The PETZAL Essay Structure and How to Use It

This is a short, free, text-only course designed to guide you through how to write a PETZAL essay.

It acts as a taster for the more comprehensive video courses I offer. Use it to help you!

If you like this course, please recommend it to others! It will help me to keep the lights on as I create grade-boosting resources.

Keep reading to find out more about who the acronym is for and why it’s useful.

About PETZAL

When you are learning how to write essays for the first time, the PETZAL essay structure can be a good place for you to start.

If you’ve heard of it (or PETAL) before, I’m not surprised. Many teachers recommend it because it works fantastically for getting everything you need into a GCSE essay. My GCSE teacher introduced me to PETAL back in 2011. Since then, I added the Z to help students hit higher marks and adapted it into something that worked for me for a long time.

This essay structure is helpful for so many reasons.

• If you write something for each point in the acronym, you’ll have covered almost all of the points that examiners expect from you in your GCSE exam.
• It splits the essay-writing process up into small, manageable chunks.
• It’s really easy to write “PEZAL” in the margins of a piece of paper for planning purposes.
• The fact that it’s catchy enough helps you to never forget it.
• Once you’ve got PETZAL down under your belt, you can shake things up a little.

It’s a versatile structure that helps you to tackle the basics of writing your first ever essay and passing your GCSEs.

There are a lot of other acronyms out there, like PEE and PEEL. They can be helpful, but they are very limited. At most, they are designed for getting a 4 or 5 at GCSE. If you’re aiming for the 6-8 mark, PETZAL can help you get there in no time.

Who is the PETZAL Essay Structure For?

The PETZAL essay structure works for students who are writing KS3 or GCSE essays for the first time and want to know what they should include.

It takes you through the process of writing an essay one step at a time, and is designed for students aiming for a 6-8 in their GCSE English Language and Literature.

That’s because it hits all the things that the mark scheme asks you for, including:

• Making an argument.
• Explaining the effect (feeling or message) that a piece of writing has on its reader or audience.
• Giving evidence that the writer has created this effect.
• Explaining how your evidence proves the effect.
• Using the proper words for the language and literature devices the writer uses (also known as subject terminology or techniques).
• Using your knowledge to explain why the writer would have wanted to have that effect on their reader or audience.

However, the PETZAL essay structure has its limitations, too.

As I said before, PETZAL works best for people aiming for a grade 6-8. If you want to get a grade 9, you have to know how to adapt and build on it. It’s about making the essay your own!

I wouldn’t recommend PETZAL for an A-level student at all. In fact, please do not rely on any acronyms for an A-level essay. PEE, PEA, PEEL, PEAL, PETAL, PETZAL and PEESEAL are not good enough to fulfil the objectives at A-level.

What Else Do You Need to Think About?

On top of PETZAL, you need to make sure you think about a few other things:

• Understanding and answering the question.
• Spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Good vocabulary.
• Choosing good evidence.

Those things are straightforward, though. They slot right into any good essay structure. Plus, I will be writing more guides and worksheets in the future to help you with those, too.

Once you’ve got your PETZAL structure sorted out, we can work out the little issues. After all, it’s much easier for a teacher to give helpful feedback on an essay if the structure is good! So, you really have nothing to lose!