PIE Structure

You will notice that for many forms of assessment, you are asked to organize and structure your ideas. This lesson
gives you a kind of 'recipe' for cooking up an essay as it were. The template approach to structuring writing, which is
presented in this lesson, is not meant to be prescriptive. Rather, consider the PIE method a kind of guideline or
safety mechanism to fall back on.
For each sentence that you write, you should ask yourself: 'What is the purpose of this sentence?' If you find the
purpose of a sentence is not clear, you may want to replace it with something more effective. This lesson aims to
help you structure your essay and commentary writing.

What is PIE?
For the sake of this activity, let's say there are three kinds of sentences: points, illustrations and explanations (PIE).
Using these three sentence types, in this order, is a natural and recognizable pattern for many readers (including
examiners). Here is an overview of the PIE method and a tutorial video on how it has been applied to an essay on
two literary works.
The PIE method

1. Point - Use statements, claims and positions that are strong, bold and deep. Make interpretations of the
texts that you have studied and state these clearly.
2. Illustrate - Use quotes, references to passages or examples to support your claims. Be sure to integrate
these well into your writing, using phrases such as, 'as we see in line...' or 'for example.'
3. Explain - Finally, explain how the illustration supports the main idea.

The PIE Essay

Brad Philpot
2009

Check for understanding

Here are a few questions to see if you understood everything in the tutorial video:
1. What is the point of the PIE method?
2. What is the purpose of a thesis statement?
3. What are topic sentences and how do they relate to the thesis statement?
4. What do you write first and last, when writing an essay?
5. What belongs in an introduction?
6. What belongs in a conclusion?

Find the PIE structure

There are several ways to find evidence of the PIE structure in essay writing. You can get into 'expert' groups,
where each group is responsible for finding one aspect of the PIE method; one group is responsible for finding
points, the other: illustrations, and the third: explanations. Each group uses a different color highlighter to highlight
their aspect. Finally as a class, go through the essay, sentence by sentence. If two groups claim to have highlighted
the same sentences, then they both need to give arguments to explain why it belongs to them. This kind of activity
helps you define the key characteristics of points, illustrations and explanations.
Here is an essay that you can use for this activity. Although it is not a Paper 2 essay on literature, it makes use of
the PIE structure. Again highlight, with three different colors the points, illustrations and explanations. In the answer
key below can be understood with the following key:
Bold = points
Italics = illustrations
Underline = explanations

PIE essay

Name: ____________________________ Date: ________

Find the PIE structure

Below is an essay about how we are influenced by the mass media. Underline or
highlight the sentences of this essay using three different colors:

1. Points – highlight or underline all points, statements or claims with one color.
2. Illustrations – highlight or underline all quotes, examples, and illustrations with
another color.
3. Explain – highlight all explanations, analyses and comparisons with a third
color.

Mass media have permeated every space of our lives

Here is an everyday situation: I log on to the computer at school to get an assignment done. First I open Explorer.
The default page is MSN. How perfect: my browser recognizes I have a hotmail account and tells me I have 13
unread messages. But wait, before I read these an image of Angelina Jolie strikes me as interesting. “Jolie up close.
Angelina revels in Brad's candid pics.” I click and five minutes later I have not read a single e-mail nor have I started
working on my assignment at all. If you were to ask me at a party or in the halls of school whether I took an active
interest in Hollywood gossip, I would most definitely say no. So why have I wasted five minutes of my precious life
on Angelina Jolie? Because mass media have permeated every space of my life and made it so easy for me to ‘click
through’. What’s more, as a result I actually have created an opinion on Brad Pitt’s parenting skills. It turns out that
people are more influenced by mass media than they think.

The speed of media these days is one reason why we are so easily influenced. Advertisers and journalists realize
that my time is precious as well, and so they must compete for a two-minute attention span that I have. This is, after
all, the amount of time the average person spends on a single website. Through bullet points, flashy headings, and
embedded videos, they have made their messages very compact and easily accessible. Similarly the world of
newspapers has changed drastically in the past 10 years to accommodate for our need for speed. In the United
States and Western Europe, many free newspapers such as Metro are handed out in public spaces. Supported by a
very small editorial staff, the news in these newspapers is outsourced to the Associated Press or the BBC, who can
sell small, watered-down articles for next to nothing. The expensive advertisements generate enough income for
these newspapers to enjoy a greater circulation than traditional broadsheets. On the average readers spend no
more than twenty minutes reading these newspapers, and most come away with a satisfied feeling that they are up-
to-speed on current events. Not only are the articles shallow though. The opinion columns cannot afford the space
to be nuanced or balanced, nor do we expect this from them. The result is that we have a simplistic understanding
of the world around us. This is best illustrated in the way the media reported the announcement of vice-president
nominee Sarah Palin. Within days of her nomination, most people were misinformed about her family situation,
because it was complicated, intricate and required too many details for reporters to get right. The release of
information was faster that the investigation of information, and because she was we unknown to so many
Americans, a false story about her daughter’s multiple teen pregnancies was sold. It turned out that Sarah Palin
herself had become mother to her fifth child five months before the nomination.

Sensation is another reason why we are so easily influenced by the mass media. The expression ‘if it bleeds it
leads’ is not only applicable to Hollywood gossip and presidential candidates. The economic crises of September
and October of 2008 did not always receive a healthy dose of sobriety in newspapers like the Daily Mail. In fact one
could argue that the lack of balanced reporting caused the financial crisis. In June for example the Daily Mail
published an article with the heading: ‘Unemployment could hit 8% within two years, according to research out
today’. Their research was based on 120 interviews with ‘top executives’ from 120 companies in Great Britain. The
‘research’ was hardly scientific. Which companies did they talk to? Did the ‘top executives’ even have access to
hard numbers and statistics about the future of their companies? Several months after this report, banks were
receiving thousands of phone calls from customers who were wondering if their savings were safe. Several months
later, newspapers were reporting on ‘bail out’ plans, a very emotionally laden word. Many investors were influenced
by the media within this time period, sold stocks and caused the markets to drop off even more drastically. This is
perfect example of how the media not only reflect reality but help shape it as well.

The final reason for media influence in our lives is loyalty. As strange as it may sound, viewers of a certain news
channel feel a loyalty to it. When I see the blue screen and butterflies on MSN where my e-mail is, I feel at home.
Think about the last time you watched your news on a different channel or picked up a different newspaper than
usual. It is probably long ago. We have grown accustomed to a set of beliefs that is often voiced by a specific
medium that we like. One Dutch newspaper’s slogan is: ‘the news you want.’ How would you feel if you were a
journalist writing an article for this newspaper and were told by your boss to tell the audience what they wanted to
hear? As sad as it may sound, this is the reality that many journalists face in the world of commercial media. A case
that exemplified this most was Fox News in the months leading up to the war in Iraq in 2003. Before America could
move its troops into Iraq, the media had to create a consensus among the public. In his documentary Outfoxed,
Robert Greeenwald shows us how Fox News helped the White House do this by telling its loyal viewers what to
think on a very specific matter: they created a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Most
people now realize that there was never a connection between these two. At the time though, 65% of Fox viewers
felt there was one, compared to a mere (though astonishingly high) 30% of viewers of other media. Fox News
achieved this through Bill O’Reilly who both presented the news as an anchorman and gave his opinion two minutes
later in the form of a talk show. This confused viewers. But they did not ask questions because they were loyal to
the station, which in turn was loyal to the White House.

We may think that the influence of the media is harmless when it comes to clicking through to Angelina Jolie on
MSN. But because we have grown so accustomed to digesting information quickly and indifferently, the dangers of
the mass media have become even greater. In times where the speed and sensation of information have increased,
we must be careful that we do not let ourselves become complacent or apathetic. Constantly we must be critical of
the media we are seemingly loyal to and careful not to go along passively with the media’s influence.

Answers to activity
In this answer sheet, bold = statements, italics = illustrations, and underline = explanations

Here is an everyday situation: I log on to the computer at school to get an assignment done. First I open Internet
Explorer to check my e-mail quickly. The default page is MSN. How perfect, I think, my browser recognizes I have a
hotmail account and tells me I have 13 unread messages. But wait, before I read these an image of Angelina Jolie
strikes me as interesting. “Jolie up close. Angelina revels in Brad's candid pics.” I click and five minutes later I have
not read a single e-mail nor have I started working on my assignment at all. If you were to ask me at a party or in
the halls of school whether I took an active interest in Hollywood gossip, I would most definitely say no. So why have
I wasted five minutes of my precious life on Angelina Jolie? Because mass media have permeated every space of
my life and made it so easy for me to ‘click through’. What’s more, as a result I actually have created an opinion on
Brad Pitt’s parenting skills. It turns out that people are more influenced by mass media than they think.

The speed of media these days is one reason why we are so easily influenced. Advertisers and journalists
realize that my time is precious as well, and so they must compete for a two-minute attention span that I
have. This is, after all, the amount of time the average person spends on a single website. Through bullet
points, flashy headings, and embedded videos, they have made their messages very compact and easily
accessible. Similarly the world of newspapers has changed drastically in the past 10 years to accommodate
for our need for speed. In the United States and Western Europe, many free newspapers such as Metro are
handed out in public spaces. Supported by a very small editorial staff, the news in these newspapers is outsourced
to the Associated Press or the BBC, who can sell small, watered-down articles for next to nothing. The expensive
advertisements generate enough income for these newspapers to enjoy a greater circulation than traditional
broadsheets. On the average readers spend no more than twenty minutes reading these newspapers, and most
come away with a satisfied feeling that they are up-to-speed on current events. Not only are the articles shallow
though. The opinion columns cannot afford the space to be nuanced or balanced, nor do we expect this
from them. The result is that we have a simplistic understanding of the world around us. This is best
illustrated in the way the media reported the announcement of vice-president nominee Sarah Palin. Within days of
her nomination, most people were misinformed about her family situation, because it was complicated, intricate and
required too many details for reporters to get right. The release of information was faster that the investigation of
information, and because she was we unknown to so many Americans, a false story about her daughter’s multiple
teen pregnancies was sold. It turned out that Sarah Palin herself had become mother to her fifth child five months
before the nomination.

Sensation is another reason why we are so easily influenced by the mass media. The expression ‘if it bleeds
it leads’ is not only applicable to Hollywood gossip and presidential candidates. The economic crises of
September and October of 2008 did not always receive a healthy dose of sobriety in newspapers like the Daily Mail.
In fact one could argue that the lack of balanced reporting caused the financial crisis. In June for example the
Daily Mail published an article with the heading: ‘Unemployment could hit 8% within two years, according to
research out today’. Their research was based on 120 interviews with ‘top executives’ from 120 companies in Great
Britain. The ‘research’ was hardly scientific. Which companies did they talk to? Did the ‘top executives’ even have
access to hard numbers and statistics about the future of their companies? Several months after this report, banks
were receiving thousands of phone calls from customers who were wondering if their savings were safe. Several
months later, newspapers were reporting on ‘bail out’ plans, a very emotionally laden word. Many investors were
influenced by the media within this time period, sold stocks and caused the markets to drop off even more
drastically. This is perfect example of how the media not only reflect reality but help shape it as well.

The final reason for media influence in our lives is loyalty. As strange as it may sound, viewers of a certain
news channel feel a loyalty to it. When I see the blue screen and butterflies on MSN where my e-mail is, I
feel at home. Think about the last time you watched your news on a different channel or picked up a different
newspaper than usual. It is probably long ago. We have grown accustomed to a set of beliefs that is often
voiced by a specific medium that we like. One Dutch newspaper’s slogan is: ‘the news you want.’ How would you
feel if you were a journalist writing an article for this newspaper and were told by your boss to tell the audience what
they wanted to hear? As sad as it may sound, this is the reality that many journalists face in the world of
commercial media. A case that exemplified this most was Fox News in the months leading up to the war in Iraq in
2003. Before America could move its troops into Iraq, the media had to create a consensus among the public. In his
documentary Outfoxed, Robert Greeenwald shows us how Fox News helped the White House do this by telling its
loyal viewers what to think on a very specific matter: they created a connection between Saddam Hussein and
Osama Bin Laden. Most people now realize that there was never a connection between these two. At the time
though, 65% of Fox viewers felt there was one, compared to a mere (though astonishingly high) 30% of viewers of
other media. Fox News achieved this through Bill O’Reilly who both presented the news as an anchorman and gave
his opinion two minutes later in the form of a talk show. This confused viewers. But they did not ask questions
because they were loyal to the station, which in turn was loyal to the White House.

We may think that the influence of the media is harmless when it comes to clicking through to Angelina
Jolie on MSN. But because we have grown so accustomed to digesting information quickly and indifferently, the
dangers of the mass media have become even greater. In times where the speed and sensation of information
have increased, we must be careful that we do not let ourselves become complacent or apathetic.
Constantly we must be critical of the media we are seemingly loyal to and careful not to go along passively
with the media’s influence.