1. Body Paragraph Argumentative

2. FORMAT Topic Sentence/Claim Evidence #1 (weaker argument) Analysis
Evidence #2 (stronger argument)
Counterargument
Counter Evidence (Rebuttal to counter-argument)
Concluding Thought/Statement

3. Claim Statement (CL)
Yes, it is your opinion, however it is research based and NEVER ever contain the following:
I think…
In my opinion…
I believe…
It may be helpful to start your thesis by thinking about it this way, however do not include it in your actual thesis statement.
Short and simple. To the point. Thesis statement should be only ONE sentence.
Limited to only one main idea. Too many things make it difficult to follow.
Declarative sentence. No qualifiers [might, maybe, perhaps]. Sound like you believe in it and support it.
Has no personal pronouns or contractions.
Does NOT use “first” or “second” person
No “I” or “we”
No “you”

4. Evidence
For this paragraph you must have at least 3 pieces of evidence to support your topic sentence
Evidence can come in the form of:
Facts
Statistics
Quote from an experts
Usually you will start an Evidence sentence with a transition word.

5. Transition
Transitions are words and phrases that take your reader smoothly from one idea to another.
Transitions connect your topic sentence to your evidence.
See handout for various types of transition words

6. Lead-Ins A lead-in often come between the transition and the evidence.
Lead-in’s set up your evidence in a smooth fashion:
For example, “many students do not want to come to school.”(Smith)
For example, according the National Center For Teen Bullying the pressure to dress a certain way leads, “many students [to] not want to come to school” (Smith).

7. ANALYSIS
Elaboration shows HOW and WHY your Evidence supports your topic sentence and claim.
Synonyms for elaboration include back up, insight, analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, or reflection.
Elaboration never uses the term “I think”

8. COUNTERAGRUMENT
After your second fact, transition into what the other side says about the issue.
Your elaboration sentence would then explain how that goes against your claim.

9. CONCLUDING SENTENCE The last sentence in a body paragraph.
It does not repeat key words from the topic sentence
This is where you “wrap-up” what you have been saying already. AND, if you have more than one paragraph it sets the reader up for what the next paragraph will be about.

10. IN-TEXT CITATIONS
You have to credit each source you use at the end of the sentence of sentences in which it appears.
Because this information appears in parentheses, it is called parenthetical documentation.
It usually consists of the author’s last name and a page number (Murphy, 8).
Here are some exceptions:
Website: Because a website has no page number, use only the author’s name (Murphy). If the site does not credit an author, use the short form of the title, (“Bullying”)
Author named in sentence: Use only the page number.
More than one source for a single idea: List both sources and separate them with a semicolon. (“Shiloh”; Murphy, 8)