How to Write an Essay: Planning Paragraphs
Once you've completed a mind-map, you should know exactly what your answer to the question is, as
well as all of the points you are going to make in order to support that
answer.
However, there’s
one more aspect of planning that is vital: knowing the field and being able to
provide citations and data in order to support your points. You’ll need to show
that you’ve thought about all of the different angles to a point, and that you’ve
consulted the experts in the field, so that your essay can have authority and your ideas can gain more validity. That’s why it’s important to
plan the structure and content of your paragraphs in some detail as well.
For a detailed
discussion of what goes into a body paragraph, you can once again go to the
Academic Coaching website for more information. I’ll run through some of the
basics of a paragraph with you here so that you know how to plan your
paragraphs before you start writing them.
A body paragraph in
an academic essay has one main idea. Each paragraph looks at one different
aspect of your argument; having more than one point in any paragraph usually
comes across as disorganized and shows that you might not have planned your
essay well.
A paragraph has
three main components. The first component is the topic sentence, where you let the reader know what your paragraph
will be about. Your topic sentence is extremely basic, merely indicating the
main point that your paragraph will focus on. Your topic sentence should flow
from the previous paragraph in a logical way, and it should advance your argument, meaning that it
shows how the new idea that you’re introducing fits in with the rest of the
points you’ve already made. For the essay on “Little Red Riding Hood” given in
the previous chapter, your topic sentence for paragraph 2 could look something
like this:
The resilient character of the girl in the story can be seen in
the fact that she is surrounded by danger, but never runs away from it.
You’ve linked the paragraph to the main idea by stating that
the girl is resilient, and you’ve introduced the point that your current
paragraph will focus on, namely the danger that the girl is surrounded by. The
reader immediately understands what the paragraph will be about and why you are
writing the paragraph, because it advances the argument you are already making about
how the girl is strong and resilient, and how the hood represents this.
The second component of your body paragraph is called evidence or support. This is where you
give some citations and look at all of the various aspects of the point that
your paragraph focuses on. You might give examples of the point you are trying
to make, such as pointing to the wolf as evidence of the danger in the story. This
part of your paragraph is also where you show the research that you’ve done and
how the research fits into your essay.
The final component of a body paragraph is explanation. In this section, you
explain how the evidence you’ve presented supports
your thesis statement. How do all of the examples, research or citations
that you’ve presented in this paragraph support not only the main point of your
paragraph, but the main focus of your entire essay? This section should clarify
this in a few sentences.
You can find examples of good paragraphs on the website, but
let’s go back to talking about your planning. Now that you know what goes into
a paragraph, it will help you tremendously to plan your paragraphs in a lot of
detail. Do as much research on your topic as you can, and every time you
stumble upon a new citation or piece of data that might fit into one of your
paragraphs, pencil it into your mind-map. Rearrange the layout of your
paragraphs, or delete points that seem less interesting when you think of
something that could better make your point.
I even advise my students to go as far as giving themselves
a word count for each paragraph. If you know that your essay should be
3000-words long, decide how many words each paragraph might need, and don’t
waste too much time on a paragraph once you’ve reached your word limit. This
will help to ensure that your essay is balanced, and that you don’t spend half
your word count only talking about one small aspect and then quickly try to
cram the rest of the points you want to make into only a few sentences.
Finally, planning your paragraphs is also about planning the
order that your paragraphs will be presented in. Make sure that the order is
logical, and that your argument is developing with each new paragraph. If you
have any explanations, they shouldn’t be found in the final few paragraphs of
your essay, but should probably be right at the front. If you can arrange your
paragraphs logically and ensure that
they flow from one to the next, you’ll
have a much more persuasive argument and a much more compelling essay.