Body Paragraphs (Overview)

Page Author: Eamon Cunningham

The body paragraph(s) are the part of the essay where the writer expands on and develops the argument established in the thesis. For most analysis and argument essays, the body paragraphs consist of three essential components: 1) a topic sentence that indicates what the paragraph is about, 2) supporting evidence that exemplifies the idea from the topic sentence, 3) explanation/analysis that emphasize the importance of the supporting examples and/or evaluate their connections to the argument. Writers often will express the relationship between these parts - and between paragraphs - through the use of transitions.

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Structure

Contents

1 Topic Sentence
2 Supporting Evidence
3 Explanation and Analysis
4 Transitions
4.1 Quick Navigation
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Body Paragraphs
4.4 Conclusion

Topic Sentence

Main article: Topic Sentence

The topic sentence introduces the content of the paragraph and prepares the reader for the information that follows. For most multi-paragraph essays, each body paragraph should begin with a new topic sentence that reflects some specific aspect of the thesis. An effective topic sentence has importance in two directions: by looking backwards to the general argument in the thesis of the essay and forwards to the more specific arguments within the body paragraphs.

Structurally, an effective topic sentence should resemble the same basic setup of the thesis statement from the introduction. While its presentation may vary according to the writer’s style, the topic sentence contains a claim/interpretation (what will be argued) along with a reason/justification (why this claim is significant /how this claim aligns to the paper’s main idea).

Topic sentences are often preceded by transitional statements to indicate the relation of one paragraph to the next.

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Supporting Evidence

Main article: Supporting Evidence

A body paragraph must include evidence to support or illustrate the main idea that is outlined in the topic sentence and/or the thesis. In academic writing, the text is the most important source of information, and everything must be firmly anchored to the text being written about. When authors integrate evidence, the main objective is to highlight what the reading(s) say to support the main idea. While some forms of writing call for secondary sources, the best and most accurate evidence is usually material (direct quotation, paraphrase, etc.) drawn directly from the text(s) being written about.

When integrating evidence, there are several basic conventions that writers should observe. While these vary depending on the requirements of the assignment and the type of evidence, writers can integrate evidence most effectively when adhering to the following sequence:

Identify the quote with a lead-in phrase
Present the evidence as accurately and minimally as necessary to illustrate the point
Transition to the explanation with a lead-out phrase

Evidence can be integrated into the body paragraph in three different ways. Each approach has its own set of advantages and disadvantages which is specific to the goals of the paper and the assignment. These methods include:

Direct quotation
Paraphrase
Summary

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Explanation and Analysis

Main article: Explanation and Analysis

A body paragraph must present an explanation and analysis of the evidence to illustrate the link between it and the argument from the topic sentence/thesis. The explanation and analysis is where the author provides a sustained discussion on how and why the provided evidence advances the paper’s argument. There are three primary ways writers can develop an explanation and analysis of evidence which include:

Discussion of how the writer interprets the evidence
Discussion of how the evidence supports the paper’s larger claims
Discussion of how the evidence may complicate, challenge, or qualify existing claims in the paper

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Transitions

Main article: Transitions

A body paragraph must contain transitional words and phrases to connect words, sentences, paragraphs and ideas together. Transitions help readers identify the relationships that emerge between these units of writing by indicating how the what’s come before the transition links to what follows. Transitions play both a rhetorical function in the paper’s overall readability and a logical role in the coherence of the paper’s ideas. There are three basic categories of transitions: