Scribd
Upload
47 views

Effective Paragraphing: Figure 1 - The Body Paragraph of A Typical Academic Essay

The document provides a guide for effectively structuring the body paragraphs in an academic essay. It breaks down each section of a sample body paragraph and provides explanations for the purpose and content of the introduction, claim, explanation, evidence, linking text, and conclusion. The guide emphasizes using topic sentences to clearly state claims, explanations to transition between ideas, and multiple pieces of evidence with analysis to support the overall thesis.

Uploaded by

Benide
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
47 views

Effective Paragraphing: Figure 1 - The Body Paragraph of A Typical Academic Essay

The document provides a guide for effectively structuring the body paragraphs in an academic essay. It breaks down each section of a sample body paragraph and provides explanations for the purpose and content of the introduction, claim, explanation, evidence, linking text, and conclusion. The guide emphasizes using topic sentences to clearly state claims, explanations to transition between ideas, and multiple pieces of evidence with analysis to support the overall thesis.

Uploaded by

Benide
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

EFFECTIVE PARAGRAPHING

Figure 1 – The body paragraph of a typical academic essay:

Claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim

claim claim claim claim claim claim claim. Explanation/transition explanation/transition

explanation/transition explanation/transition explanation/transition explanation/transition

explanation/transition. Introduce evidence introduce evidence introduce evidence introduce

evidence introduce evidence introduce evidence introduce evidence “evidence evidence evidence

evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence

evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence” (CITATION). Link/

explanation link/ explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation

link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/ explanation link/

explanation link/explanation. (Optional: Introduce further evidence “evidence evidence evidence

evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence” (CITATION). Link/explanation link/

explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation

link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/explanation link/

explanation.) Claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim

claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim.

Claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim

claim claim claim claim claim claim claim claim. Etc.

Note: This is only a rough guide to the structure of a body paragraph in an academic essay. The
lengths of each section are somewhat flexible, but in general they should look similar to the lines
above. See the next page for an explanation of each section.

The Color Coding Decoded:


TOPIC SENTENCE: The topic sentence should always be your own claim – not a quote, a summary,
or a paraphrase of another author or text. It should also clearly relate to the thesis
statement. For body paragraphs other than the first one, your topic sentence
should begin with a transitional phrase that explains the connection between the
previous paragraph’s main claim and this paragraph’s main claim.

EXPLANATION AND TRANSITION: Sometimes (ok – almost always) it is a good idea to write a line or
two linking the claim in the topic sentence to the evidence that you’ll present to
support that claim. Use this space to clarify your claim, to explain your reasons
for making it, and to transition into the evidence.

INTRODUCTION OF EVIDENCE: If introducing an article or an author for the first time, give their full
name and the full title of the work that you’re drawing from. Often the
introduction can be linked with the evidence in the same sentence.

EVIDENCE: The reason we get out of bed in the morning (well, some of us…). The job of any
piece of evidence is to support the claim in the topic sentence (and thus the thesis
as well). Evidence may take the form of a quotation, a summary, a paraphrase, a
fact or statistic, a personal experience (in certain contexts), or a piece of common
knowledge. The more specific the evidence, the more persuasive it will be.

LINK/EXPLANATION: Evidence cannot speak for itself. Even if you find the perfect quotation to support
your claim, you still must explicitly state for your reader how it supports your
claim. This is also called the warrant, and it is usually – if not always – as long as
or longer than the evidence itself.

INTRODUCTION OF FURTHER EVIDENCE: After explaining the first piece of evidence, you now have
the option of introducing further evidence (remember not to overburden the
reader with evidence – sometimes less is more). There are several ways of
ordering evidence within a paragraph, but generally speaking it is best to save the
better example for last. If the second piece of evidence is coming from a different
source than the first one, be sure to introduce the second source here.

EVIDENCE 2: Follow the same guidelines as above.

LINK /EXPLANATION: Same as above. With the second piece of evidence, however, it is also necessary
to show how it relates to the first piece of evidence (if the connection isn’t
immediately obvious).

CLAIM: The last step: here you need to restate your topic sentence claim in a new way so
that you can drive home the main point of the paragraph and prepare your reader
for the next paragraph. These sentences can be tricky, but the main point to bear
in mind is that you never want to end a paragraph with a quotation, which can
confuse your reader. Instead, use this space to summarize the main point of your
paragraph before you transition into the next claim (the topic sentence of the next
paragraph). One strategy for smooth transitions: when revising, make sure that
the first sentence of each paragraph repeats keywords or synonyms from the last
sentence of the previous one.

You might also like