze...)
• *A questão que se coloca é...* (The question that arises is...)

Development - building arguments:

• *Em primeiro lugar... Em segundo lugar... Por último...* (Firstly... Secondly... Lastly...)
• *Por um lado... Por outro lado...* (On one hand... On the other hand...)

Presenting counterarguments:

• *Embora se possa argumentar que...* (Although one could argue that...)
• *Apesar de haver quem defenda que...* (Despite there being those who argue that...)

Conclusion - summarizing:

• *Em suma, pode-se concluir que...* (In short, one can conclude that...)
• *Face ao exposto, torna-se evidente que...* (Given what has been presented, it becomes evident that...)

Note the frequent use of the reflexive passive (*pretende-se*, *pode-se*) for formal impersonal tone in academic writing.