The Structure of Body Paragraphs
A good academic
essay or a well-structured chapter in a dissertation will have at least three
body paragraphs, each looking at a different component of the main contention
or thesis. Your body paragraphs
follow your introduction and come before your conclusion, and they contain the
bulk of the points which you use to advance your discussion or make your
argument.
The thesis statement is the component that
informs what your paragraphs should be about. Your thesis statement is found in
your introduction paragraph, and it is the main point that your essay will
address. You need to have a clear, well-formulated thesis statement in order to
know what your paragraphs should be about. To find out how to write a thesis
statement and a full introduction, there are free guides available on the
Academic Coaching website, www.writeyourthesis.com,
but we’ll look at a basic example here if you are already familiar with what a
thesis statement should look like.
A thesis statement is
the answer to the question that is
asked by the topic. For example, if your topic is to write about how different
amounts of sleep affect daily functioning for individuals, your thesis
statement could look as follows:
In this essay, I will demonstrate with data that the average
adult functions optimally with seven hours of sleep per night, and that any
more than eight-and-a-half hours is detrimental to functioning.
You have clearly answered the question here, and the reader
knows exactly what the contents of your essay will be. They will want to see evidence that seven hours of sleep is
the optimal amount, and that too much sleep is bad. Your paragraphs thus need
to logically deliver this evidence.
You could therefore have the following paragraphs in your
essay:
·
Introduction
·
Body 1: Explain the effects of sleep and why it
is important
·
Body 2: Explain your particular study
methodology
·
Body 3: Show how less than 7 hours is
detrimental
·
Body 4: Show how 7 is beneficial
·
Body 5: Show how more than 8 ½ is detrimental
·
Conclusion
Your essay structure is an extension of the ideas contained
in your thesis statement. You will have to have certain ideas, discussions or
evidence in your essay in order to show all the parts of your thesis statement,
as well as to explain certain things that the reader needs to know to make
sense of your essay. Every paragraph becomes essential to delivering the points
which support your thesis statement.
The second thing you’ll notice is that each of the
paragraphs in our essay outline deals with only one point of the discussion. This is much easier for the reader to
make sense of. Our minds can only really make sense of one new idea at a time,
and our essay structure should make the ideas as easily understandable as
possible. We break our paragraphs with line breaks so that readers can understand
each section as a new thought which takes the discussion one step further.
A good way to test if you only have one idea per paragraph
is to try and summarize each of your paragraphs in one line. If you use the
word “and”, you might already have two ideas in that paragraph. Do your best to
keep your paragraphs short and clear; around four to eight sentences should be
enough for most paragraphs, as long as they accomplish all of the goals that
paragraphs are meant to accomplish.
The final element of good body paragraphs is that they
should have coherence and logical flow between them. Your paragraphs should
build on one another, and not feel redundant, irrelevant or out-of-place. If
your reader moves from one paragraph to the next, the transition should be as
smooth as possible, and you should try and clearly show the reader why the next
point you make is the logical one to make.
Redundancy is
where you say things that don’t need to be said, or you repeat certain ideas.
If you are talking about chairs, you don’t need to explain that chairs are used
to sit on. This point is obvious and redundant.
Irrelevant ideas
are those that don’t add to your argument or don’t fit with the rest of your
points. For example, in our essay about the optimal sleeping times, it would be
very irrelevant to begin talking about how much you enjoy sleeping and the fact
that you wear cotton pajamas. The reader doesn’t need to know that in order to
understand your discussion. Leave out any points that might be distracting or
leave your reader confused.
When you move from one paragraph to the next, it’s important
to try to use signposting for the
reader. This means that you use certain words to show the logical links between
your ideas, like “therefore”, “thus”, “hence”, “in addition”, and other terms
that show them some logical links in your discussion. There are some resources
on signposting on the Academic Coaching website if you are interested in
learning more about how to use them. For now, just be sure that the reader is
never lost in your essay. Your paragraphs should follow the roadmap that was
laid out in your introduction, and you shouldn’t take any detours along the
way. Your introduction tells the reader where you are taking them and how you
will get there, your paragraphs do exactly what you set out to do in as
straight a line as possible, and your conclusion is the end point that your
essay or chapter works towards.
Next, we’ll look at the three components of body paragraphs,
starting with the topic sentence.
Review Your Learning:
•
Your paragraphs should all link to your thesis
statement. You shouldn’t include any paragraphs which don’t help you to reach
your conclusion in some way
•
Your paragraphs should only have one point each,
and this point should be additional support which strengthens your main idea
•
Avoid redundancy and irrelevant ideas.
•
Use signposting, especially when starting new
paragraphs, so that readers can follow the logical flow of your discussion