Constructing the Substantive Paragraph
 

When writing about more complicated subjects, you may find it necessary to go into some depth about a particular point you wish to make. Treating that point with substance and depth may require that you expand the size of some paragraphs. Here's a suggestion for how such a paragraph might be built.

  1. Start a substantive paragraph with something akin to a topic sentence. This literally doesn't have to be a single sentence that states the "thesis" of the paragraph, but rather merely announces the point that you wish to make.

  2. Next, you may want to clarify any of the language used in the topic sentence. Does a term need defining? Do so here. Perhaps another sentence or two is all you need to finish explaining the nature of the point.

  3. Here is the key to good substantive paragraphs: give an example. This is when and where paraphrases or quotes can be used to bring in the research and evidence that support your argument. This borrowing might simply be an example of what you're talking about--a personal story, perhaps. In literary critiques, this is where the story text is used and discussed. In our expository essay, this is where our seven primary sources can be used.

  4. Sometimes, it helps to explain or at least comment on the evidence. Maybe a sentence or two would help readers see how the example applies to your main point.

  5. Finally, depending on where this paragraph occurs in your paper, you might include a transitional statement to your next paragraph. Sometimes this can occur as the first sentence in your next paragraph.


Here is a paragraph that illustrates this model:


Many people today are advocating online courses for many of today's students.

They believe that delivering college course material this way gives many more

students access to college who might otherwise not have the means to go or

the time required to attend. But English Professor Jerry Farber of San Diego State

University argues in his essay, "The Student and the Screen," that "the classroom

offers a learning environment that is whole, rich, resonant, multi-dimensional,

alive and full of surprises: real people in real time and real space" (1). Thus,

even if more students may take advantage of the convenience of online courses,

they will miss out on the real experience that is college, and that makes online

course offerings, I believe, a false promise of providing a good college education.

[Yet, even in the actual college classroom, certain features must be present for the

experience to be considered good.]

 

In short, this paragraph follows this organization:

  I. Point
 II. Clarification 
III. Illustration or Example 
IV. Explanation or Commentary 
 V. Transition [optional]