CEA PARAGRAPHS HOW TO ESTABLISH AN ARGUMENT AND BUILD A SUPPORTIVE PARAGRAPH

“CEA PARAGRAPHS” ARE THE SAME AS “BODY PARAGRAPHS” WE CALL THEM “CEA” TO REMIND YOU OF THE NECESSARY STRUCTURE FOR YOUR SUPPORTING EVIDENCE  We assume you already know that a body paragraph must begin with a topic sentence (a controlling idea, argument, or claim). That’s not new, so it’s not part of the acronym.  The Acronym:  C = Context: This is what’s happening in the text in the place your evidence appears.  E = Evidence: This is a quoted fragment of original text.  A = Analysis: This is you making a judgment about the evidence, explaining its significance.  The tricky part is blending all three parts together into one cohesive sentence.

LET’S SAY YOU SEE SOME FIGURATIVE MEANING IN THE THREE LITTLE PIGS’ HOUSES. AFTER ALL, THEY ARE MADE OF DIFFERENT MATERIALS.  You want to study what the houses are made of and what they suggest about the pigs.  First, locate a meaningful quote fragment about the construction of the house: “made of straw” is the best option in our simple example.  Paraphrase what happens just before the fragment: The first pig quickly constructs a home  So far, you have the C and E: The first pig quickly constructs a home “made of straw” (1).  Great! But that’s just fact; you need to make a judgment about that pig’s choice of materials and what it suggests about him.  You need Analysis.

ANALYZING YOUR EVIDENCE FOR FIGURATIVE MEANING  OK. What do you know about straw?  It’s the dry stalk left over from harvesting wheat.  It grows in great abundance and is easy to cut.  It is lightweight and easy to transport.  What does this say about our pig? Make a judgment!  He is too lazy to do the real work of gathering homebuilding supplies and chooses a quick and easy alternative.

BLENDING THE THREE PIECES  Take the C and E from earlier: The first pig quickly constructs a home “made of straw” (1)…  Blend in what you know about straw: a byproduct easy to acquire and transport…  Choose a “marker verb” (an academic verb like reveals, suggests, depicts..) and blend the judgment: revealing the first pig’s inherent laziness and haste.  All together: The first pig quickly constructs a home “made of straw” (1), a byproduct easy to acquire and transport, revealing the first pig’s inherent laziness and haste. Inherent (natural), haste (speed)

ONCE AGAIN: The Pieces:  Context = The first pig quickly constructs a home  Evidence = “made of straw”  Analysis = a material easy to acquire and transport, revealing the first pig’s inherent laziness and haste. The Assembled CEA block  The first pig quickly constructs a home “made of straw” (1), a material easy to acquire and transport, revealing the first pig’s inherent laziness and haste.  This is one CEA building block.  You need at least three CEA blocks to build your paragraph.

A FULL CEA PARAGRAPH T HESE CEA BLOCKS ARE MORE ADVANCED. DON’T LET THEM SCARE YOU; JUST LOOK AT THE WHOLE PARAGRAPH FOR NOW.  Topic Sentence  CEA block  Overall closer It is clear from the outset of “The Chaser” that Alan is a naïve and lonely young man desperate for love. As Alan visits the old man, climbing the stairs “as nervous[ly] as a kitten” (28), he is clearly intimidated and vulnerable, which makes his determination all the more remarkable, and all the more desperate. His inexperience with relationships is apparent when, after hearing of the obsessive effects of the love potion, Alan defines the concept with a gleeful “That is love!” (28). He is so desperate for attention that he can’t understand his own inexperience and the dangers that will come from such behaviors. Alan’s naivete is so serious, he completely misses the old man’s obvious hints about returning for “more expensive things” (28), while the reader understands quite clearly that Alan will eventually be back for more help. The kind of love Alan will get from his one-dollar love potion will smother him, and Alan will find himself desperate again—to be free of it at any cost.

YOU CAN DO IT!  Eventually, you will be able to write CEA blocks that alter the order of the pieces, use multiple quote fragments for one block, and have more than one sentence…  But for now…  Focus on the most basic structure and on blending the pieces into a smooth sentence.  Build up and support your topic sentence argument with at least three of these blocks. Build it strong and it will stand.

Photo Credits The Three Little Pigs: itunes, apple.com, January 2013 Straw in a field: OilTrends online magazine, October 2013 Cartoon pig: Starry starry Night, blogspot, March 2014, original source not cited Farm piglet: Getty Images, MSN UK, June 2013.