https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cre6r3VcZA3
Read through the following as a reinforcement of what is discussed in the video, and come back to this information when you are writing body paragraphs for your essays. The task you will be asked to complete for this assignment is below.
Writing body paragraphs is maybe the most important part of writing an essay simply because most of the essay is made up of body paragraphs (as opposed to the introduction or the conclusion). For this reason, it is important to understand the different ingredients that go into a good academic body paragraph. I use the word “ingredients” because writing is a lot like cooking, first you follow a recipe to understand how different ingredients work with each other in order to achieve the basic flavor of a dish, but eventually you come to master those ingredients and no longer have to look at a recipe in order to make the dish taste the way you want it to taste, rather than the recipe.
The basic ingredients (we will introduce others as the course progresses) of a developed body paragraph are as follows:
- Topic Sentence
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Comment
- Transition
Topic Sentence:
State the point of the paragraph. What is the main idea you are exploring in this one segment of your essay? Be sure that it has some connection to the overall thesis from your introduction. If it doesn’t, then you are probably off track from the essay’s purpose. Keep the topic sentence simple and direct. One mistake that developing writers often make is trying to make their ideas “sound” smart by using overly complex diction and syntax, but as you learn to work with this key ingredient, keep the wording simple so that your idea will be clear.
Explanation:
Expand on the point from your topic sentence without going into the specific evidence yet. If there are any words that need defining in your topic sentence, this is a good place to do it.
*Example:
Use quotations that support the point of the paragraph or that add necessary voice from authoritative sources. Use any other specific data, detail, or example that supports the point of the topic sentence.
*Connection:
Explain the connection of the quotation or example to the topic sentence. Don’t assume that your reader will make that connection on their own.
Transition:
Connect the main idea of this paragraph with the main idea of the next paragraph. Not all paragraphs need a transition; you need to decide if the ideas from one to the other naturally flow, or if you need to make it clear with a transition.
* You should usually have two or three examples in a typical paragraph. Each time you should follow that example with a brief connection. However, each example and connection won’t need to be as detailed as what I showed you above. We will discuss incorporating several examples/connections later in the semester.
Assignment:
Now, watch an episode of any television show of your choice and write a paragraph discussing how the show deals with race, class, gender, or sexual orientation. Is the show attempting to empower marginalized groups, attempting to shed light on the plights of marginalized groups, subverting stereotypes, perpetuating stereotypes, some combination of these?
For the purpose of this exercise, you only need one example and one connection. For the transition, just imagine the next paragraph will be about one of the other topics of race, class, gender or sexual orientation that you didn’t use for this one. Instead of writing it in typical paragraph format, separate each ingredient like this:
Topic Sentence:
Explanation:
Example:
Connection:
Transition:
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