This is a step-by-step guide on how to create body paragraphs for your essay or paper. You may need to repeat some steps or delete some steps depending on how long your essay or paper needs to be.
Create an Outline
The first step to writing a body paragraph is to do an outline. I know, I know, it seems like extra work. However, if you’re staring at a blank screen, this will really help you get things going. It’s important that you type this because that way you can easily add details without having to rewrite everything. Here’s an example for a four paragraph essay:
Thesis Statement: While most of the characters in the movie Shrek use deception, the character Shrek is able to maintain his integrity.
Topic Sentence 1: The majority of the characters in the movie Shrek use deception to get what they want.
Topic Sentence 2: Shrek maintains his individual integrity.
Conclusion: Throughout the movie, Shrek maintains his individual integrity, while other characters use fraudulence to fulfill their selfish desires.
You want your thesis statement to have a part of each body paragraph. In this case, we need two body paragraphs, so there are two parts of the thesis (character deception + Shrek integrity). You will write one topic sentence for each part. For the conclusion, you just restate the thesis using different wording.
Add Quotes
The second step to writing body paragraphs is to add concrete details (CD) to your outline. These are quotes from the movie, book, article, etc. that you are writing about or using as a reference. If you are having a hard time finding quotes from a novel, I suggest you visit Shmoop.
Thesis Statement: While most of the characters in the movie Shrek use deception, the character Shrek is able to maintain his integrity.
Topic Sentence 1: The majority of the characters in the movie Shrek use deception to get what they want.
CD 1A: “Every night I become this, this horrible ugly beast! I was placed in the tower to await the day when my true love would rescue me. That’s why I have to marry Lord Farquaad before the sun sets, and he sees me… like this” (Shrek 2001).
CD 1B: “Okay, I’ll tell you… Do you know the Muffin Man… well, she’s married to the Muffin Man” (Shrek 2001).
Topic Sentence 2: Shrek maintains his individual integrity.
CD 2A: “Can’t we all settle this over a pint?” (Shrek 2001).
CD 2B: “But you can’t marry him… because, because he’s just marrying you so he can be king” (Shrek 2001).
Conclusion: Throughout the movie, Shrek maintains his individual integrity, while other characters use fraudulence to fulfill their selfish desires.
Please note, that this essay is based on a movie. If you are writing about a book or an article, you would usually put (Author Page #) instead of (Shrek 2001). Here is a link to Google Scholar where you can find quotable nonfiction articles.
Also, some of these example quotes are a little long, but you can shorten them later when you add context to the concrete details.
Add Commentary for Your Quotes
The third step to writing body paragraphs is to bulk up your concrete details.
First, set up the scene. It will require a full sentence before the quote that tells how the quote is an example of what the topic sentence is talking about.
After that, you need a sentence starter that says when, where and/or who says the quote. This is a good place to put information that you take out of long quotes.
Set the Scene for CD 1A: Fiona withdraws and deceives the other characters to hide the curse placed upon her. When Donkey sees that she becomes an ogre each night, Fiona explains: “That’s why I have to marry Lord Farquaad before the sun sets, and he sees me… like this” (Shrek 2001).
The next step is to summarize the quote in your own words.
Summary for CD 1A: Fiona plans to marry Lord Farquaad without him knowing that she becomes and ogre at night.
Finally you need to add two sentences of commentary. Commentary answers questions like: What is your opinion of the quote? Why is this quote important? How does this quote relate to the thesis of your paper?
Commentary for CD 1A: Disgusted by her ogre form, Fiona believes that, by using deception, she can rid herself of it before people find out. She chooses to deceive others instead of accepting herself for what she becomes at night.
You have to do this for each concrete detail. This turns each quote into 5 sentences:
- Intro to Concrete Detail (1 Sentence)
- Concrete Detail (1 Sentence)
- Summary of Concrete Detail (1 Sentence)
- Commentary of Concrete Detail (2 Sentences)
Concluding Sentences
The fourth step to writing body paragraphs is to write a concluding sentence for each body paragraph. This wraps up what you said in the paragraph and introduces what is coming in the next paragraph.
Concluding Sentence for Body Paragraph 1: The aforementioned scenes demonstrate how the majority of Shrek characters spend their time trying to deceive one another, but there is one character who believes in honesty.
See what I did there? I wrapped up the paragraph about deceptive characters and transitioned into my next paragraph which will be about how Shrek uses integrity.
Create Outline 3
This is the template for your final outline:
- Thesis Statement
- Topic Sentence 1
- Concrete Detail Intro 1A
- Concrete Detail 1A
- Summary of Concrete Detail 1A
- Commentary of Concrete Detail 1A
- Concrete Detail Intro 1B
- Concrete Detail 1B
- Summary of Concrete Detail 1B
- Commentary of Concrete Detail 1B
- Concluding Sentence 1
- Concrete Detail Intro 1A
- Topic Sentence 2
- Concrete Detail Intro 2A
- Concrete Detail 2A
- Summary of Concrete Detail 2A
- Commentary of Concrete Detail 2A
- Concrete Detail Intro 2B
- Concrete Detail 2B
- Summary of Concrete Detail 2B
- Commentary of Concrete Detail 2B
- Summary of Concrete Detail 2B
- Concluding Sentence 2
- Concrete Detail Intro 2A
- Conclusion
Write the Draft
Okay! You have successfully made it through all three outline steps. Now the last step to writing body paragraphs is to write your first draft by putting outline 3 into paragraph form. Simply cut, copy, and paste so the third outline looks like a thesis statement, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Now you are ready to write the introduction and conclusion! We have a webpage to help you write those. Once you’ve written your introduction and conclusion. It will be time to edit your paper and write your bibliography. Check out our English page with links to do all this and more.
If you have any ideas on how to improve this page, please e-mail them to Marci@RegalLessons.com.
Beyond Writing Body Paragraphs
For more English resources, visit our English Language Arts page! For help with other subjects, visit our Study Tools page!
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