Body Paragraphs

Parts of a body paragraph:

Topic Sentence: Makes a statement that shows what the
paragraph is about. This sentence should support the main
thesis, in an essay.
Point: Your statement that will show your thesis is correct.
This is your argument or main idea.
Proof: You can provide support for your argument in a
number of ways: specific examples, quotations from a text,
statistics, facts, etc. In a literary essay, you will use
quotations from your text. For your quotes, you should
explain how your quote proves your point, and provide
context for the quote. Context is a brief explanation of who
says the quote, when it occurs and what is happening in the
text at the time.
It is a good idea to have at least two supporting proofs for
each point.
Example:
Topic sentence:
Point #1:
Proof 1a:

Proof 1b:

Melinda is a very troubled character in the

novel Speak.
Melinda finds it very difficult, even impossible,
to speak up for herself.
She speaks to her family less and less as the
novel goes on. For example, in chapter 8,
during thanksgiving, she says quote from text
(p. 108). This shows that Melinda
communicates very little with her parents at
this point.
Later in the novel, she is unwilling to make an
oral presentation, even though her passing
grade depends on it. When the history teacher
tells her she has to present, she says: quote
from text (p.213).