Don't Feel Like Writing a 5-paragraph Essay?
This gives the 5 paragraph essay some spice at the end and makes the reader question your statement.The 5 paragraph essay topics listed here are some of the most common topics students write essays about. Choose those you like, or offer new approaches to discuss: An introduction is usually the first paragraph of your academic essay. If youre writing a long essay, you might need 2 or 3 paragraphs to introduce your topic to your reader. A good introduction does 2 things: You couldnt have an ice cream sundae with just ice cream, and you cant have an essay with just an introduction. It takes all the parts (introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion) to make a perfect essay combination. With the parts of an essay set firmly in your grasp, you might try your hand at creating an argumentative essay or informative essay. This is the ideal structure that Matrix English students are taught to use when writing their body paragraphs. Rather than presenting a list of quotations and techniques, a structure develops these pieces of evidence into a thorough argument. This is essential for a sustained argument and, thus, a Band 6 result. A standard format for both a short expository and argumentative essay utilizes a structure of three components.
Note that rather than making one long statement, we have broken this idea down into bite-sized chunks. This increases the readability and ensures that our readers can follow our argument. This is what good body paragraph structure does it structures arguments logically and enhances their readability. You need to marry clarity and complexity in a body paragraph!
In the first post in the series,we looked at the following question: It is important that you organise your evidence and notes in a logical manner that makes it easy to write practice essays. Matrix students learn how to tabulate notes so they can learn to write dynamic essays, rather than learning how to memorise essays. Good paragraph structure is meaningless without meaningful analysis! If you are unsure what to do, use this handy body paragraph structure checklist to make sure you are doing all of the steps! A 250-word essay is complete with a minimum of three paragraphs and a maximum of five or six. A simple, and yet effective, structure for a 250-word essay includes an introduction and a conclusion, with three additional paragraphs making up the main body of the piece. For the purposes of this example we will write a shorter body paragraph that uses the following to quotations. Main Idea. The part of a topic sentence that states the main idea of the body paragraph. All of the sentences in the paragraph connect to it. Keep in mind that main ideas are Look at the 10 topic example ideas from different categories below.
For a conclusion example, you might end with a concluding hook that still keeps the reader thinking like, Do you think magical realism is fantasy? Think about your conclusion as wrapping up your essay with a beautiful bow, since its a present for your audience. Explaining why evidence supports your point isTHE most important part of paragraph structure. It is the connective tissue that yokes your argument together joining evidence to your thesis and topic sentence. You dont have paragraph structure without these statements! In part four of our Essay Series, we explain to structure your body paragraphs for a Band 6 result. This table layout allows you to easily see the connections between the different components of a paragraph. You can draw these components together to craft powerful analytical statements about the text that are supported by evidence. This is the most important part of paragraph structure: connecting these pieces of information to develop an argument. Take your supporting arguments (your body paragraphs) and rephrase the main points you made in one sentence per paragraph. What if some of the supporting arguments are similar? Combine them into one sentence to keep a proper structure. Body paragraphs will often begin with a summary of the controlling idea: the point (also known as the topic sentence).
If its more complicated, youll need more body paragraphs. An easy way to remember the parts of a body paragraph is to think of them as the MEAT of your essay: Outside sources can be quoted, summarised, or paraphrased. For information on the right and wrong ways to do this, seequoting and paraphrasing. Crediting outside sources is known as referencing, and is described in detail in the section titledintroduction to referencing. So, lets look at how to write an introduction paragraph for an essay. To start out impressively, think about a hook. A hook is a 1-2 sentence bang that makes the reader want to keep on reading the entire text. It can be a rhetorical question, literary quote, joke, anecdote, metaphor, simile, a famous person saying, fact, or statistic. It is essential to check the credibility of the information you use. In this post, we will explain what a sustained argument is; what the theory behind paragraph structure is; and discuss how to produce a body paragraph that develops a sustained argument. We will then show you an easy step-by-step process for writing great body paragraphs.
- This is the meat of your 5 paragraph essay, where you explain the position you are defending. In other words, it has to relate to your thesis sentence.
- The structure of a body paragraph is usually: Intro sentence (1), Supporting Argument Explanation (3-5), Concluding Sentence (1)
- The intro sentence should briefly bring about your argument, without revealing too much information
The point (or topic) sentence summarises the paragraph in the
same way that the thesis statement summarises the whole essay.
Welcome to our post on How to Write a Body Paragraph. This is
part 4 in our Essay Writing Series. It will teach you Band 6
paragraph structure for your essays.
Some common issues students have with their essays are: This is
important analysis and an explanation of our logic. So, we should
state that in our body paragraph. Matrix English students would
learn to write something along the lines of: When it comes to
writing an essay, youll follow a designated format. Knowing that
format and using it to your advantage can take your essay from
good to great. Every great essay has 5 essential parts including
an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. While the
structure might sound simple, including all the different
elements for each part is important. Since everyone wants to get
an A on their essay, lets explore all the different parts in
depth. Before we consider the details of paragraph structure, we
need to revisit the thesis statement and topic sentence.
The information the reader wants is presented and developed in such a way that it is clearly and easily digestible. Having a strong paragraph structure is crucial for this. The major point of a paragraph is often called the controlling idea. Every paragraph should have a different controlling idea, each one discussing one aspect or part of the overall essay. Lets figure out how to start a body paragraph. Even though all body paragraphs are equally vital, keep in mind that the opening paragraph should be the strongest one; it may include the most potent argument. The writer should come up with the most vivid example, the smartest illustration, and an obvious starting point the topic sentence. Do not forget to add a reverse hook sentence. Each argument of the body must relate to the thesis. Here are some other facts about the body:: The largest part of any body paragraph is the illustration, which consists of supporting evidence and examples. Illustrations use logic to fully explain the main point raised in the topic sentence. It is not enough to just explain an idea, however: you need to show that outside evidence supports it as well.
These outline what you will be discussing in the paragraph. Then, use transition words to flow from one argument to the next. In a traditional essay, you should have at least 3 body paragraphs. The first body paragraph is your strongest point. Then the second paragraph includes your next strongest point or argument. Follow this structure to your last body paragraph, which should present the weakest point you want to make. Using magical realism as an example, the strongest argument would be real-world settings, then fantastical elements, and finish with flexible time boundaries. Just like with a race, you want to start strong, but it is important to keep your pace throughout the entire essay. Now that we have produced the first example and developed it into an argument, we need to continue doing this. We will repeat this process with our second example. Good paragraph structure requires a series of examples discussed in depth. Body paragraphs help you prove your thesis and move you along a compelling trajectory from your introduction to your conclusion. If your thesis is a simple one, you might not need a lot of body paragraphs to prove it.
The first paragraph can be an introduction and presentation of
thesis (if applicable). Paragraphs 2 through 7 are the body. The
essay closes on paragraph 8 with a possible summary, conclusion
and recommendations in response to the topic. Remember that body
paragraphs do not exist in isolation. They should fit together
like a jigsaw puzzle. Transitions show the connections between
paragraphs themselves, and the connections between the paragraphs
and the overall focus of the essay. They often appear at the end
of a paragraph.
Transitions are essential for maintaining momentum in your essay
and showing the reader how all the ideas fit together. They are
described in detail in the next section,essay flow.
Evidence. The parts of a paragraph that prove the main
idea. You might include different types of evidence in different
sentences. Keep in mind that different disciplines have different
ideas about what counts as evidence and they adhere to different
citation styles. Examples of evidence include Essays should flow
like a babbling brook over rocks. To make them flow, use topic
sentences.
The explanation should clarify how the reader should interpret your illustrative evidence and also how the paragraph's controlling idea works to support the thesis statement.
Keep in mind that MEAT does not occur in that order. The Transition and the Main Idea often combine to form the first sentencethe topic sentenceand then paragraphs contain multiple sentences of evidence and analysis. For example, a paragraph might look like this: TM. E. E. A. E. E. A. A. Remember, body paragraphs are where you present your evidence. You need to present evidence in a way that supports your thesis and topic sentence. This kind of paragraph structure will increase readability and aid the logic of your argument. There must be a logical progression to paragraph structure. The segue, that is the transition, between topic sentence and your first example must develop the idea and seem like part of an argument, not the introduction of a list. Since youve wowed your audience with the rest of your essay, you dont want to give up on the conclusion. The conclusion should restate your thesis. However, its important not to be too obvious when restating your thesis. Still keep it creative like you did with the introduction and body paragraphs.