Constructing a Paragraph

The body of the paper presents your argument point by point to reveal the wisdom of your thesis. You decided on the order of these points during the outline phase, but as you write you may choose to reorder them for maximum impact. You may also decide to scrap points that don't have the impact you expected them to have. Flexibility is a useful quality during the drafting phase.

Each body paragraph will be organized around a claim, which you'll form into a topic sentence. You'll generally begin each paragraph with its topic sentence, then you'll move to the evidence that led you to this claim before ending with a concluding sentence that weaves claim and evidence together. You'll also have transition sentences that link the paragraphs together, and they can appear at the end or beginning of each paragraph.

Sample Body Paragraph Structure

• Topic sentence (announcing the claim)
• Evidence 1
• Evidence 2
• Evidence 3
• Concluding sentence

The Topic Sentence

Like your thesis, each topic sentence is an arguable statement, not a fact. The facts come in the form of evidence that you'll present in the next sentences. It needs to be clear how the topic sentence relates to your thesis and it should address only one point.

If you're having difficulty formulating a topic sentence, you can write the following stem: "One reason I believe my thesis statement is true is this:" and then complete the sentence.

One reason I believe my thesis statement is true is this: The imagery in the opening lines of [Frost's poem] "Home Burial" immediately evokes the tension between husband and wife.

Then you can leave off the stem and simply begin the paragraph with what you believe. Check to see whether the statement sums up one of your claims. If it doesn't, you may need to revisit your claims and rework them so they fit your argument at this stage of the writing process. It's common for your opinions to become clearer and more sophisticated as you spend more time with your topic, so don't be afraid to make some changes.

Check, too, to see whether the topic sentence is arguable and clear. Occasionally, it may take two or three sentences to express the claim, and that can work, but being able to encapsulate it into one sentence means you understand what you're communicating thoroughly enough to write concisely.

Presenting Evidence

As you approach the structure of an individual paragraph, you'll want to consider how this particular claim would be best presented. You probably found different types of evidence in you research: quotes from people who've studied your topic extensively, stories or analyses from people who've had direct experience with it, and studies that offer conclusions. Recognize that using a series of any one of these types of evidence could become repetitive and either bore or overwhelm your reader. Pounding statistic after statistic into a paragraph may seem convincing as you're writing, but it might have the opposite effect and make the reader disengage.

Instead, write your topic sentence and look over the evidence you've gathered for that claim. Is there a first-hand account that might best illustrate this point? Perhaps a quote from a well-known authority would capture your reader's respect right away. It could be that a recent study found exactly what your topic sentence claims, and you want to lead with that.  

Just as with the introductory paragraph, you'll need to consider that rather than simply offering proof of your opinion, you're also courting your reader. Variety of presentation will keep a reader interested in your argument, as will the strength and reliability of the evidence. If you're hesitating to relate a story or to cite a study because you're not sure whether it's convincing, leave it out. Your reader will feel disrespected by any attempt to slip in a weaker point. There is no advantage to bulk over strength.

There are some organizational tools that can give you direction when forming your paragraphs. Just some of the ways to present evidence are as follows.

Cause-Effect

This type of paragraph explains why something happened. Often, you'll want your reader to understand the relationship between your claim and your thesis, and this technique can link them.

Example: While people may cite various reasons for getting married, underneath every one of these claims is the need for security.

Problem-Solution

Here, the writer presents a question or issue and then shows how to solve it. This type of paragraph can show the reader why you're proposing your thesis. The evidence can both prove the problem statement and begin to reveal the thesis-related solution.

Example: One problem with the increasing emphasis on college sports programs is the inevitable decrease in academic focus.

Compare-Contrast

This method exposes the similarities and differences between two things. This technique can provide greater clarity as to how your thesis makes more sense than an alternative idea.

Example: While the methane gasses produced by damming may be somewhat problematic, our primary concern should be the far greater amount of methane produced by the beef-production industry.

Sequential Exposition

This simply tells what happened in what order. It can be used to explain to a reader how events led to what the thesis proposes or the problem it seeks to rectify.

Example: Often, when a company is in financial trouble, management begins layoffs, which lead to lowered company costs, which leads to greater investor confidence, which leads to increased stock prices, which increase shareholder wealth and, often, management compensation.

Description

Offers details about the phenomenon or event being discussed. This is particularly useful when you want the reader to get the same picture of the issue that you have.

Example: His prison cell consisted of a toilet and a metal bed frame with a thin, stained mattress and a small plastic pillow. The air was stagnant and close, with fans only in the main eating area.

Concluding Your Paragraph and Transitioning

Your concluding sentence will often have an echo of the topic sentence in it while moving the reader forward to the next topic.

We see, then, that trees actually do have a chemical system of communication, stunning as that may seem, but what might that mean for the human-forest relationship?

The first part of the sentence, in this example, sums up the evidence just presented, and the second part introduces the next topic. Likely, the topic sentence of the next paragraph will suggest a shift in the way people approach forest management.

Of course, you won't want to make every concluding sentence a question. You might decide to have a concluding sentence and then a transition sentence.

The fact that toxic sewage is still being dumped into our waterways is disheartening in itself. Even more startling, however, is the knowledge that the government's regulatory agencies have all but endorsed the behavior.

In this case, we can presume the paragraph gave evidence that toxins are polluting streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. From the transition sentence, we anticipate that the next paragraph will contain evidence that government agencies not only knew about it but somehow supported the practice.

The Collected Paragraphs

When you've written each body paragraph, look them over to check for variety in your presentation styles, strength of argument, logical paragraph positioning, and overall readability. While a good mix of styles makes the paper much more interesting, the most important thing is that each claim is presented at its most powerful. Your conclusion will serve the purpose of weaving your claims together, but before you move to that stage, take one last look at the body and make the changes necessary to strengthen your argument as much as possible.