How To Write The Body Of Your Essay
An essay is a short piece of writing that explains a thesis or a topic. The piece puts forward your perspective of a given topic. Its major function is to persuade its readers to adopt the idea it expresses. In the case of an academic essay, its goal is to prove that you understand a certain topic. An essay is comprised of three major parts; introduction, body, and a conclusion. This article focuses on how to write the most crucial part of an essay, the body.
The Body
The Body is the part of an essay that comes after the introduction and before the conclusion. It is comprised of three parts; the first body paragraph, the second body paragraph, and the third body paragraph. A body paragraph is a group of sentences that explains and develops a thesis or a topic. The body gives you room to express your view on a given topic. It also offers the chance to convince the reader that you understand the topic in question. In the case of an article, you convince the readers that your idea is viable and applicable.
Key Components Of Body Paragraphs
- Main ideas
These are the broad points that support the thesis or topic in question. They are used in each as the topic sentence in various paragraphs. The main ideas can be:
- Focused -meaning that they are used to prove a specific point in each paragraph.
- Labeled -meaning that they are used as the topic sentence in a paragraph to inform the reader of what will follow.
- Arguably –meaning that they are debatable points that will need to be backed up with some evidence.
- Evidence or supporting points
These are points that directly support the main ideas. Examples of what can be used as evidence or supporting points include:
- Statistics, real facts, and findings
- Personal experiences
- Citations and quotations from referencing sources
- Analysis of supporting points elaboration
This involves explaining the provided evidence or supporting points. The explanations should also be in support of the main ideas.
- Transition to the next point and summary
In the first and second paragraphs, the last statements should be transitional. This is to mean that the last statement in the two paragraphs should connect to the respective consecutive paragraph. However, in the third and last paragraph, the last statement should be a conclusive sentence. This is to indicate that the main idea expressed in the third paragraph is the last idea just as the third paragraph is the last group of sentences.
Basic Structure Of The Body Paragraphs
- Put down one of your main ideas in the form of a sentence.
- Put down each point that supports the main idea above leaving enough space between each point for elaboration.
- Put down an explanation under each point in the space left.
- You can also include a summary sentence at the end of each paragraph.
- The first Body paragraph
It comes immediately after the introduction of the essay. The topic sentence in this paragraph must be the main idea that is most strong in supporting the thesis or topic in question. The following sentences should be the supporting points of the topic sentence. The next sentence(s) should help explain the supporting points. The last sentence should transition to the next part. This helps connect to the point you want to put forward in the second paragraph.
- The second Body paragraph
The topic sentence here has to be the second most strong main idea in support of the thesis or topic in question. It also has to connect to the last transitional statement in the first paragraph. The main idea has to be clearly presented in the beginning of the paragraph. Just like in the first paragraph, evidence in support of the main idea should follow the topic sentence. Explanations in support of the evidence given should be put down to help the reader understand your perspective. The last statement here should be transitional to connect to the third and last paragraph in this section.
- The third Body paragraph
This is the last paragraph in the body section of an essay. Its structure is similar to that of the first and the second paragraphs but it differs in the last statement. The opening statement here should be the least strong main idea in support of the thesis or topic in question. Regardless of the point stated here being the weakest, it should also be followed by its own supporting points. Just as in the above two paragraphs, an explanation in support of the evidence given should follow. The last statement here should be a conclusive sentence. This is to make it clear to the readers that this paragraph outlines the last main idea.
Point To Note: use a few main ideas to avoid making your essay boring or too long. You can use at least three main ideas but not more than five. I a