Writing Lesson Building UNIFIED Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs - Unity Body paragraphs must be UNIFIED  All of the sentences must relate to a single subject which is stated in the TOPIC SENTENCE Topic sentence must relate back to your primary topic Topic sentence must signal the purpose of your paragraph

Body Paragraphs – Must Include Evidence Evidence consists of:  Paraphrased ideas from your research sources  Direct quotes from your research sources  Statistics, data and other facts from your research sources

Body Paragraphs – Embedding Quotes You must include a “lead in” for your quote which might include information such as WHO said the quote, WHEN it was said or under WHAT circumstances Do not just strand your quote, your quote cannot just be inserted into a paragraph without a proper lead in

Body Paragraphs – Citing Sources OVERARCHING RULES: Each piece of evidence in your body paragraph must be cited (refer to the research source where you got the information) The in-text (or parenthetical) citation must begin with the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry in the Works Cited List.

Body Paragraphs – Citing Sources Place the citation where there is a pause in the sentence – normally before the end of the sentence or before a comma “ Quote” (Sandars 62).

Body Paragraphs – Citing Sources The citation should be (author’s last name page #)  If there is no page number, omit and just use the author’s last name  If there are three or fewer authors, include their last names in the order they appear in the Works Cited entry  If there is no author, use the title of the source instead (this can be abbreviated, but must start with at least the first word of the title)

Body Paragraphs – Final Sentences The final sentence of the paragraph could do any of the following:  Remind the reader of how the information in the paragraph is relevant to the topic or your claim about the topic  Summarize the content of the paragraph

Body Paragraphs – Transitions Make connections between your ideas Give the reader directions on how to put together all of your ideas Within a paragraph:  Connect quotes and ideas  Usually a single word or a short phrase See your transition word bank handout