Basic Elements of a Body Paragraph

for an Essay Evaluating an Expository Essay

1.) From your reading and thinking about the MR essay (excerpt from a full-length book) you have chosen to evaluate, identify an element to concentrate on -- something you find as a strength or a weakness. For example:

• Carson's use of vivid examples is a strength of her writing.

• Ehrenreich's use of footnotes is distracting and a potential weakness for her book.

• Mitford's "dark humor" is definitely an incentive to continue reading her book.

• Rose's empathy towards his subject and the people he writes about, including himself, helps the reader establish a connection to, and care about, the subject.

• Tannen's "academic analysis" of various aspects of male-female communication in the workplace might be off-putting to some readers.

• These are "the main ideas supporting your thesis" (Aaron 458).

• These will "[form] the main divisions of your paper" (Aaron 458).

2.) Show and explain that particular element. For example:

• Give an example of the element -- through summary, paraphrase, and/or quotation (SHOWING).

• Explain HOW and WHY the writer might be using that element in the essay (TELLING).

3.) Introduce a research source (or even more than one source) that is both reliable and relevant to the element you are discussing. (Including a research source is not required for every body paragraph.)

• You can include a source that supports the point you are making.

• You can include a source that contradicts the point you are making -- and you will then offer a "counter-argument" to the source.

• Re-present the idea from the research source -- through summary, paraphrase, and/or quotation.

• Be sure to clearly "introduce" the source into your own writing -- who is the author? what are his/her credentials?

• Once you have presented the source, be sure to "follow up" or "comment" on the source -- why are you including it here? why or how is it significant to the point you want to make? NOTE: In essay #1, I often had to write "end the paragraph on your own" -- do not let a source end a paragraph for you!

• "A link between sources" (Aaron 457).

4.) Connect or SYNTHESIZE the sources together.

• "Forging a relationship for your own purpose" (Aaron 457).

• "As you infer [and imply] connections -- say, between one writer's opinions and another's or between two works by the same author -- you create new knowledge" (Aaron 457).

• "Conclusions you have drawn from your synthesis of sources" (Aaron 458).

NOTE: "When drafting the paper, make sure each paragraph focuses on an idea of your own, with the support for the idea coming from your sources" (Aaron 458).