Chapter 13 Essay Essentials Body Paragraphs

Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support

To fulfill the requirements of good primary support, the information you choose must meet the following standards:

• Be specific. The main points you make about your thesis and the examples you use to expand on those points need to be specific. Use specific examples to provide evidence and to build on your general ideas. These types of examples give your reader something narrow to focus on, and if used properly, they leave little doubt about your claim. General examples, while they convey the necessary information, are not nearly as compelling or useful in writing because they are too obvious and typical.
• Be relevant to the thesis. Primary support is considered strong when it relates directly to the thesis. Primary support should show, explain, or prove a main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with a lot of information that could be used to prove a thesis, you may think you need to include it all in your body paragraphs. However, effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Choose your examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to your thesis. Omit anything that doesn’t directly relate to the thesis.
• Be detailed. Remember that the thesis statement, while making a specific claim, does not contain enough detail to prove that claim. The body paragraphs are where you develop the detailed discussion that a thorough essay requires. Using detailed support shows readers that you have considered all the facts and chosen only the most precise details to enhance your point of view.

The Role of the Topic Sentence in a Body Paragraph

Each body paragraph should contain a topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) that states a main idea that supports the thesis. The topic sentence should be specific, make a claim, and directly connect to the thesis. (For a refresher on topic sentences, turn to Chapter 11.)

Topic sentences make the structure of a text and the writer’s main arguments easy to locate and comprehend. These sentences are vital to the development of the argument because they always refer back to and support the thesis statement. Topic sentences remind the reader what the essay is about, and they indicate how each body paragraph relates to the thesis.

Topic sentences also help you, the writer, stay on track as you write the body paragraphs and support your thesis. A body paragraph without a clearly identified topic sentence may be unclear and scattered, just like an essay without a thesis statement would be.

Consider the following thesis statement, written by Sam, a student in an English literature class:

Author J. D. Salinger relied primarily on his personal life and belief system as the foundation for the themes in the majority of his works.

The topic sentence for Sam’s first body paragraph provides primary support for the thesis. The topic sentence states exactly what the controlling idea of the paragraph is:

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder that influenced themes in many of his works.

Later, you will see how Sam provides support for the topic sentence.

The Role of the Supporting Sentences in a Body Paragraph

In each body paragraph, supporting sentences develop or explain the topic sentence. Supporting sentences can contain specific facts, examples, anecdotes, explanations, or other details that elaborate on the topic sentence. These details clarify and demonstrate the supporting point introduced in the topic sentence, which in turn supports the thesis of the essay.

The paragraph from Sam’s essay contains supporting sentences to develop the topic sentence, which is underlined:

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a disorder that influenced the themes in many of his works. He did not hide his mental anguish over the horrors of war and once told his daughter, “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose, no matter how long you live.” His short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” details a day in the life of a WWII veteran who was recently released from an army hospital for psychiatric problems. The man acts questionably with a little girl he meets on the beach before he returns to his hotel room and commits suicide. Another short story, “For Esmé—with Love and Squalor,” is narrated by a traumatized soldier who sparks an unusual relationship with a young girl he meets before he departs to partake in D-Day. Finally, in Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, he continues with the theme of post-traumatic stress disorder, though not directly related to war. From a rest home for the mentally ill, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield narrates the story of his nervous breakdown following the death of his younger brother.

Now let’s look at another student’s essay, this one arguing in favour of municipal bylaws for off-leash dogs, in which the supporting details for the entire body of the essay are laid out:

The Role of the Closing Sentence in a Body Paragraph

Students often end a body paragraph abruptly so that the paragraph seems, from the reader’s perspective, to have stopped midthought or midargument. If the last sentence of your paragraph contains a fact, a quotation, or a citation, chances are the paragraph is still midargument, and the paragraph requires a closing sentence.

After presenting the detailed evidence in a body paragraph, bring the paragraph to a close and refocus your reader’s attention. The last sentence of a body paragraph should briefly sum up the paragraph and reinforce the idea introduced in the topic sentence.

Here are some possible closing sentences for the essay about unleashed dogs:

• Topic Sentence:
• First, unleashed dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians.
• Closing sentence:
• Thus, off-leash dogs are a danger to cyclists and pedestrians.
• Topic Sentence:
• Also, loose dogs are a traffic hazard.
• Closing Sentence:
• Car drivers should not have to worry about the dangers created by wandering dogs.
• Topic Sentence:
• Finally, roaming dogs damage lawns and gardens.
• Closing Sentence:
• It is not fair to homeowners to allow unleashed dogs to damage their property.

Each of the closing sentences reinforces the idea introduced in the topic sentence by using keywords. For example, each topic sentence and each closing sentence contains a variation of the key term unleashed dogs, which is the topic of the essay and is central to the thesis. The writer also repeats the specific focus of each paragraph—cyclists/pedestrians, traffic, and lawns/gardens—to reinforce the topic sentence and relate it to the overall thesis.

However, notice that the closing sentences do not repeat the topic sentences exactly word for word. For example, the writer uses the terms unleashed dogs, off-leash dogs, roaming dogs, loose dogs, and wandering dogs to provide some variety. The writer also adds variety by using these terms, which convey the same meaning in different words:

Not only does the writer use synonyms for key terms, but he also uses different sentence structure in the closing sentence so that it’s not identical to the topic sentence.

If the topic sentence and the closing sentence are exactly the same, a paragraph will seem unnecessarily repetitive. By varying the wording, the writer reinforces main ideas while retaining the reader’s interest.

To write an effective closing sentence:

• Do
  • Reinforce the idea introduced in the topic sentence
  • Use your own words
  • Be brief
• Don’t
  • Repeat the topic sentence word for word
  • Include a quotation, statistics, or a citation
  • Add new ideas

By adding a closing sentence to the end of each body paragraph, you retain control of the argument of your essay. An effective closing sentence sums up the paragraph, emphasizes the point introduced in the topic sentence, and redirects the reader’s attention to the thesis.

Student Sample: Body Paragraphs

In Chapter 6: Strategies for Drafting, you followed the progress of Mariah, a student writing an essay for a communications class, as she drafted the body of the essay step by step, developing the body paragraphs based on the plan set out in her outline. If you have not yet read Chapter 6, take a few minutes now to study how Mariah’s outline guided her as she wrote the body paragraphs. Now let’s look at how all the individual body paragraphs work together to develop an argument in Mariah’s first draft:

E-book readers are changing the way people read, or so e-book developers hope. The main selling point for these handheld devices, which are sort of the size of a paperback book, is that they make books easy to access and carry. Electronic versions of printed books can be downloaded online for a few bucks or directly from your cell phone. These devices can store hundreds of books in memory and, with text-to-speech features, can even read the texts. The market for e-books and e-book readers keeps expanding as a lot of companies enter it. Online and traditional booksellers have been the first to market e-book readers to the public, but computer companies, especially the ones already involved in cell phone, online music, and notepad computer technology, will also enter the market. The problem for consumers, however, is which device to choose.

Digital cameras have almost totally replaced film cameras in amateur photographers’ gadget bags. My father took hundreds of slides when his children were growing up, but he had more and more trouble getting them developed. So he decided to go modern. But what kind of camera should he buy? The small compact digital cameras could slip right in his pocket, but if he tried to print a photograph larger than an 8 × 10, the quality would be poor. When he investigated buying a single-lens reflex camera, or SLR, he discovered that they were versatile as his old film camera, also an SLR, but they were big and bulky. Then he discovered yet a third type, which combined the smaller size of the compact digital cameras with the zoom lenses available for SLRs. His first thought was to buy one of those, but then he realized he had a lot of decisions to make. How many megapixels should the camera be? Five? Ten? What is the advantage of each? Then came the size of the zoom lens. He knew that 3× was too small, but what about 25×? Could he hold a lens that long without causing camera shake? He read hundreds of photography magazines and buying guides, and he still wasn’t sure he was right.

Nothing is more confusing than choosing among televisions. It confuses lots of people who want a new high-definition digital television (HDTV) with a large screen to watch sports and movies on. You could listen to the guys in the electronics store, but word has it they know little more than you do. They want to sell you what they have in stock, not what best fits your needs. You face decisions you never had to make with the old, bulky picture-tube televisions. Screen resolution means the number of horizontal scan lines the screen can show. This resolution is often 1080p, or full HD, or 768p. The trouble is that if you have a smaller screen, 32 inches or 37 inches diagonal, you won’t be able to tell the difference with the naked eye. The 1080p televisions cost more, though, so those are what the salespeople want you to buy. They get bigger commissions. The other important decision you face as you walk around the sales floor is whether to get a plasma screen or an LCD screen. Now here the salespeople may finally give you decent info. Plasma flat-panel television screens can be much larger in diameter than their LCD rivals. Plasma flat-panel television screens show decent blacks and can be viewed at a wider angle than current LCD screens. But be careful and tell the salesperson you have budget constraints. Large flat-panel plasma screens are much more expensive than flat-screen LCD models. Don’t buy more television than you need.

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The body paragraphs make up the bulk of an essay, and they contain the most detailed content of the essay: the information that proves the thesis. With the body paragraphs written, it’s time to turn to the finishing touches that will pull the essay together: the introductory paragraph, the concluding paragraph, and the titles, which will be examined in Chapter 14.

• • Body paragraphs develop the argument set forth in the thesis statement.
• • A body paragraph comprises a topic sentence plus supporting details plus a closing sentence.
• • A topic sentence presents one point of the thesis statement.
• • Strong body paragraphs contain evidence that supports a thesis.
• • Primary support comprises the most important points used to sustain a thesis.
• • Strong primary support is specific, detailed, and relevant to the thesis.
• • Evidence includes facts, judgments, testimony, and personal observation.
• • The closing sentence sums up the paragraph and reinforces the topic sentence.
• • Write body paragraphs of an appropriate length for your writing assignment. Paragraphs at this level of writing can be a little under a page long, as long as they cover the main topics in your outline.