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• How to write the body of an essay | Drafting & redrafting

How to Write the Body of an Essay | Drafting & Redrafting

Published on November 5, 2014 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

The body is the longest part of an essay . This is where you lead the reader through your ideas, elaborating arguments and evidence for your thesis . The body is always divided into paragraphs .

You can work through the body in three main stages:

• Create an  outline of what you want to say and in what order.
• Write a first draft to get your main ideas down on paper.
• Write a second draft to clarify your arguments and make sure everything fits together.

This article gives you some practical tips for how to approach each stage.

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Table of contents

Start with an outline, write the first draft, write the second draft, other interesting articles.

Before you start, make a rough outline that sketches out the main points you want to make and the order you’ll make them in. This can help you remember how each part of the essay should relate to the other parts.

However, remember that  the outline isn’t set in stone – don’t be afraid to change the organization if necessary. Work on an essay’s structure begins before you start writing, but it continues as you write, and goes on even after you’ve finished writing the first draft.

While you’re writing a certain section, if you come up with an idea for something elsewhere in the essay, take a few moments to add to your outline or make notes on your organizational plans.

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Your goals in the first draft are to turn your rough ideas into workable arguments, add detail to those arguments, and get a sense of what the final product will actually look like.

Write strong body paragraphs

Start wherever you want

Many writers do not begin writing at the introduction , or even the early body paragraphs. Start writing your essay where it seems most natural for you to do so.

Some writers might prefer to start with the easiest section to write, while others prefer to get the most difficult section out of the way first. Think about what material you need to clarify for yourself, and consider beginning there.

Tackle one idea at a time

Each paragraph should aim to focus on one central idea, giving evidence, explanation, and arguments that relate to that idea.

At the start of each paragraph, write a topic sentence that expresses the main point. Then elaborate and expand on the topic sentence in the rest of the paragraph.

When you’ve said everything you have to say about the idea, move onto a new paragraph.

Keep your argument flexible

You may realize as you write that some of your ideas don’t work as well as you thought they would. Don’t give up on them too easily, but be prepared to change or abandon sections if you realize they don’t make sense.

You’ll probably also come up with new ideas that you’d not yet thought of when writing the outline. Note these ideas down and incorporate them into the essay if there’s a logical place for them.

If you’re stuck on one section, move on to another part of the essay and come back to it later.

Don’t delete content

If you begin to dislike a certain section or even the whole essay, don’t scrap it in fit of rage!

If something really isn’t working, you can paste it into a separate document, but keep what you have, even if you don’t plan on using it. You may find that it contains or inspires new ideas that you can use later.

Note your sources

Students often make work for themselves by forgetting to keep track of sources when writing drafts.

You can save yourself a lot of time later and ensure you avoid plagiarism by noting down the name, year, and page number every time you quote or paraphrase from a source.

You can also use a citation generator to save a list of your sources and copy-and-paste citations when you need them.

Avoid perfectionism

When you’re writing a first draft, it’s important not to get slowed down by small details. Get your ideas down on paper now and perfect them later. If you’re unsatisfied with a word, sentence, or argument, flag it in the draft and revisit it later.

When you finish the first draft, you will know which sections and paragraphs work and which might need to be changed. It doesn’t make sense to spend time polishing something you might later cut out or revise.

Working on the second draft means assessing what you’ve got and rewriting it when necessary. You’ll likely end up cutting some parts of the essay and adding new ones.

Check your ideas against your thesis

Everything you write should be driven by your thesis . Looking at each piece of information or argumentation, ask yourself:

• Does the reader need to know this in order to understand or accept my thesis?
• Does this give evidence for my thesis?
• Does this explain the reasoning behind my thesis?
• Does this show something about the consequences or importance of my thesis?

If you can’t answer yes to any of these questions, reconsider whether it’s relevant enough to include.

If your essay has gone in a different direction than you originally planned, you might have to rework your thesis statement to more accurately reflect the argument you’ve made.

Watch out for weak points

Be critical of your arguments, and identify any potential weak points:

• Unjustified assumptions: Can you be confident that your reader shares or will accept your assumptions, or do they need to be spelled out?
• Lack of evidence:  Do you make claims without backing them up?
• Logical inconsistencies:  Do any of your points contradict each other?
• Uncertainty: Are there points where you’re unsure about your own claims or where you don’t sound confident in what you’re saying?

Fixing these issues might require some more research to clarify your position and give convincing evidence for it.

Check the organization

When you’re happy with all the main parts of your essay, take another look at the overall shape of it. You want to make sure that everything proceeds in a logical order without unnecessary repetition.

Try listing only the topic sentence of each paragraph and reading them in order. Are any of the topic sentences too similar? Each paragraph should discuss something different; if two paragraphs are about the same topic, they must approach it in different ways, and these differences should be made clear in the topic sentences.

Does the order of information make sense? Looking at only topic sentences lets you see at a glance the route your paper takes from start to finish, allowing you to spot organizational errors more easily.

Draw clear connections between your ideas

Finally, you should assess how your ideas fit together both within and between paragraphs. The connections might be clear to you, but you need to make sure they’ll also be clear to your reader.

Within each paragraph, does each sentence follow logically from the one before it? If not, you might need to add new sentences to make the connections clear. Try using transition words to clarify what you want to say.

Between one paragraph and the next, is it clear how your points relate to one another? If you are moving onto an entirely new topic, consider starting the paragraph with a transition sentence that moves from the previous topic and shows how it relates to the new one.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.

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How to Write a Body Paragraph for a College Essay  

January 29, 2024

No matter the discipline, college success requires mastering several academic basics, including the body paragraph. This article will provide tips on drafting and editing a strong body paragraph before examining several body paragraph examples. Before we look at how to start a body paragraph and how to write a body paragraph for a college essay (or other writing assignment), let’s define what exactly a body paragraph is.

What is a Body Paragraph?

Simply put, a body paragraph consists of everything in an academic essay that does not constitute the introduction and conclusion. It makes up everything in between. In a five-paragraph, thesis-style essay (which most high schoolers encounter before heading off to college), there are three body paragraphs. Longer essays with more complex arguments will include many more body paragraphs.

We might correlate body paragraphs with bodily appendages—say, a leg. Both operate in a somewhat isolated way to perform specific operations, yet are integral to creating a cohesive, functioning whole. A leg helps the body sit, walk, and run. Like legs, body paragraphs work to move an essay along, by leading the reader through several convincing ideas. Together, these ideas, sometimes called topics, or points, work to prove an overall argument, called the essay’s thesis.

If you compared an essay on Kant’s theory of beauty to an essay on migratory birds, you’d notice that the body paragraphs differ drastically. However, on closer inspection, you’d probably find that they included many of the same key components. Most body paragraphs will include specific, detailed evidence, an analysis of the evidence, a conclusion drawn by the author, and several tie-ins to the larger ideas at play. They’ll also include transitions and citations leading the reader to source material. We’ll go into more detail on these components soon. First, let’s see if you’ve organized your essay so that you’ll know how to start a body paragraph.

How to Start a Body Paragraph

It can be tempting to start writing your college essay as soon as you sit down at your desk. The sooner begun, the sooner done, right? I’d recommend resisting that itch. Instead, pull up a blank document on your screen and make an outline. There are numerous reasons to make an outline, and most involve helping you stay on track. This is especially true of longer college papers, like the 60+ page dissertation some seniors are required to write. Even with regular writing assignments with a page count between 4-10, an outline will help you visualize your argumentation strategy. Moreover, it will help you order your key points and their relevant evidence from most to least convincing. This in turn will determine the order of your body paragraphs.

The most convincing sequence of body paragraphs will depend entirely on your paper’s subject.  Let’s say you’re writing about Penelope’s success in outwitting male counterparts in The Odyssey . You may want to begin with Penelope’s weaving, the most obvious way in which Penelope dupes her suitors. You can end with Penelope’s ingenious way of outsmarting her own husband. Because this evidence is more ambiguous it will require a more nuanced analysis. Thus, it’ll work best as your final body paragraph, after readers have already been convinced of more digestible evidence. If in doubt, keep your body paragraph order chronological.

It can be worthwhile to consider your topic from multiple perspectives. You may decide to include a body paragraph that sets out to consider and refute an opposing point to your thesis. This type of body paragraph will often appear near the end of the essay. It works to erase any lingering doubts readers may have had, and requires strong rhetorical techniques.

How to Start a Body Paragraph, Continued

Once you’ve determined which key points will best support your argument and in what order, draft an introduction. This is a crucial step towards writing a body paragraph. First, it will set the tone for the rest of your paper. Second, it will require you to articulate your thesis statement in specific, concise wording. Highlight or bold your thesis statement, so you can refer back to it quickly. You should be looking at your thesis throughout the drafting of your body paragraphs.

Finally, make sure that your introduction indicates which key points you’ll be covering in your body paragraphs, and in what order. While this level of organization might seem like overkill, it will indicate to the reader that your entire paper is minutely thought-out. It will boost your reader’s confidence going in. They’ll feel reassured and open to your thought process if they can see that it follows a clear path.

Now that you have an essay outline and introduction, you’re ready to draft your body paragraphs.

How to Draft a Body Paragraph

At this point, you know your body paragraph topic, the key point you’re trying to make, and you’ve gathered your evidence. The next thing to do is write! The words highlighted in bold below comprise the main components that will make up your body paragraph. (You’ll notice in the body paragraph examples below that the order of these components is flexible.)

Start with a topic sentence . This will indicate the main point you plan to make that will work to support your overall thesis. Your topic sentence also alerts the reader to the change in topic from the last paragraph to the current one. In making this new topic known, you’ll want to create a transition from the last topic to this one.

Transitions appear in nearly every paragraph of a college essay, apart from the introduction. They create a link between disparate ideas. (For example, if your transition comes at the end of paragraph 4, you won’t need a second transition at the beginning of paragraph 5.) The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center has a page devoted to Developing Strategic Transitions . Likewise, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center offers help on paragraph transitions .

How to Draft a Body Paragraph for a College Essay ( Continued)

With the topic sentence written, you’ll need to prove your point through tangible evidence. This requires several sentences with various components. You’ll want to provide more context , going into greater detail to situate the reader within the topic. Next, you’ll provide evidence , often in the form of a quote, facts, or data, and supply a source citation . Citing your source is paramount. Sources indicate that your evidence is empirical and objective. It implies that your evidence is knowledge shared by others in the academic community. Sometimes you’ll want to provide multiple pieces of evidence, if the evidence is similar and can be grouped together.

After providing evidence, you must provide an interpretation and analysis of this evidence. In other words, use rhetorical techniques to paraphrase what your evidence seems to suggest. Break down the evidence further and explain and summarize it in new words. Don’t simply skip to your conclusion. Your evidence should never stand for itself. Why? Because your interpretation and analysis allow you to exhibit original, analytical, and critical thinking skills.

Depending on what evidence you’re using, you may repeat some of these components in the same body paragraph. This might look like: more context + further evidence + increased interpretation and analysis . All this will add up to proving and reaffirming your body paragraph’s main point . To do so, conclude your body paragraph by reformulating your thesis statement in light of the information you’ve given. I recommend comparing your original thesis statement to your paragraph’s concluding statement. Do they align? Does your body paragraph create a sound connection to the overall academic argument? If not, you’ll need to fix this issue when you edit your body paragraph.

How to Edit a Body Paragraph

As you go over each body paragraph of your college essay, keep this short checklist in mind.

• Consistency in your argument: If your key points don’t add up to a cogent argument, you’ll need to identify where the inconsistency lies. Often it lies in interpretation and analysis. You may need to improve the way you articulate this component. Try to think like a lawyer: how can you use this evidence to your advantage? If that doesn’t work, you may need to find new evidence. As a last resort, amend your thesis statement.
• Language-level persuasion. Use a broad vocabulary. Vary your sentence structure. Don’t repeat the same words too often, which can induce mental fatigue in the reader. I suggest keeping an online dictionary open on your browser. I find Merriam-Webster user-friendly, since it allows you to toggle between definitions and synonyms. It also includes up-to-date example sentences. Also, don’t forget the power of rhetorical devices .
• Does your writing flow naturally from one idea to the next, or are there jarring breaks? The editing stage is a great place to polish transitions and reinforce the structure as a whole.

Our first body paragraph example comes from the College Transitions article “ How to Write the AP Lang Argument Essay .” Here’s the prompt: Write an essay that argues your position on the value of striving for perfection.

Here’s the example thesis statement, taken from the introduction paragraph: “Striving for perfection can only lead us to shortchange ourselves. Instead, we should value learning, growth, and creativity and not worry whether we are first or fifth best.” Now let’s see how this writer builds an argument against perfection through one main point across two body paragraphs. (While this writer has split this idea into two paragraphs, one to address a problem and one to provide an alternative resolution, it could easily be combined into one paragraph.)

“Students often feel the need to be perfect in their classes, and this can cause students to struggle or stop making an effort in class. In elementary and middle school, for example, I was very nervous about public speaking. When I had to give a speech, my voice would shake, and I would turn very red. My teachers always told me “relax!” and I got Bs on Cs on my speeches. As a result, I put more pressure on myself to do well, spending extra time making my speeches perfect and rehearsing late at night at home. But this pressure only made me more nervous, and I started getting stomach aches before speaking in public.

“Once I got to high school, however, I started doing YouTube make-up tutorials with a friend. We made videos just for fun, and laughed when we made mistakes or said something silly. Only then, when I wasn’t striving to be perfect, did I get more comfortable with public speaking.”

Body Paragraph Example 1 Dissected

In this body paragraph example, the writer uses their personal experience as evidence against the value of striving for perfection. The writer sets up this example with a topic sentence that acts as a transition from the introduction. They also situate the reader in the classroom. The evidence takes the form of emotion and physical reactions to the pressure of public speaking (nervousness, shaking voice, blushing). Evidence also takes the form of poor results (mediocre grades). Rather than interpret the evidence from an analytical perspective, the writer produces more evidence to underline their point. (This method works fine for a narrative-style essay.) It’s clear that working harder to be perfect further increased the student’s nausea.

The writer proves their point in the second paragraph, through a counter-example. The main point is that improvement comes more naturally when the pressure is lifted; when amusement is possible and mistakes aren’t something to fear. This point ties back in with the thesis, that “we should value learning, growth, and creativity” over perfection.

This second body paragraph example comes from the College Transitions article “ How to Write the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay .” Here’s an abridged version of the prompt: Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Obama makes to convey his message.

Here’s the example thesis statement, taken from the introduction paragraph: “Through the use of diction that portrays Parks as quiet and demure, long lists that emphasize the extent of her impacts, and Biblical references, Obama suggests that all of us are capable of achieving greater good, just as Parks did.” Now read the body paragraph example, below.

“To further illustrate Parks’ impact, Obama incorporates Biblical references that emphasize the importance of “that single moment on the bus” (lines 57-58). In lines 33-35, Obama explains that Parks and the other protestors are “driven by a solemn determination to affirm their God-given dignity” and he also compares their victory to the fall the “ancient walls of Jericho” (line 43). By including these Biblical references, Obama suggests that Parks’ action on the bus did more than correct personal or political wrongs; it also corrected moral and spiritual wrongs. Although Parks had no political power or fortune, she was able to restore a moral balance in our world.”

Body Paragraph Example 2 Dissected

The first sentence in this body paragraph example indicates that the topic is transitioning into biblical references as a means of motivating ordinary citizens. The evidence comes as quotes taken from Obama’s speech. One is a reference to God, and the other an allusion to a story from the bible. The subsequent interpretation and analysis demonstrate that Obama’s biblical references imply a deeper, moral and spiritual significance. The concluding sentence draws together the morality inherent in equal rights with Rosa Parks’ power to spark change. Through the words “no political power or fortune,” and “moral balance,” the writer ties the point proven in this body paragraph back to the thesis statement. Obama promises that “All of us” (no matter how small our influence) “are capable of achieving greater good”—a greater moral good.

What’s Next?

Before you body paragraphs come the start and, after your body paragraphs, the conclusion, of course! If you’ve found this article helpful, be sure to read up on how to start a college essay and how to end a college essay .

You may also find the following blogs to be of interest:

• 6 Best Common App Essay Examples
• How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay
• UC Essay Examples 
• How to Write the Community Essay
• How to Write the Why this Major? Essay
• College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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What is a Body Paragraph? (Definition, Examples, How to Start)

What is a body paragraph? How do I start a body paragraph? A body paragraph is the most important part of the sentence subject . It delivers the most impactful information and helps to transition in and out of paragraphs more effectively.

What is a body paragraph?

Any essay, article, or academic writing starts with an introduction and ends with a conclusion. The text between the introduction and conclusion is the body paragraph.

A body paragraph supports the idea that was mentioned in the introduction by shedding light on new details using facts, statistics, arguments, or other information.

What role does a body paragraph play in an article or an essay?

A body paragraph acts as a connection between the introduction and the conclusion. The body paragraph’s role is to justify the thesis stated in the introduction of an essay or article. As mentioned previously it comes between the introduction and the conclusion which is where most of the writing is done. This signifies its importance.

There can be multiple body paragraphs in an article or an essay. That said, each of the body paragraphs should logically connect with one another. In addition to this, all the body paragraphs should focus on the main idea stated in the introduction. Also, the sentences should not be long, so that readers can easily consume the information.

Here is a brief breakdown of the structure of a body paragraph:

How to structure a body paragraph

Every body paragraph has four main parts. They are:

• Topic Sentence
• Evidence Or Supporting Sentences
• Ending Or Conclusion

Here is a detailed breakdown of each one of them.

Topic sentence

The topic sentence is the first sentence in a body paragraph. This sentence discusses the main idea of the topic and indicates what information to expect in the rest of the paragraph. It sets the stage for the rest of the paragraph.

Evidence or supporting sentences

After the topic sentence comes the supporting sentences. These sentences are used to justify the claim that was stated in the topic sentence. Text citations, evidence, statistics, and examples are used to justify the claim. For example, if the topic sentence discusses “Switzerland is a must visit place”, then the supporting sentences should discuss the beautiful parts of Switzerland with examples to justify the claim.

One sentence to another sentence should flow seamlessly and this is possible by using transition words . Transition words like “however”, “although”, “in addition to”, “next”, and “in contrast” helps in doing exactly the same.

Ending or concluding sentence

Every body paragraph should end with a conclusion which comes after the supporting sentences. It summarizes the main idea of the body paragraph and emphasizes the supporting details. The conclusion gives way to the next line of the next paragraph.

Transitions are a few words that help in the smooth flow of the previous paragraph to the next paragraph. These words can be at the beginning of topic sentences or at the end of the body paragraph. They connect one idea of a paragraph to the next idea of another paragraph.

How to write an effective body paragraph

Keep the body paragraph’s focus on the topic.

All the body paragraphs should support the claim made in the introduction of an essay or an article. It should be consistent with the main idea of the topic. It is recommended to avoid adding unnecessary information in the body paragraph that doesn’t relate to the main idea of the topic.

Break complicated topic sentences into smaller parts

If the topic sentence has many parts to it, the topic sentence should be divided into smaller ideas and each idea should be expressed in a different body paragraph. Having too many parts in a topic sentence will lead to many support sentences in the body paragraph which will be too lengthy for readers to grasp.

Add counterarguments

If it is an academic essay or an opinion article, counterarguments should be included in the piece. Adding counterarguments in such pieces will give a broader perspective of the piece. Such inclusions will strengthen the essay or article.

Use signals when more than one paragraph deals with the same evidence

If multiple body paragraphs deal with the same evidence, there are a few signal phrases that will help the reader connect with evidence used earlier in other paragraphs. The signal phrases like “As mentioned previously” and “As already mentioned” can be used.

Include paragraph breaks

It is a single-line space that divides one paragraph from another. This is necessary because too long paragraphs make it difficult for readers to grasp the information. A space between paragraphs will help the readers to easily wade through the text. A paragraph break also signals the transition of one idea of one body paragraph to an idea of another body paragraph.

The body paragraph should be short

The body paragraph should be short and concise . The paragraphs should not exceed one page. Paragraphs exceeding a page will make the article or essay complicated to comprehend the information.

Body paragraphs should be proofread

After writing the body paragraph, proofreading is done. This will help in finding and fixing mistakes. It will also help in removing unnecessary sentences in the body paragraph. The ideal way to proofread is by reading the body paragraph loudly. Doing so will help in identifying awkward word placements in the sentence.

In addition to this, asking questions like “is the body paragraph sticking to the main idea of the topic?” should be exercised. It will give a sense that if the paragraph is heading in the right direction or not.

How to start a body paragraph

The first sentence in a body paragraph is the topic sentence and it is the hardest sentence to write. The topic sentence sets the stage for the rest of the sentences in the paragraph.

Once the reader reads the topic sentence, the reader should get a sense that what the rest of the paragraph will be.

So, it should be concise and to the point, revealing enough information that will help the reader to know what the paragraph will be all about.

How to conclude a body paragraph

At the end of the body paragraph, the sentence should summarize the claim stated in the topic sentence and should also include a brief explanation of the supporting sentences. It should be written in such a way that the sentence is concise and at the same time reveals the main points.

This sentence will help the reader to get a gist of what the paragraph is all about.

Difference between body paragraph and introduction

Though both of them are paragraphs, they are very different. Firstly, the structure of an introduction is constructed differently than the body paragraph. An introduction consists of a thesis statement and a brief explanation. On the other hand, the body paragraph consists of a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a conclusion.

Secondly, the introduction comes first in an essay or an article. In comparison, the body paragraph comes after the introduction. It comes after the introduction and before the conclusion of an essay or article.

A typical body paragraph should contain at least six sentences.

To develop a well-structured paragraph:

• Construct a topic sentence.
• Include evidence to support the claim expressed in the topic sentence.
• Add analysis to the paragraph.
• End it with a conclusion summarizing the key points of the paragraph.
• Finally, proofread the paragraph to identify and fix mistakes.

An introduction is the first paragraph of an essay or article. It gets the reader’s attention regarding the topic and provides the thesis statement of the topic. To write a good introduction:

• Keep the introduction paragraph short.
• In one to two sentences explain the thesis statement of the article or essay.

There is no fixed number of words that a body paragraph should have. That said, typically a paragraph contains about a hundred to two hundred words which are six to seven sentences.

Yes, an essay or article can have more than one body paragraph. Some essays have three to four body paragraphs. That said, having two of these is enough to cover important points of the essay.

A conclusion comes after the body paragraph at the end of the essay. A long essay can have two or three paragraphs to conclude. It summarizes the main idea of the topic.

• Body Paragraphs: How to Write Perfect Ones | Grammarly blog
• Body Paragraph Example & Structure
• How Do I Write an Intro, Conclusion, & Body Paragraph
• How to Write a Body Paragraph | BestColleges

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About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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9.2 Writing Body Paragraphs

Learning objectives.

• Select primary support related to your thesis.
• Support your topic sentences.

If your thesis gives the reader a roadmap to your essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows your introductory paragraph by simply reading the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs present the evidence you have gathered to confirm your thesis. Before you begin to support your thesis in the body, you must find information from a variety of sources that support and give credit to what you are trying to prove.

Select Primary Support for Your Thesis

Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details within the paragraphs.

Remember that a worthy argument is backed by examples. In order to construct a valid argument, good writers conduct lots of background research and take careful notes. They also talk to people knowledgeable about a topic in order to understand its implications before writing about it.

Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support

In order 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 the evidence and to build upon 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 your main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with lots of information that could be used to prove your thesis, you may think you need to include it all in your body paragraphs. But effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Choose your examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to your thesis.
• Be detailed. Remember that your thesis, while specific, should not be very detailed. The body paragraphs are where you develop the 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.

Prewrite to Identify Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

Recall that when you prewrite you essentially make a list of examples or reasons why you support your stance. Stemming from each point, you further provide details to support those reasons. After prewriting, you are then able to look back at the information and choose the most compelling pieces you will use in your body paragraphs.

Choose one of the following working thesis statements. On a separate sheet of paper, write for at least five minutes using one of the prewriting techniques you learned in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

• Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.
• Students cheat for many different reasons.
• Drug use among teens and young adults is a problem.
• The most important change that should occur at my college or university is ____________________________________________.

Select the Most Effective Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

After you have prewritten about your working thesis statement, you may have generated a lot of information, which may be edited out later. Remember that your primary support must be relevant to your thesis. Remind yourself of your main argument, and delete any ideas that do not directly relate to it. Omitting unrelated ideas ensures that you will use only the most convincing information in your body paragraphs. Choose at least three of only the most compelling points. These will serve as the topic sentences for your body paragraphs.

Refer to the previous exercise and select three of your most compelling reasons to support the thesis statement. Remember that the points you choose must be specific and relevant to the thesis. The statements you choose will be your primary support points, and you will later incorporate them into the topic sentences for the body paragraphs.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

When you support your thesis, you are revealing evidence. Evidence includes anything that can help support your stance. The following are the kinds of evidence you will encounter as you conduct your research:

• Facts. Facts are the best kind of evidence to use because they often cannot be disputed. They can support your stance by providing background information on or a solid foundation for your point of view. However, some facts may still need explanation. For example, the sentence “The most populated state in the United States is California” is a pure fact, but it may require some explanation to make it relevant to your specific argument.
• Judgments. Judgments are conclusions drawn from the given facts. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and examination of a topic.
• Testimony. Testimony consists of direct quotations from either an eyewitness or an expert witness. An eyewitness is someone who has direct experience with a subject; he adds authenticity to an argument based on facts. An expert witness is a person who has extensive experience with a topic. This person studies the facts and provides commentary based on either facts or judgments, or both. An expert witness adds authority and credibility to an argument.
• Personal observation. Personal observation is similar to testimony, but personal observation consists of your testimony. It reflects what you know to be true because you have experiences and have formed either opinions or judgments about them. For instance, if you are one of five children and your thesis states that being part of a large family is beneficial to a child’s social development, you could use your own experience to support your thesis.

Writing at Work

In any job where you devise a plan, you will need to support the steps that you lay out. This is an area in which you would incorporate primary support into your writing. Choosing only the most specific and relevant information to expand upon the steps will ensure that your plan appears well-thought-out and precise.

You can consult a vast pool of resources to gather support for your stance. Citing relevant information from reliable sources ensures that your reader will take you seriously and consider your assertions. Use any of the following sources for your essay: newspapers or news organization websites, magazines, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals, which are periodicals that address topics in a specialized field.

Choose Supporting Topic Sentences

Each body paragraph contains a topic sentence that states one aspect of your thesis and then expands upon it. Like the thesis statement, each topic sentence should be specific and supported by concrete details, facts, or explanations.

Each body paragraph should comprise the following elements.

topic sentence + supporting details (examples, reasons, or arguments)

As you read in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , topic sentences indicate the location and main points of the basic arguments of your essay. These sentences are vital to writing your body paragraphs because they always refer back to and support your thesis statement. Topic sentences are linked to the ideas you have introduced in your thesis, thus reminding readers what your essay is about. A paragraph without a clearly identified topic sentence may be unclear and scattered, just like an essay without a thesis statement.

Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, you should include at least three body paragraphs in your essay. A five-paragraph essay, including the introduction and conclusion, is commonly the standard for exams and essay assignments.

Consider the following the thesis statement:

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 following topic sentence is a primary support point for the thesis. The topic sentence states exactly what the controlling idea of the paragraph is. Later, you will see the writer immediately provide support for the sentence.

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

In Note 9.19 “Exercise 2” , you chose three of your most convincing points to support the thesis statement you selected from the list. Take each point and incorporate it into a topic sentence for each body paragraph.

Supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Topic sentence: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

Draft Supporting Detail Sentences for Each Primary Support Sentence

After deciding which primary support points you will use as your topic sentences, you must add details to clarify and demonstrate each of those points. These supporting details provide examples, facts, or evidence that support the topic sentence.

The writer drafts possible supporting detail sentences for each primary support sentence based on the thesis statement:

Thesis statement: Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.

Supporting point 1: Dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians.

Supporting details:

• Cyclists are forced to zigzag on the road.
• School children panic and turn wildly on their bikes.
• People who are walking at night freeze in fear.

Supporting point 2:

Loose dogs are traffic hazards.

• Dogs in the street make people swerve their cars.
• To avoid dogs, drivers run into other cars or pedestrians.
• Children coaxing dogs across busy streets create danger.

Supporting point 3: Unleashed dogs damage gardens.

• They step on flowers and vegetables.
• They destroy hedges by urinating on them.
• They mess up lawns by digging holes.

The following paragraph contains supporting detail sentences for the primary support sentence (the topic sentence), which is underlined.

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from posttraumatic 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 posttraumatic stress, 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.

Using the three topic sentences you composed for the thesis statement in Note 9.18 “Exercise 1” , draft at least three supporting details for each point.

Thesis statement: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Supporting details: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

You have the option of writing your topic sentences in one of three ways. You can state it at the beginning of the body paragraph, or at the end of the paragraph, or you do not have to write it at all. This is called an implied topic sentence. An implied topic sentence lets readers form the main idea for themselves. For beginning writers, it is best to not use implied topic sentences because it makes it harder to focus your writing. Your instructor may also want to clearly identify the sentences that support your thesis. For more information on the placement of thesis statements and implied topic statements, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

Print out the first draft of your essay and use a highlighter to mark your topic sentences in the body paragraphs. Make sure they are clearly stated and accurately present your paragraphs, as well as accurately reflect your thesis. If your topic sentence contains information that does not exist in the rest of the paragraph, rewrite it to more accurately match the rest of the paragraph.

Key Takeaways

• Your body paragraphs should closely follow the path set forth by your thesis statement.
• Strong body paragraphs contain evidence that supports your thesis.
• Primary support comprises the most important points you use to support your thesis.
• Strong primary support is specific, detailed, and relevant to the thesis.
• Prewriting helps you determine your most compelling primary support.
• Evidence includes facts, judgments, testimony, and personal observation.
• Reliable sources may include newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books, encyclopedias, and firsthand testimony.
• A topic sentence presents one point of your thesis statement while the information in the rest of the paragraph supports that point.
• A body paragraph comprises a topic sentence plus supporting details.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Writing Tips

How To Write Essay Body Paragraphs

• 3-minute read
• 4th October 2022

Writing essays is an unavoidable part of student life . And even if you’re not pursuing a career that involves much writing, if you can boost the quality of your essays , you’ll improve your grades and have a better chance of reaching your goals.

One effective way to improve your writing is to strengthen your essay body paragraphs. Those are the paragraphs between the introduction and the conclusion. In our guide below, we’ll consider four components of body paragraphs:

●  Purpose

●  Evidence

●  Analysis

●  Connection

For each paragraph you write , ask yourself: Why are you writing this paragraph? What point are you trying to make? This can be turned into a topic sentence, which is a brief sentence at the beginning of the paragraph clearly stating its focus.

Let’s say our essay is arguing that Fall is the best season, and, in this paragraph, we’re promoting the enjoyableness of Fall activities. Our topic sentence could be something like:

Fall activities, like apple picking, visiting a pumpkin patch, and playing in the leaves, are more enjoyable than activities in other seasons.

Now that you have a clear idea of the point you’d like to make, you must support it with facts. You can do this by citing scientific and/or academic sources; sharing data from case studies; and providing information that you’ve discovered yourself, such as by conducting your own study or describing a real-life experience.

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We sent a survey to 100 participants. One question asked: “Which activity do you prefer: apple picking, building a snowman, planting flowers, or kayaking?” Sixty percent of respondents chose apple picking.

Now that you’ve provided evidence, critically analyzing it is key to strengthening your essay. This involves explaining how the presented facts support your argument, what counterarguments exist, and if there are any alternative points of view.

Although the response to one question indicated that 55% of respondents prefer swimming to jumping in piles of leaves, the responses to the rest of the questions in the survey showed that most participants chose Fall activities as their favorites. These findings indicate that Fall activities are more enjoyable than other types of activities.

Each paragraph must be connected to the paragraphs around it and the main point. You can achieve this by using transitional words and sentences at the end of the paragraph to summarize the current paragraph’s findings and introduce the next one. Transition words include likewise , however , furthermore , accordingly , and in summary .

Therefore, Fall is the best season when it comes to activities. Furthermore, the clothing worn during this season is also superior.

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This step should not be overlooked. Even the best writers will miss errors in their own writing, so it’s crucial to have an outside pair of eyes check your work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and readability.

Our expert editors can also ensure your referencing style is followed correctly, offer suggestions for areas where your meaning isn’t clear, and even format your document for you! Try our service for free today by uploading a 500-word sample .

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How to Write a Body Paragraph for a College Essay

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• Body paragraphs play an essential role in crafting a successful college essay.
• The basic body paragraph structure has six parts, including a topic sentence and evidence.
• Key paragraphing tips include moving transitions and avoiding repetition in your essay.

Paragraphing is an essential key to successful academic writing. A writer's organizing decisions control the reader's (i.e., your professor's) attention by raising or decreasing engagement with the subject. Writing an effective paragraph includes determining what goes into each paragraph and how your paragraphs and ideas relate to one another.

The first paragraph in any academic essay is the introduction , and the last is the conclusion, both of which are critical to crafting a compelling essay. But what is a body paragraph? The body paragraphs — all the paragraphs that come between the intro and conclusion — comprise the bulk of the essay and together form the student's primary argument.

In this article, we look at the function of a body paragraph and provide guidance on how to write a good body paragraph for any college essay.

What Is the Purpose of a Body Paragraph?

Body paragraphs play an indispensable role in proving the essay's thesis , which is presented in the introduction. As a sequence, body paragraphs provide a path from the introduction — which forecasts the structure of the essay's content — to the conclusion, which summarizes the arguments and looks at how final insights may apply in different contexts. Each body paragraph must therefore relate logically to the one immediately before and after it.

If you can eliminate a paragraph without losing crucial information that supports your thesis claim, then that paragraph is a divergence from this path and should be edited so that it fits with the rest of your essay and contains necessary evidence, context, and/or details.

Each body paragraph must relate logically to the one immediately before and after it, and must also focus on a single topic or idea.

Each paragraph must also focus on a single topic or idea. If the topic is complex or has multiple parts, consider whether each would benefit from its own paragraph.

People tend to absorb information in short increments, and readers usually time mental breaks at paragraph ends. This stop is also where they pause to consider content or write notes. As such, you should avoid lengthy paragraphs.

Finally, most academic style conventions frown upon one-sentence paragraphs. Similar to how body paragraphs can be too long and messy, one-sentence paragraphs can feel far too short and underdeveloped. Following the six steps below will allow you to avoid this style trap.

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6 Steps for Writing an Effective Body Paragraph

There are six main steps to crafting a compelling body paragraph. Some steps are essential in every paragraph and must appear in a fixed location, e.g., as the first sentence. Writers have more flexibility with other steps, which can be delayed or reordered (more on this later).

Step 1: Write a Topic Sentence

Consider the first sentence in a body paragraph a mini-thesis statement for that paragraph. The topic sentence should establish the main point of the paragraph and bear some relationship to the essay's overarching thesis statement.

In theory, by reading only the topic sentence of every paragraph, a reader should be able to understand a summary outline of the ideas that prove your paper's thesis. If the topic sentence is too complex, it'll confuse the reader and set you up to write paragraphs that are too long-winded.

Step 2: Unpack the Topic Sentence

Now, it's time to develop the claims in your paragraph's topic sentence by explaining or expanding all the individual parts. In other words, you'll parse out the discussion points your paragraph will address to support its topic sentence.

You may use as many sentences as necessary to achieve this step, but if there are too many components, consider writing a paragraph for each of them, or for a few that fit particularly well together. In this case, you'll likely need to revise your topic sentence. The key here is only one major idea per paragraph.

Step 3: Give Evidence

The next step is to prove your topic sentence's claim by supplying arguments, facts, data, and quotations from reputable sources . The goal is to offer original ideas while referencing primary sources and research, such as books, journal articles, studies, and personal experiences.

Step 4: Analyze the Evidence

Never leave your body paragraph's evidence hanging. As the writer, it's your job to do the linking work, that is, to connect your evidence to the main ideas the paragraph seeks to prove. You can do this by explaining, expanding, interpreting, or commentating on your evidence. You can even debunk the evidence you've presented if you want to give a counterargument.

Step 5: Prove Your Objective

This next step consists of two parts. First, tie up your body paragraph by restating the topic sentence. Be sure to use different language so that your writing is not repetitive. Whereas the first step states what your paragraph will prove, this step states what your paragraph has proven .

Second, every three or four paragraphs, or where it seems most fitting, tie your proven claim back to the paper's thesis statement on page 1. Doing so makes a concrete link between your discussion and the essay's main claim.

Step 6: Provide a Transition

A transition is like a bridge with two ramps: The first ramp takes the reader out of a topic or paragraph, whereas the second deposits them into a new, albeit related, topic. The transition must be smooth, and the connection between the two ideas should be strong and clear.

Purdue University lists some of the most commonly used transition words for body paragraphs.

Body Paragraph Example

Here is an example of a well-structured body paragraph, and the beginning of another body paragraph, from an essay on William Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night." See whether you can identify the topic sentence and its development, the evidence, the writer's analysis and proof of the objective, and the transition to the next paragraph.

As well as harmony between parent and child, music represents the lasting bond between romantic couples. Shakespeare illustrates this tunefulness in the relationship between Viola and Orsino. Viola's name evokes a musical instrument that fits between violin and cello when it comes to the depth of tone. Orsino always wants to hear sad songs until he meets Viola, whose wit forces him to be less gloomy. The viola's supporting role in an orchestra, and Orsino's need for Viola to break out of his depression, foreshadow the benefits of the forthcoming marriage between the two. The viola is necessary in both lamenting and celebratory music. Shakespeare uses the language of orchestral string music to illustrate how the bonds of good marriages often depend on mediating between things.

The play also references cacophonous music. The unharmonious songs that Sir Toby and Andrew sing illustrate how indulging bad habits is bad for society as a whole. These characters are always drunk, do no work, play mean tricks, and are either broke or squander their money. …

Strategies for Crafting a Compelling Body Paragraph

Break down complex topic sentences.

A topic sentence with too many parts will force you to write a lot of support. But as you already know, readers typically find long paragraphs more difficult to absorb. The solution is to break down complicated topic sentences into two or more smaller ideas, and then devote a separate paragraph for each.

Move the Transition to the Following Paragraph

Though a body paragraph should always begin with a topic sentence and end with proof of your objective — sometimes with a direct connection to the essay's thesis — you don't need to include the transition in that paragraph; instead, you may insert it right before the topic sentence of the next paragraph.

For example, if a body paragraph is already incredibly long, you might want to avoid adding a transition at the end.

Your body paragraphs should be no longer than half to three-quarters of a double-spaced page with 1-inch margins in Times New Roman 12-point font. A little longer is sometimes acceptable, but you should generally avoid writing paragraphs that fill or exceed one page.

Shift Around Some of the Paragraph Steps Above

The steps above are a general guide, but you may change the order of them (to an extent). For instance, if your topic sentence is fairly complicated, you might need to unpack it into several parts, with each needing its own evidence and analysis.

You could also swap steps 3 and 4 by starting with your analysis and then providing evidence. Even better, consider alternating between giving evidence and providing analysis.

The idea here is that using more than one design for your paragraphs usually makes the essay more engaging. Remember that monotony can make a reader quickly lose interest, so feel free to change it up.

Don't Repeat the Same Information Between Paragraphs

If similar evidence or analysis works well for other paragraphs too, you need to help the reader make these connections. You can do this by incorporating signal phrases like "As the following paragraph also indicates" and "As already stated."

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Home ➔ Essay Structure ➔ Body Paragraphs

Guide to Writing a Body Paragraph

Body paragraphs are the parts where you present your evidence and make arguments, which one may argue makes them the most important part of any essay. In this guide, you will learn how to write clear, effective, and convincing body paragraphs in an academic essay.

To learn more about general ways of organizing an essay, you can read our full guide here: Essay Structure Guide .

3 Major Characteristics of a Good Body Paragraph

There are three main elements of a good body paragraph. In short, unity means that the body paragraphs speak only about one concept. Coherence refers to the logical progression of sentences and ideas. And finally, a paragraph that has a good flow uses transition phrases so that each sentence leads on to the next logically. Now, let’s take a closer look at each of these.

Each main paragraph should focus only on one main point, subtopic, or piece of evidence and relay information only about that concept. If a body paragraph contains many different ideas, it can be complicated to understand and less convincing. On the other hand, a paragraph with unity fully explains a concept and ties it to the thesis statement without adding extra information that feels misplaced and may dilute the message. 

• The topic sentence of a body paragraph should clearly state the main idea being explored in that paragraph. Each such sentence should have its own paragraph.
• Discuss the connection between the topic sentence and the paper’s thesis.
• All the supporting evidence in the paragraph should connect to the topic sentence.
• Move important information not connected to the topic sentence to another paragraph or revise the topic sentence of that body paragraph.

2. Coherence

Coherence means that there is a logical progression to the sentences and ideas in the paragraph. In other words, paragraphs should be structured in such a way so that they have maximum impact on the audience and make sense. There are several ways to increase coherence within a body paragraph (these are explained later on in this guide): 

• Chronological order
• Spatial order
• Emphatic order

Flow refers to the overall readability of a paragraph. Sentences that flow into each other naturally engage the reader and make them more likely to absorb information. One of the simplest ways of improving the flow in a paragraph is by using transitional words and phrases like “specifically,” “on the other hand,” “which leads to the conclusion,” “therefore,” etc. These transition words connect one sentence to another and help the audience keep track of what is happening. Other ways to improve your paragraph flow are:

• Using similar sentence structure throughout the paragraph
• Using pronouns instead of proper nouns
• Repeating important words

Body Paragraph Structure

There is a standard basic structure of a body paragraph that helps bring together unity, coherence, and flow. This structure works well for the standard five-paragraph format of academic writing, but more creative pieces of writing (like a  narrative essay ) may deviate from this structure and have more than the standard three body paragraphs.

Topic Sentence

The first sentence of a body paragraph should be the  topic sentence . Topic sentences clearly state the central idea of the paragraph. You can think of it as one of the main pieces of information or arguments you want to present to back your thesis.

Supporting Evidence

The next few sentences are where you present  evidence  and research that back up the topic sentence. These supporting sentences logically present research in such a way that strengthens the main claim of the paragraph. Make sure you know the correct citation style for facts and figures and that you cite every piece of information. A well-written body paragraph can still get a bad grade because of low-quality sources or improper citation.

Want to learn more about citing sources? Check related questions here: Citation Guide .

Analysis (Commentary)

After presenting the supporting sentences, you should analyze how the evidence connects to the topic sentence and what it means for the paper overall. Do not assume that the reader will automatically make connections, it is important to make it clear in this writer’s analysis section so that the overall links and ideas are fully explained. 

Commentary in an Essay – learn more about analysis in essays and see some examples of commentaries.

Concluding Sentence

The conclusion is usually one or two sentences that clearly show how the supporting facts connect to the topic sentence and why it is important. A concluding sentence is the main takeaway and should present deeper insight into the supporting details and claims made in the paragraph.

Transition Link

This last sentence of a body paragraph is useful to improve the flow of the essay overall. It is not always required but essentially hints at the content of the next paragraph and leads into its first sentence. 

Alternative Body Paragraph Structures

There are two other ways of structuring a body paragraph that you should be aware of. They are very similar to the format above, but you may find them useful for writing different kinds of essays.

P.I.E Format

P.I.E stands for points, information, and explanation. The first thing you should talk about in any paragraph is the answer to, “What is the main point of this paragraph?” This is essentially the same as a topic sentence, which explains what the paragraph will be about or what argument you are going to put forth.

“I” stands for information, which means that you present factual information as supporting sentences that back up your claim. And “E” stands for explanation, which is where you explain why the information you presented is important and how it connects to the overall purpose of the essay.

T.T.E.B Format

T.T.E.B stands for Transition, Topic sentences, Evidence and analysis, and a Brief wrap-up sentence. In this structure, the first thing you do is write a short transition sentence leading on from the previous paragraph to improve flow. After that, it is pretty much the same as we described before. Follow this up with a topic sentence, then present your supporting details and some analysis, and finally end with concluding sentences.

Body Paragraph Examples

Each body paragraph example below is color-coded to show every element it contains.

Body Paragraph Order

In this case, paragraph order can refer to two different things: either the position of the paragraph itself or how the information within a paragraph is ordered. This is closely tied to the concept of coherence and is important to improve the logical build-up of an essay.

Emphatic (Rank)

Emphatic order means presenting evidence in order of importance. This works both for paragraph positions as well as information within a paragraph. The first challenge is ranking your information in terms of strength. This can be determined by the quality of evidence and sources or the logical connection to the thesis statement. The most common way of using this structure is presenting weaker evidence first and building up to the strongest evidence. This leaves the reader with the strongest convincing argument, but in some cases, starting with the strongest evidence and moving to the weakest evidence is useful, for example, when writing for a skeptical audience.

Chronological (Time)

Chronological order is one of the simplest ways of structuring a paragraph because it presents information based on when something happened. It is mostly used to structure paragraph order in narrative essays and process essays but can be used within paragraphs to structure information as well.

Spatial (Place)

Organizing the information in a paragraph spatially makes the most sense when describing something. This type of ordering uses cues like top to bottom, far to near, and outside to inside to describe things logically in terms of their spatial relations.

Deduction (General to Specific)

This method of organizing a paragraph starts with general information and works its way to specific information. You can start with a general claim and then pick on specific parts of it to bring attention to a unique aspect of it. This is useful in showing cause and effect and drawing conclusions from overarching concepts.

Induction (Specific to General)

This method of organizing paragraphs starts with specific information and works its way to general information. This is useful to show how specific things are connected to larger concepts and how concepts should be compared and contrasted.

Induction vs. Deduction – Comparison between the two methods with examples.

How to Write a Body Paragraph (6 Steps)

Now that you know all the important elements of a body paragraph, as well as the general structures and ordering methods, let’s see what steps you would need to take to actually write one.

1. Decide on your order

The first thing you should do is arrange your outline in an order that makes sense for each body paragraph, as well as the order of information within the paragraphs. Keep in mind that just because you have structured your paragraphs in a certain way does not mean that individual paragraphs must follow the same format. Use whichever ordering method makes the most sense to present the information within each separate body paragraph.

2. Write a topic sentence

A topic sentence determines the information included in the paragraph, so it should be the first thing you write. In other words, think about what the overall purpose of the paragraph is and condense it into one sentence. Imagine having a conversation with a friend and presenting three things that support the main topic. What would those three things be? This is a good mental exercise to pinpoint important arguments.

Often, a thesis statement would contain three main ideas, and each could be extended into a topic sentence.

3. Provide evidence 

Logically present your research and evidence in supporting sentences, ensuring unity, coherence, and flow. Think about how this evidence will leave the biggest impact and make sure to cite every source correctly.

4. Analyze the evidence

Explain how the evidence connects to the topic sentence and why the evidence is important. Draw conclusions to strengthen the main claim made in the paragraph.

5. Conclude and transition

Write a conclusion sentence that wraps up the paragraph and reiterates the main idea. A conclusion can be a good transition, or you can add a transition sentence that briefly explains the purpose of the next paragraph.

6. Revise the paragraph

After writing each paragraph, go over it to make sure that it has unity, coherence, and flow. Don’t be afraid to move information around or remove certain pieces of information. You will have another chance to edit the entire paper after your first draft, so only look for the large-scale problems.

• Rochester Institute of Technology – Paragraph Body
• American University – Paragraph Unity and Coherence
• Purdue University – Body Paragraphs

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How to Write a Body Paragraph for an Essay: Guide & Example

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A body paragraph is the main section, where students develop a specific point or argument related to an essay's thesis statement. Typical 5-paragraph essays comprise 3 body paragraphs. Each body paragraph starts with a topic sentence and is followed by evidence, examples and analysis.

Writing a good body paragraph takes craft and mastery. But, lucky for you and us, this guide can give you all the information you might need. We will guide you step by step on how to write a topic sentence , overall structure, and other crucial details. In the end, we bet you’ll understand how to perfect your writing. So keep on reading, and we’ll get this one together!

What Is a Body Paragraph?

The body of an essay is the meat of any good burger. Without it, our burger will not be tasty, or your essay will not be convincing. Thinking of how to start an introduction for an essay ? First, create a thesis statement. It gives your readers the main argument of the overall essay. However, body paragraphs are made for proving the argument you have developed. They are also perfect places for evidence, research, and everything that can make your peace truly convincing. The size will depend on your essay, but three sentences are your bare minimum. Normally, we have three body paragraphs that take up to 80% of our work.  

What Is the Purpose of an Essay Body Paragraph?

Why do we even need body paragraphs of an essay, and what is their purpose? It’s a good question. You might have noticed that our academic world doesn’t believe everything you’re right. So here’s why we need these parts of an essay:

• They make your essay more clear.
• Body paragraphs provide details and evidence that prove your argument.
• They also give you some time to analytically propose our solution for a problem, in case you have given any.
• Main body makes your writing sharp and convincing.

Body Paragraph Structure

We also wanted to talk about parts of a body paragraph . Like any essential part of an essay, this one has a specific structure. It consists of three main parts. Take a look below to find out:

• Topic sentence It summarizes the overall idea of your section.
• Supporting sentences They provide evidence to prove the argument from the beginning of the section.
• Concluding statement Wraps up the section and slowly leads to the next one.

How to Write a Body Paragraph?

Now we can think about how to start a body paragraph. Writing is challenging if one has no good tips or guidelines. So we made sure to include all points one might need. Find all our tricks and hacks from StudyCrumb .

1. Body Paragraph: Topic Sentence Introduction

How to start a topic sentence for a body paragraph? That is an excellent question. First and foremost, you should remember that the topic sentence is put at the beginning of our section. Consequently, it contains the main idea of your paragraph. It is an ideal opportunity to prepare the reader for what they are going to read about next. However, make sure that it doesn’t sound like a fact or a statement that one cannot argue. You've yet to prove it. Something like this will work.  

2. Back Up Your Claim With Evidence in Body of a Paragraph

Body paragraph of an essay was created specifically to add evidence and prove your point. As a consequence, it is an ideal opportunity to include everything that is related to your argument and proves it. The following items are usually used:

• Quotations from research
• Statistics or similar quantitative findings
• Experiences of other professionals in our field
• Schemes or tables retrieved from peer-reviewed sources that support your argument.

Therefore, by including our material that we have mentioned above, you have enough information to prove a claim. You can quote texts or paraphrase authors. But make sure that you give credit to original researchers. Otherwise, you might be facing plagiarism here. Run a plagiarism check before turning your paper in. 

3. Analyze the Evidence in Body Paragraph

Writing a body paragraph also involves not only giving it evidence but also analyzing it. Sadly, it is not enough to randomly put some numbers and statistics without taking our time and commenting on them. First and foremost, you should focus on thorough analysis. Everything you use, each piece of evidence, must be connected with an argument and be explained. Remember that you were making a case and not simply including quotations and words of other authors. To avoid the lack of analysis, make sure that each piece of evidence you use is followed by your own analysis. This combination of proof and your commentary will provide an ideal case for your argument.  

4. Concluding a Body Paragraph

How to end a body paragraph? That is also an excellent question. And we are glad that you asked. We all need some closure. As a consequence, our body paragraph must have some as well. Your concluding sentence provides a quick summary of all the other sentences and details. Mention what our reader has learned and slowly transition to the next paragraph. Also, make sure that you are not using any additional information. It’s not a very good place to do that.  

Transition Words for Body Paragraph

Body paragraph transition words are also crucial for a good flow of your text. What are transition words for essays ? There are those little things that tie everything together. They can show contrast at flow and ensure that our reader stays on top of the material all the time. You might have seen such words:  

• In contrast
• First and foremost
• In conclusion.

Here, our list is endless. But by using them, you keep the attention of your readers and arrange your text in a clear manner. Here’s an example:

Modern horror films greatly rely on jumpscares. In contrast, more old-fashioned movies preferred an eerie atmosphere and carefully crafted starting. 

5. Revise and Proofread Your Body Paragraph

Your essay body paragraph cannot be completed without some proper proofreading. We all make mistakes, especially when it comes to writing. You always should revise and proofread your text to find those embarrassing little errors. Remember, misspelling can happen to anyone. Moreover, the academic world is really harsh with how you write. Therefore, by proofreading your text, you also re-check whether you have proved your argument. It is a perfect opportunity to look critically at your text, analyze evidence and possibly even edit out some sentences. Keep in mind that word count is not the most important part of your essay.  

Tips on Writing a Great Essay Body Paragraph

A good body paragraph will be convincing and full of evidence. Of course, there are certain things to avoid and lots of points to remember. Moreover, there are different structures of body paragraphs depending on the type of work you’re writing. But we still want to include a final list of tips you can use. These tips will help you with the question, " How to write a paper fast ?"

• Start with outlining your sections.
• Keep your thesis statement nearby to recheck whether your body paragraphs prove their main argument.
• Research before you actually start writing.
• Write your topic sentences before adding evidence or quotations.
• Continue asking yourself whether you are given an analysis of your evidence and not just quoting it.

Body Paragraph: Example

We couldn’t leave you without body paragraph examples. Writing will be much easier if you have several examples at your disposal. While checking our example below, think about techniques that can be used to grab the attention of your reader. Besides, keep in mind the basic essay structure  that includes a topic sentence, supporting statements, and a concluding one.  

Final Thoughts on Writing a Body Paragraph

Now we know everything about our body of a paragraph. You might want to practice a little bit. But all tricks and tips are still here to check. Be sure to remember this structure for your essay.

Our academic writing service has everything you need. Our writers know practically everything to help you create, proofread and format your essay in no time.  

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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Body paragraphs: Moving from general to specific information

Your paper should be organized in a manner that moves from general to specific information. Every time you begin a new subject, think of an inverted pyramid - The broadest range of information sits at the top, and as the paragraph or paper progresses, the author becomes more and more focused on the argument ending with specific, detailed evidence supporting a claim. Lastly, the author explains how and why the information she has just provided connects to and supports her thesis (a brief wrap-up or warrant).

Moving from General to Specific Information

The four elements of a good paragraph (TTEB)

A good paragraph should contain at least the following four elements: T ransition, T opic sentence, specific E vidence and analysis, and a B rief wrap-up sentence (also known as a warrant ) –TTEB!

• A T ransition sentence leading in from a previous paragraph to assure smooth reading. This acts as a hand-off from one idea to the next.
• A T opic sentence that tells the reader what you will be discussing in the paragraph.
• Specific E vidence and analysis that supports one of your claims and that provides a deeper level of detail than your topic sentence.
• A B rief wrap-up sentence that tells the reader how and why this information supports the paper’s thesis. The brief wrap-up is also known as the warrant. The warrant is important to your argument because it connects your reasoning and support to your thesis, and it shows that the information in the paragraph is related to your thesis and helps defend it.

Supporting evidence (induction and deduction)

Induction is the type of reasoning that moves from specific facts to a general conclusion. When you use induction in your paper, you will state your thesis (which is actually the conclusion you have come to after looking at all the facts) and then support your thesis with the facts. The following is an example of induction taken from Dorothy U. Seyler’s Understanding Argument :

There is the dead body of Smith. Smith was shot in his bedroom between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to the coroner. Smith was shot with a .32 caliber pistol. The pistol left in the bedroom contains Jones’s fingerprints. Jones was seen, by a neighbor, entering the Smith home at around 11:00 p.m. the night of Smith’s death. A coworker heard Smith and Jones arguing in Smith’s office the morning of the day Smith died.

Conclusion: Jones killed Smith.

Here, then, is the example in bullet form:

• Conclusion: Jones killed Smith
• Support: Smith was shot by Jones’ gun, Jones was seen entering the scene of the crime, Jones and Smith argued earlier in the day Smith died.
• Assumption: The facts are representative, not isolated incidents, and thus reveal a trend, justifying the conclusion drawn.

When you use deduction in an argument, you begin with general premises and move to a specific conclusion. There is a precise pattern you must use when you reason deductively. This pattern is called syllogistic reasoning (the syllogism). Syllogistic reasoning (deduction) is organized in three steps:

• Major premise
• Minor premise

In order for the syllogism (deduction) to work, you must accept that the relationship of the two premises lead, logically, to the conclusion. Here are two examples of deduction or syllogistic reasoning:

• Major premise: All men are mortal.
• Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
• Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.
• Major premise: People who perform with courage and clear purpose in a crisis are great leaders.
• Minor premise: Lincoln was a person who performed with courage and a clear purpose in a crisis.
• Conclusion: Lincoln was a great leader.

So in order for deduction to work in the example involving Socrates, you must agree that (1) all men are mortal (they all die); and (2) Socrates is a man. If you disagree with either of these premises, the conclusion is invalid. The example using Socrates isn’t so difficult to validate. But when you move into more murky water (when you use terms such as courage , clear purpose , and great ), the connections get tenuous.

For example, some historians might argue that Lincoln didn’t really shine until a few years into the Civil War, after many Union losses to Southern leaders such as Robert E. Lee.

The following is a clear example of deduction gone awry:

• Major premise: All dogs make good pets.
• Minor premise: Doogle is a dog.
• Conclusion: Doogle will make a good pet.

If you don’t agree that all dogs make good pets, then the conclusion that Doogle will make a good pet is invalid.

When a premise in a syllogism is missing, the syllogism becomes an enthymeme. Enthymemes can be very effective in argument, but they can also be unethical and lead to invalid conclusions. Authors often use enthymemes to persuade audiences. The following is an example of an enthymeme:

If you have a plasma TV, you are not poor.

The first part of the enthymeme (If you have a plasma TV) is the stated premise. The second part of the statement (you are not poor) is the conclusion. Therefore, the unstated premise is “Only rich people have plasma TVs.” The enthymeme above leads us to an invalid conclusion (people who own plasma TVs are not poor) because there are plenty of people who own plasma TVs who are poor. Let’s look at this enthymeme in a syllogistic structure:

• Major premise: People who own plasma TVs are rich (unstated above).
• Minor premise: You own a plasma TV.
• Conclusion: You are not poor.

To help you understand how induction and deduction can work together to form a solid argument, you may want to look at the United States Declaration of Independence. The first section of the Declaration contains a series of syllogisms, while the middle section is an inductive list of examples. The final section brings the first and second sections together in a compelling conclusion.

How to write an essay: Body

• What's in this guide
• Introduction
• Essay structure
• Additional resources

Body paragraphs

The essay body itself is organised into paragraphs, according to your plan. Remember that each paragraph focuses on one idea, or aspect of your topic, and should contain at least 4-5 sentences so you can deal with that idea properly.

Each body paragraph has three sections. First is the topic sentence . This lets the reader know what the paragraph is going to be about and the main point it will make. It gives the paragraph’s point straight away. Next – and largest – is the supporting sentences . These expand on the central idea, explaining it in more detail, exploring what it means, and of course giving the evidence and argument that back it up. This is where you use your research to support your argument. Then there is a concluding sentence . This restates the idea in the topic sentence, to remind the reader of your main point. It also shows how that point helps answer the question.

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Body Paragraph

Definition of body paragraph, components of a body paragraph, different between an introduction and a body paragraph, examples of body paragraph in literature, example #1:  autobiography of bertrand russell (by bertrand russell).

“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy – ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness – that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what – at last – I have found.”

Example #2: Politics and the English Language (by George Orwell)

“The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism . A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow , blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms , like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find — this is a guess which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify — that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship.”

Function of Body Paragraph

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Body Paragraphs

In a typical academic paper, the basic structure includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. See our handouts on introductions and conclusions for more information on the particulars related to them, but for this handout, we will be covering body paragraphs and what to include when you write them.

Body paragraphs are situated between the introduction and the conclusion and reveal the support for your argument. You can organize these body paragraphs in a variety of ways (see our handout on  Organizational Strategies ), but whichever way you choose, make sure you are consistent, so your reader always knows what is coming next in your paper.

Basic Parts of a Body Paragraph

• Topic sentence
• Evidence cycle (Assertion, evidence, commentary)
• Concluding statement

As you can tell, there are several “moving parts” to a successful body paragraph. However, with a clear understanding of your paper’s purpose and guidelines, you should be able to tackle your content, no problem.

Now the handout will go over each of these aspects of a body paragraph in detail, with examples, so you can see how easy it is for a body paragraph to take shape!

Transition Placement

Transitions can be placed either at the end of a body paragraph to preview the next or at the beginning of the next body paragraph to connect it to the previous. If you’re unsure which you should use, check with your instructor to see if they have any particular preference.

The transition also does not have to be a separate sentence—sometimes the topic sentence and concluding statements can also do the work of the transition sentence.

Sample Paragraph

Since “Tick Tock” is played in reverse, we are not able to physically hear or make out what the characters are saying. As an alternative, Ien Chi uses subtitles to ensure the audience knows what the characters are conflicting about and to understand the plot at a higher level. With the use of the subtitles, the audience is able to see and relate to Emit’s mindset. Also, we are given a taste of the pain Emit is going through as he thinks he is about to die. Emit confesses his love for Rena in a way where one can tell he screwed up somewhere in the past. Then, we see him telling off his professor saying his teaching sucks and his lectures are stupid. With this, one can tell that Emit has a lot of anger built up inside of him. Then, we see him donating his whole wallet to a donation station. Emit calls his parents and apologizes for being a horrible son and for treating them so badly, but he loved them. He wanted to clear some things up and leave this earth on a good note, and the subtitles help us realize that. What better time to let it all out than when you are about to die? We are soon exposed to the whole reason why Emit is racing around asking for forgiveness. He has taken some pills that his buddy claims will kill him within minutes. This is a prank but quite a life changing one. Without the use of subtitles, we would not be exposed to the plot correctly. We would just see this guy running around frantically. This may have caused people to see this story as comedic rather than serious like it is supposed to be. Through the use of subtitles as an alternative dialogue, we are able to understand what is truly important to Emit when he is put at the face of death and how he got in this position in the first place.

This body paragraph contains all of the necessary parts to make it successful. Let’s dissect it to see each of these parts in more detail.

As we mentioned above in the tip box, transitions can go either at the end of a body paragraph to preview the next, or at the beginning of a body paragraph to sum up the previous. In this paragraph, the transition comes first:

“Since ‘Tick Tock’ is played in reverse, we are not able to physically hear or make out what the characters are saying.”

We know that the previous body paragraph dealt with the way the film plays in reverse, and can see that the direction for this new paragraph is how that affects the sound, or lack of sound, in the film.

Topic Sentence

The topic sentence follows the transition to give a more detailed introduction to the main idea of this paragraph. The topic sentence from the example paragraph above is:

“As an alternative, Ien Chi uses subtitles to ensure the audience knows what the characters are conflicting about and to understand the plot at a higher level.”

While it is still a little vague (the argument could be specified here and connected more clearly to the thesis of the paper), it allows the reader a preview so they’re prepared for the evidence to come.

Evidence Cycle

Next comes the support, which is the main bulk of the paragraph. This three-prong system repeats again and again until the paragraph is complete. In this paragraph, we have identified two different evidence cycles for you.

Assertation

The assertion introduces or provides context for the evidence you are about to give your reader. From the paragraph above there are two assertions.

First assertion: “Also, we are given a taste of the pain Emit is going through as he thinks he is about to die.”

Second assertion: “We are soon exposed to the whole reason why Emit is racing around asking for forgiveness.”

In these two examples from the above paragraph, we get a preview about this more specific point.

The evidence is the actual example or detail you will use, usually from a source of some kind. The first piece of evidence from the sample paragraph above is:

“Emit confesses his love for Rena in a way where one can tell he screwed up somewhere in the past. Then, we see him telling off his professor saying his teaching sucks and his lectures are stupid.”

The second piece of evidence is:

“He has taken some pills that his buddy claims will kill him within minutes.”

These two examples are specific moments from the short film that the author is using to prove the point posed in the topic sentence, and which builds on the argument made in the thesis statement.

The commentary follows through on the evidence presented with the author’s own ideas or analysis. The first example of commentary from the above sample paragraph is:

“With this, one can tell that Emit has a lot of anger built up inside of him.”

The second example of commentary from the above sample paragraph is:

“This is a prank but quite a life changing one. Without the use of subtitles, we would not be exposed to the plot correctly. We would just see this guy running around frantically. This may have caused people to see this story as comedic rather than serious like it is supposed to be.”

These examples of commentary provide further information to tie the details more fully and exactly to the argument of the paragraph and, thus, the paper as a whole.

Concluding Statement

Before moving on to the next paragraph, a body paragraph should end with some sort of concluding statement that provides closure to the main idea of that paragraph. The concluding statement from the above sample paragraph is:

“Through the use of subtitles as an alternative dialogue, we are able to understand what is truly important to Emit when he is put at the face of death and how he got in this position in the first place.”

With this sentence, the reader fully understands the point of the body paragraph and is ready to learn more and become more convinced by the information in the next body paragraph.

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Traditional Academic Essays In Three Parts

Part i: the introduction.

An introduction is usually the first paragraph of your academic essay. If you’re writing a long essay, you might need 2 or 3 paragraphs to introduce your topic to your reader. A good introduction does 2 things:

• Gets the reader’s attention. You can get a reader’s attention by telling a story, providing a statistic, pointing out something strange or interesting, providing and discussing an interesting quote, etc. Be interesting and find some original angle via which to engage others in your topic.
• Provides a specific and debatable thesis statement. The thesis statement is usually just one sentence long, but it might be longer—even a whole paragraph—if the essay you’re writing is long. A good thesis statement makes a debatable point, meaning a point someone might disagree with and argue against. It also serves as a roadmap for what you argue in your paper.

Part II: The Body Paragraphs

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. If it’s more complicated, you’ll 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:

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…

• like labels. They appear in the first sentence of the paragraph and tell your reader what’s inside the paragraph.
• arguable. They’re not statements of fact; they’re debatable points that you prove with evidence.
• focused. Make a specific point in each paragraph and then prove that point.

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…

• quotations and/or paraphrases from sources.
• facts , e.g. statistics or findings from studies you’ve conducted.
• narratives and/or descriptions , e.g. of your own experiences.

Analysis. The parts of a paragraph that explain the evidence. Make sure you tie the evidence you provide back to the paragraph’s main idea. In other words, discuss the evidence.

Transition. The part of a paragraph that helps you move fluidly from the last paragraph. Transitions appear in topic sentences along with main ideas, and they look both backward and forward in order to help you connect your ideas for your reader. Don’t end paragraphs with transitions; start with them.

Keep in mind that MEAT does not occur in that order. The “ T ransition” and the “ M ain Idea” often combine to form the first sentence—the topic sentence—and 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.

Part III: The Conclusion

A conclusion is the last paragraph of your essay, or, if you’re writing a really long essay, you might need 2 or 3 paragraphs to conclude. A conclusion typically does one of two things—or, of course, it can do both:

• Summarizes the argument. Some instructors expect you not to say anything new in your conclusion. They just want you to restate your main points. Especially if you’ve made a long and complicated argument, it’s useful to restate your main points for your reader by the time you’ve gotten to your conclusion. If you opt to do so, keep in mind that you should use different language than you used in your introduction and your body paragraphs. The introduction and conclusion shouldn’t be the same.
• For example, your argument might be significant to studies of a certain time period .
• Alternately, it might be significant to a certain geographical region .
• Alternately still, it might influence how your readers think about the future . You might even opt to speculate about the future and/or call your readers to action in your conclusion.

Handout by Dr. Liliana Naydan. Do not reproduce without permission.

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4c. Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs present the reasoning and evidence to demonstrate your thesis. In academic essays, body paragraphs are typically a bit more substantial than in news reporting so a writer can share their own ideas, develop their reasoning, cite evidence, and engage in conversation with other writers and scholars. A typical body paragraph in a college essay contains the following elements, which can be remembered through the useful acronym TREAT.

The TREAT Method

• T opic Sentence – an assertion that supports the thesis and presents the main idea of the paragraph
• R easoning – critical thinking and rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos
• E vidence – facts, examples, and other evidence integrated into the paragraph using summaries, paraphrases, and quotations
• A nalysis – examination and contextualization of the evidence and reasoning
• T ransition – the flow of ideas from one paragraph to the next

Effective body paragraphs are:

• Specific and narrow .  Topic sentences provide your audience a point of transition and flow from paragraph to paragraph. Topic sentences help you expand and develop your thesis and set up the organization of each paragraph. Developing specific reasoning and specific, concrete examples and evidence in each paragraph will build your credibility with readers. If used properly, well-developed reasoning and evidence are more compelling than general facts and observations.
• Relevant to the thesis.  Primary support is considered strong when it relates directly to the thesis. Body paragraphs should show, explain, and prove your thesis without delving into irrelevant details. With practice and the understanding that there is always another essay, effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Keeping your audience and purpose in mind when choosing examples will help you make sure to stay focused on your thesis.
• Detailed . Academic paragraphs are typically longer than newspaper and magazine paragraphs because scholars need space to develop their reasoning and provide sufficiently detailed evidence to support their claims. Using multiple examples and precise details shows readers that you have considered the facts carefully and enhances the impact of your ideas.
• Organized . If your paragraph starts to include information or ideas that stray from your topic sentence, either the paragraph or the topic sentence might need to change.

Reasoning and Evidence

In written and oral communication, we demonstrate our critical thinking skills through the various types of rhetorical appeals we make to our audience.  The purpose and audience for a writing task shape the way writers develop reasoning and select evidence to support their ideas.  Writers develop reasoning in body paragraphs through three primary methods: ethos, logos, and pathos.  Writers can deploy many forms of evidence to support their reasoning, including: facts, examples, judgments, testimony, and personal experience.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle developed a simple method for categorizing forms of reasoning by identifying three primary modes of argumentative reasoning: ethos, logos, and pathos.

• Ethos  is reasoning that establishes a writer’s credibility. By showing yourself to be a critical and sympathetic reader, who considers multiple perspectives and demonstrates ethical thinking, you can establish ethos in your body paragraphs.
• Logos  is reasoning that develops logical arguments and demonstrates a writer’s command of the facts. Demonstrating your knowledge of the facts and showing that you can distinguish between competing claims at truth will ground your writing in common sense and objectivity.
• Pathos  is reasoning that appeals to human emotions and psychological motivations. Humans are subjective animals, and our ability to develop an emotional connection with an audience can have a powerful or subtle impact on whether they will agree with a writer’s reasoning.

A fourth form of reasoning,  kairos , can occasionally be used to make an appeal to an audience that the perfect moment or right opportunity has arisen for action. Arguments for changing policies, ending wars, starting revolutions, or engaging in radical social change typically deploy kairos in addition to ethos, logos, and pathos in order to motivate people to take action a critical times in history.

Evidence includes anything that can help you support your reasoning and develop your thesis. As you develop body paragraphs, you reveal evidence to your readers and then provide analysis to help the reader understand how the evidence supports the reasoning and assertions you are making in each body paragraph.  Be sure to check with each instructor to confirm what types of evidence are appropriate for each writing task you are assigned. The following kinds of evidence are commonly used in academic essays:

• Facts . Facts are the best kind of evidence to use for academic essays because they often cannot be disputed or distorted. Facts can support your stance by providing background information or a solid evidence-based foundation for your point of view. Remember that facts need explanations. Be sure to use signal phrases like “according to” and “as demonstrated by” to introduce facts and use analysis to explain the relevance of facts to your readers.
• Examples  show readers that your ideas are grounded in real situations and contexts. Examples help you highlight general trends and ground your facts in the real world. Be careful not to take examples out of context or overgeneralize based on individual cases.
• Judgments . Judgments are the conclusions of experts drawn from a set of examples or evidence. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and a thorough examination of a topic. Citing a credible expert to support your opinion can be a powerful way to build ethos in your writing.
• Testimony . Testimony consists of direct quotations from eyewitnesses or expert witnesses. An eyewitness is someone who has direct experience with a subject; they add authenticity and credibility to an argument or perspective based on facts. An expert witness is a person who has extensive expertise or experience with a topic. This person provides commentary based on their interpretation of the facts or extensive knowledge on a topic or event.
• Personal Experience . Personal observation is similar to eyewitness or expert testimony but consists of your own experiences and/or expertise. Personal experience can be effective in academic essays if directly relevant to the topic and suited to the purpose of a writing task.

Key Takeaways

• Always be aware of your purpose for writing and the needs of your audience. Cater to those needs in every sensible way.
• Write paragraphs of an appropriate length for your writing assignment. Paragraphs in college-level writing can be up to a page long, as long as they cover the main topics in your outline.
• Use your prewriting and outline to guide the development of your paragraphs and the elaboration of your ideas.

Addressing Counterarguments and Different Perspectives

“Few things are more difficult than to see outside the bounds of your own perspective—to be able to identify assumptions that you take as universal truths but which, instead, have been crafted by your own unique identity and experiences in the world.”

~David Takacs

Why acknowledge and respond to other points of view?

• Address potential weaknesses in your argument before others can point them out to you.
• Acknowledge the complexity of an issue by considering different perspectives and aspects of an issue. No issue has a simple solution or is just Side A versus Side B.
• Establish your writing ethos (can your reader trust you?): your reader is more likely to trust you if you thoughtfully analyze an issue from multiple angles.
• Add to your essay’s word count!

Four steps to acknowledging and responding to other points of view

Step one: know your standpoint, what is my standpoint and why should i know it.

• Standpoint is the unique perspective from which you view the world. It includes: your background and experiences, your political and religious beliefs, your identity (gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and ability), your relationship to others, and your social privilege. These are things that will affect how you view and understand an issue.
• It’s important to acknowledge your standpoint because it affects what and how you argue.

Good writers are good readers! And good readers. . .

• Who are you?
• Make a list of what you’ll bring to a conversation about the issue on which you’re writing. What are your assumptions, your background and experience, your knowledge and expertise? Be honest!

Consider writing your standpoint into your essay

• Writing your standpoint into your essay builds trust with your readers. Even if they have a different standpoint, they will respect your honesty and hopefully listen respectfully to what you have to say.
• Writing from your standpoint can make your writing feel more authentic , to you and your reader. “This is me!”

Even if you don’t explicitly reveal your standpoint to your reader, you’ll want to know your standpoint so that you are aware of your own implicit bias as you write.

How do I write in my standpoint? Can I use “I”?

Try one of these templates:

• “What concerns me as a business major . . .”
• “I write this essay during a time when . . .”
• “I am concerned about. . .”

See how other writers we’ve read have done it:

• “Now, as a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education , I. . .” [From Anthony Abraham Jack, “I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren’t the Hard Part.” The New York Times Magazine ]
• “From my first day as a sociology professor at a university with a Division I football and men’s basketball team , education and athletics struck me as being inherently at odds. . .” [From Jasmine Harris, “It’s Naive to Think College Athletes Have Time for School,” The Conversation ]
• “In this society, that norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure. It is within this mythical norm that the trappings of power reside. Those of us who stand outside that power , for any reason, often identify one way in which we are different, and we assume that quality to be the primary reason for all oppression. . .” [From Audre Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”]
• “I might not carry with me the feeling of my audience in stating my own belief. . .” [From Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar”]

Step Two: C onsider potential weaknesses in your argument and different points of view on the issue

What potential weaknesses in your argument might you address.

• Logic : would a reader question any of your assumptions?
• between your reasoning and your claim: your main unstated assumption
• or between your evidence and your reasoning: is there evidence or types of evidence a reader might be skeptical of?
• Does the reader hold false assumptions about the issue?
• Could a reader give a different explanation of the issue ?
• Could a reader draw a different conclusion from the evidence ?
• Is there a specific reader who would disagree?

What alternative points of view on the issue might you consider?

• How might someone think differently about the issue?
• How might someone approach the issue from a different standpoint?
• What might keep someone from trusting or believing a claim or point you make?
• What might make someone tentative about taking action?
• What might keep a person from having an open mind?

Which one should I choose to address?

It depends on the essay’s length. You might consider 1-2 counterarguments that are most important for you to address in a paper (depending on the length).

• this could be a view your audience/community is likely to hold themselves
• or a common-knowledge one you think everyone will think of while reading
• and of course the one that is most specific to your argument
• if you can get one that fits more than one of these criteria, that’s even better!

What NOT to do when considering a counterargument

Build a straw man counterargument

• A straw man argument is a logical fallacy where the writer misrepresents or oversimplifies someone else’s argument in order to make it easier to refute.
• Writers also create straw man arguments when they make up a potential counterargument that is easy to refute, but isn’t something most people would reasonably believe.

Step Three: It’s time to write your counterargument into your essay

An exemplary counterargument:.

• exists as its own paragraph
• you fully acknowledge and respond to it
• Note: You don’t have to refute a counterargument for your argument to work. Our world is big enough to hold multiple points of view. The paragraph should ultimately support your thesis, but you may amend, qualify, complicate, or open up your claim, which is often why, organizationally, discussion of counterarguments or different points of view work best in the introduction of your essay to set up your claim or as the last body paragraph to lead into your conclusion.
• relates to your audience/community’s likely concerns and interests
• seems like a realistic thing someone might think (is not a straw man or caricature)
• ideally, is specific to your argument, not your topic in general
• considers both sides respectfully
• may be more than one counterargument or different perspective, but you’d need a separate paragraph for each in order to give them full consideration

Addressing a counterargument versus a different perspective

A true counterargument is the opposing claim on an issue:

• Claim: Academic probation does not help students progress.
• Counterargument: Academic probation does help students progress.

Different perspectives might offer different reasoning, consider different factors or conditions, or ask about different groups of people or situations.

A counterargument needs to be rebutted. Different perspectives can help you amend, qualify, complicate, or open up your claim.

You might use a counterargument to qualify your thesis

An example:

Reasoned thesis : Hook-up culture is now at the center of the institution of higher education because it is thick, palpable, the air students breathe, and we find it on almost every residential campus in America. [From Lisa Wade, “Sociology and the New Culture of Hooking Up on College Campuses“]

A counterargument : Research findings suggest that the sexual practices of college students haven’t changed much since the 1980s. [From David Ludden, “Is Hook-Up Culture Dominating College Campuses?”]

Qualified claim : Although sexual practices of college students haven’t changed much in the last few decades , hook-up culture is now at the center of the institution of higher education because it is thick, palpable. . .

Counterargument paragraph : “The topic of my book, then, isn’t just hooking up; it’s hook-up  culture . . .” (Wade).

A template for a counterargument paragraph

I recognize that others may have a different perspective than [state your claim*]. They might believe that [state their claim]. They believe this because [provide several sentences of support]. However, [restate your claim and explain in several sentences why you believe the way you do].

*You can also consider counterpoints to your reasoning, evidence, or standpoint.

Step Four: Decide where to organize your counterargument paragraph

Being aware of different perspectives can also help you develop your conclusion paragraph. In your conclusion, you can reaffirm your claim and then:

• amend part of your claim
• qualify your claim
• complicate your claim
• open up your claim

Writing as collaboration

Think of adding in counterarguments or different perspectives as collaborating with others on addressing an issue. . .

Brazuca illustrations by Cezar Berje, CC0

Opening up our minds and our hearts to different perspectives makes us stronger.

Writing as Inquiry Copyright © 2021 by Kara Clevinger and Stephen Rust is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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3.3 Body Paragraphs

If the thesis is the roadmap for the essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows an introductory paragraph by simply reading the thesis statement. The body paragraphs present the evidence the reader has gathered to support the overall thesis. Before writers begin to support the thesis within the body paragraphs, they should find information from a variety of sources that support the topic.

Select Primary Support for the Thesis

Without primary support, the argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points writers choose to expand on the thesis. It is the most important information they select to argue their chosen points of view. Each point they choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph they write. The primary foundational points are further supported by evidentiary details within the paragraphs.

Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support

In order to fulfill the requirements of good primary support, the information writers choose must meet the following standards:

Be Specific

The main points they make about the thesis and the examples they use to expand on those points need to be specific. Writers use specific examples to provide the evidence and to build upon the general ideas. These types of examples give the reader something narrow to focus on, and, if used properly, they leave little doubt about their 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 their main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with a great deal of information that could be used to prove the thesis, writers may think all the information should be included in the body paragraphs. However, effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Good writers choose examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to the thesis.

Add Details

The thesis, while specific, should not be very detailed. Discussion develops in the body paragraphs. Using detailed support shows readers that the writer has considered all the facts and chosen only the most precise details to enhance the point of view.

Prewrite to Identify Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

When writers brainstorm on a topic, they essentially make a list of examples or reasons they support the stance. Stemming from each point, the writer should provide details to support those reasons. After prewriting, the writer is then able to look back at the information and choose the most compelling pieces to use in writing body paragraphs.

Select the Most Effective Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

After writers have engaged in prewriting to formulate working thesis statements, they may have generated a large amount of information, which may be edited later. It is helpful to remember that primary support must be relevant to the thesis. Focusing on the main argument, any ideas that do not directly relate to it can be deleted. Omitting unrelated ideas ensures that writers will use only the most convincing information in their body paragraphs. For many first-year writing assignments, students would do well to choose at least three of the most compelling points. These will serve as the content for the topic sentences that will usually begin each of the body paragraphs.

Body Paragraph Structure

One wat to think about a body paragraph is that it, essentially, consists of three main parts: the main point or topic sentence, information and evidence that supports the main point, and an example of how the information gives foundation to the main point and the essay’s overall thesis. The three parts of a paragraph can be referred to as the following:

I = Information

E = Explanation

An Example of Abbreviated Version of P.I.E.

As a pedestrian in Hawai‘i, it is important to be aware of one’s surroundings. In 2018, 43 pedestrians died in car accidents (Gordon 3). Hawai‘i’s roadways can be dangerous, and being vigilant is necessary in order to increase pedestrian safety.

Point: As a pedestrian in Hawai‘i, it is important to be aware of your surroundings.

Information: In 2018, 43 pedestrians died in car accident.

Explanation: Hawai‘i’s roadways can be dangerous, and being vigilant is necessary to increase pedestrian safety.

Use Transitions

Transitional words and phrases help to organize an essay and improve clarity for the reader. Some examples of transitions can be found at “ Transitional Devices ,” The Purdue Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

• Write a paragraph that contains a main point, follow-up and substantial information, and an explanation about how that information relates to the main point of the paragraph or to the overall thesis of the essay. The topic of your paragraph is up to you. What topic would you like to write about?

P: What is the main point of your paragraph?

I: What information backs up your point?

E: Explain how this information proves that your main point is correct.

Combine these three parts to form a paragraph.

Further Resources

Ashford University Writing Center: “ Essay Development: Good paragraph development: as easy as P.I.E. ” Writing resources .

Works Cited

“ 43 pedestrians died on Hawaii roadways in 2018. That’s more than the number killed in vehicles. ” HawaiiNewsNow , 3 January 2019.

Parts of this section are adapted from OER material from “ Writing Body Paragraphs “ in Writing for Success v. 1.0 (2012). Writing for Success was adapted by Saylor Academy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensor.

English Composition Copyright © 2019 by Contributing Authors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay, With Outlines and an Example

A five-paragraph essay is a simple format for writing a complete essay, fitting the minimal components of an essay into just five paragraphs. Although it doesn’t have much breadth for complexity, the five-paragraph essay format is useful for helping students and academics structure basic papers.

If you’re having trouble writing , you can use the five-paragraph essay format as a guide or template. Below we discuss the fundamentals of the five-paragraph essay, explaining how to write one and what to include. 

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What is a five-paragraph essay? 

The five-paragraph essay format is a guide that helps writers structure an essay. It consists of one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs for support, and one concluding paragraph. Because of this structure, it has been nicknamed the “hamburger essay,” the “one-three-one essay,” and the “three-tier essay.” 

You won’t find too many five-paragraph essay examples in literature, simply because the format is too short. The five-paragraph essay format is more popular for educational assignments, such as school papers or quick writing exercises. Think of it as a writing tool to guide structure rather than an independent genre of essay. 

Part of the appeal of the five-paragraph essay format is that it can accommodate all types of essays . No matter your assignment, whether an argumentative essay or a compare-and-contrast essay , you can apply the structure of a five-paragraph essay to communicate clearly and logically, as long as your topic is simple enough to be covered in just five paragraphs .

How to start a five-paragraph essay

As with all essays, before you begin writing a five-paragraph essay, you first need to know your thesis, or main topic. Your thesis is the idea you will defend or expand upon, and ultimately what your entire essay is about, and the three paragraphs in the middle will support, prove, or elaborate on your thesis.

Naturally, you can’t begin writing until you know what you’re writing about. If your thesis is not provided in the assignment, choose one that has sufficient content for discussion, or at least enough to fill five paragraphs. 

Writers typically explain the thesis in the thesis statement , a sentence in the first paragraph that tells the reader what the essay is about. You don’t need to write this first, but phrasing the topic as a single sentence can help you to understand it, focus it, and revise it if needed. 

Once you’ve selected a topic, we recommend writing a quick essay outline so you know what information to include and in which paragraphs. Your five-paragraph essay outline is like a blueprint where you can perfect the order and structure of your essay beforehand to save time on editing later. 

How to transition between paragraphs

One of the biggest challenges in essay writing is transitioning from one paragraph to another. Good writing is seamless and fluid, so if your paragraph transitions are jarring or abrupt, readers will get distracted from the flow and lose momentum or even interest. 

The best way to move logically from one point to another is to create transition sentences using words or phrases like “however,” “similarly,” or “on the other hand.” Sometimes adding a single word to the beginning of a paragraph is enough to connect it to the preceding paragraph and keep the reader on track. You can find a full list of transition words and phrases here . 

Five-paragraph essay format

If you’re writing your five-paragraph essay outline—or if you’re diving right into the first draft—it helps to know what information to include in each paragraph. Just like in all prose writing, the basic components of your essay are its paragraphs . 

In five-paragraph essays, each paragraph has a unique role to play. Below we explain the goals for each specific paragraph and what to include in them. 

Introductory paragraph

The first paragraph is crucial. Not only does it set the tone of your entire essay, it also introduces the topic to the reader so they know what to expect. Luckily, many of the same suggestions for how to start an essay still apply to five-paragraph essays. 

First and foremost, your introductory paragraph should contain your thesis statement. This single sentence clearly communicates what the entire essay is about, including your opinion or argument, if it’s warranted. 

The thesis statement is often the first sentence, but feel free to move it back if you want to open with something more attention-grabbing, like a hook. In writing, a hook is something that attracts the reader’s interest, such as mystery, urgency, or good old-fashioned drama. 

Your introductory paragraph is also a good spot to include any background context for your topic. You should save the most significant information for the body paragraphs, but you can use the introduction to give basic information that your readers might not know. 

Finally, your introductory paragraph should touch on the individual points made in the subsequent paragraphs, similar to an outline. You don’t want to give too much away in the first paragraph, just a brief mention of what you’ll discuss. Save the details for the following paragraphs, where you’ll have room to elaborate. 

Body paragraphs

The three body paragraphs are the “meat” of your essay, where you describe details, share evidence, explain your reasoning, and otherwise advance your thesis. Each paragraph should be a separate and independent topic that supports your thesis. 

Start each paragraph with a topic sentence , which acts a bit like a thesis statement, except it describes the topic of only that paragraph. The topic sentence summarizes the point that the entire paragraph makes, but saves the details for the following sentences. Don’t be afraid to include a transition word or phrase in the topic sentence if the subject change from the previous paragraph is too drastic.

After the topic sentence, fill in the rest of the paragraph with the details. These could be persuasive arguments, empirical data, quotes from authoritative sources, or just logical reasoning. Be sure to avoid any sentences that are off-topic or tangential; five-paragraph essays are supposed to be concise, so include only the relevant details. 

Concluding paragraph

The final paragraph concludes the essay. You don’t want to add any new evidence or support in the last paragraph; instead, summarize the points from the previous paragraphs and tie them together. Here, the writer restates the thesis and reminds the reader of the points made in the three body paragraphs. 

If the goal of your essay is to convince the reader to do something, like donate to a cause or change their behavior, the concluding paragraph can also include a call to action. A call to action is a statement or request that explains clearly what the writer wants the reader to do. For example, if your topic is preventing forest fires, your call to action might be: “Remember to obey safety laws when camping.” 

The basic principles of how to write a conclusion for an essay apply to five-paragraph essays as well. For example, the final paragraph is a good time to explain why this topic matters or to add your own opinion. It also helps to end with a thought-provoking sentence, such as an open-ended question, to give your audience something to think about after reading. 

Five-paragraph essay example

Here’s a five-paragraph essay example, so you can better understand how they work. 

Capybaras make great pets, and the laws against owning them should be reconsidered. Capybaras are a dog-sized animal with coarse fur, native to eastern South America. They’re known across the internet as the friendliest animal on the planet, but there’s a lot of misinformation about them as pets. They’re considered an exotic animal, so a lot of legal restrictions prevent people from owning them as pets, but it’s time to reevaluate these laws. 

For one thing, capybaras are rodents—the largest rodents in the world, actually—and plenty of rodents are already normalized as pets. Capybaras are closely related to guinea pigs and chinchillas, both of which are popular pets, and more distantly related to mice and rats, another common type of pet. In nature, most rodents (including capybaras) are social animals and live in groups, which makes them accustomed to life as a pet. 

There are a lot of prevalent myths about capybaras that dissuade people from owning them, but most of these are unfounded. For example, people assume capybaras smell bad, but this is not true; their special fur actually resists odor. Another myth is that they’re messy, but in reality, capybaras don’t shed often and can even be litter-trained! One rumor based in truth is that they can be destructive and chew on their owners’ things, but so can dogs, and dogs are one of the most common pets we have. 

The one reasonable criticism for keeping capybaras as pets is that they are high-maintenance. Capybaras require lots of space to run around and are prone to separation anxiety if owners are gone most of the day. Moreover, capybaras are semi-aquatic, so it’s best for them to have a pool to swim in. However difficult these special conditions are to meet, they’re all still doable; as with all pets, the owners should simply commit to these prerequisites before getting one. 

All in all, the advantages of capybaras as pets outweigh the cons. As rodents, they’re social and trainable, and many of the deterrent myths about them are untrue. Even the extra maintenance they require is still manageable. If capybaras are illegal to own where you live, contact your local lawmakers and petition them to reconsider these laws. You’ll see first-hand just why the internet has fallen in love with this “friend-shaped” animal! 

In this example, you’ll notice a lot of the points we discussed earlier.

The first sentence in the first paragraph is our thesis statement, which explains what this essay is about and the writer’s stance on the subject. Also in the first paragraph is the necessary background information for context, in this case a description of capybaras for readers who aren’t familiar with them. 

Notice how each of the three body paragraphs focuses on its own particular topic. The first discusses how rodents in general make good pets, and the second dispels some common rumors about capybaras as pets. The third paragraph directly addresses criticism of the writer’s point of view, a common tactic used in argumentative and persuasive essays to strengthen the writer’s argument. 

Last, the concluding paragraph reiterates the previous points and ties them together. Because the topic involves laws about keeping capybaras as pets, there’s a call to action about contacting lawmakers. The final sentence is written as a friendly send-off, leaving the reader at a high point. 

Five-paragraph essay FAQ

What is a five-paragraph essay.

A five-paragraph essay is a basic form of essay that acts as a writing tool to teach structure. It’s common in schools for short assignments and writing practice. 

How is it structured?

The five-paragraph essay structure consists of, in order: one introductory paragraph that introduces the main topic and states a thesis, three body paragraphs to support the thesis, and one concluding paragraph to wrap up the points made in the essay.