Want to learn how to write better body paragraphs for your English essays? Keep reading to discover the best structure to follow for your next exams.
Your body paragraphs are the substance of the essay, where big ideas are explored in depth and the secrets of your text are unveiled. This is where your thorough analysis will be placed and where you paint the picture of your argument.
This post is specifically about structuring your BP to facilitate the marking process and provide a Band 6 essay framework. If you want to learn more about analysis and structuring your essay as a whole, check out our other blog posts and resources page.
Importance of Structure
Yes, ideas are important. Yes, analysis is important. But if your paragraphs are missing a fundamentally solid flow, the reader will be running back and forward through your work trying to figure out what’s going on.
Imagine trying to unscramble a 900 word anagram. Without a logical flow of ideas and evidence, your reader gets completely lost in the specifics and stops considering the complex ideas you've been drafting for weeks.
A weak structure is not only the easiest way to lose marks, but a surefire path to confusing yourself in the process.
Un-perplex yourself by brainstorming your ideas, structure and analysis before writing your essay. Our pages on Essay Framework and Before Writing your Essay can help guide you through the essay writing process and streamline your English learning.
How do we structure our Body Paragraphs?
Even though the BP is the chunkiest bit of your essay, we have a simple framework to follow to keep your structure in line and your reader thinking about your argument.
In your Body Paragraph you will;
Explain your point and link to the question
Link back to your argument and how it responds to the question
For this guide, we’ll be using the following question as an example to guide you towards writing more cohesive, stronger essays:
“Conflict allows us to grow.” To what extent is this statement true of your prescribed text?
Our previous post on Writing an Introduction discusses writing a thesis. Since we need to match our thesis and topic sentences, check out that page to see how we laid the foundation of our essay.
Thesis: Our responses to the inherently conflicting dualities of the collective and individual human experience inspire cathartic introspection to facilitate the enrichment of humanity.
A. Topic Sentence
The first line of your body paragraph not only introduces one of your key ideas, but also explains how that key idea answers the question.
How do we do that?
Decide on the key argument to use for that paragraph. See our page on Before Writing your Essay and Essay Framework for more help
Determine how that idea fits into your holistic argument and answers the question
Use key vocabulary from the question and relevant rubric
Illustrate complex ideas through straightforward expression
"The playwright contends that commercially driven values of Venetian society restrict a collective attachment to Elizabethan morality thereby inhibiting the growth of collective virtue."
In our example we
explore a complex idea in the commercial restriction of morality with clear expression
Respond to the question in the discussion of inhibited growth
Use strong key language to contend our argument
Topic sentences are just the jumping point for your discussion so keep them broad enough that they answer the question and specific enough that they have some textual relevance. A tough line, we know.
We have extensive samples for Band 6 essays in our shop with more coming all the time so that you have access to all the resources you need.
B. Content
The content of your body paragraph is built from evidence and explanation. Here is where you use the text you’ve spent a term studying to build an argument and crucially, respond to the question.
How to build an argument?
Expand on the topic sentence and develop your argument. This can be less to do with the question and more focused on the specific idea. Now’s the time to get specific to the text and characters
Provide evidence and explanation for your argument. Aim for every sentence to include a quote, technique and the idea portrayed by that analysis.
Build on the last idea with new insights and evidence. This should build as your paragraph progresses to come to an ultimate conclusion about that concept.
Summarise how the idea links to the holistic argument and question.
Expanding:
Within the commercial marketplace, established as a shared setting of transactions and moral virtue in the relation of “my purse, my person, my extremist means”, Shakespeare highlights the inevitable connection between monetary transactions and Christian morality while exposing this interdependence as paradoxically restrictive, engendering an individualistic pursuit of balance and resolution.
Evidence + Explanation:
Shakespeare illustrates this pursuit through Shylock, ostracised by the collective for his Jewish faith despite his status as a “wealthy hebrew” as he finds equilibrium in the objective law, the transactional “pound of flesh” symbolising the character’s insular concern with the monetary value of the individual.
Our body paragraphs are not just information dumps of analysis and evidence!
As they build and develop, our idea is fleshed out and the reader gains insights into the conceptual depth of the text.
This Evidence + Explanation should continue 2 to 4 times within each paragraph to build depth and show an understanding of the text.
Final Evidence + Explanation:
This corruption in the prioritisation of transactions over human connection is exemplified in his wishing for “ducats in her coffin” where Shylock equates monetary value to his daughter’s life, serving as an allegory to affirm the loss of morality instigated by self-extrication from collective Elizabethan values.
C. Linking Sentence
The final linking sentence of our paragraph links back to the topic sentence and question to provide an ultimate message to the audience. Remember, while this is specific to the idea of that paragraph, the question must always be considered.
Ultimately, Shakespeare examines the downfall catalysed by self-interested responses to collective tensions between transactions and moral ideals to expose the impossibility of growth from individualistic behaviours.
Again this is achieved through;
Using a linking word to signify the end of our paragraph
Discussing the key point to take away from the paragraph
Using powerful key language to link to the thesis and question
That’s it
You’ve just learnt how to write a huge chunk of your essay. This proven Band 6 structure will guide you through better structuring you writing to make it more readable and logical, ultimately getting you better marks.
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Key lessons to take into your next essay are;
Respond to the question throughout your paragraph by using key rubric and question words
Build your argument throughout your paragraph using quotes, techniques and explanation
If you found this post helpful then check out our others on Writing your Introduction and Before Writing Your Essay, share them with your friends and let us know how you go in your exams.
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Good Luck and Happy Writing!
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