Research Paper

Examples of Body Paragraphs for the Research Paper

One of the most important things you need to remember in writing a good paper is to use topic sentences. A topic sentence is the first sentence of each body paragraph and tells what that paragraph is about. The important thing to remember is that the topic sentence MUST be related to your thesis statement. (If you are writing about a theme of man against nature in the novel Frankenstein, for example, then all of your topic sentences throughout the essay should address how that theme is shown in the novel.) Then, after your topic sentence, you should have events or quotes from the primary source as well as criticism to support your point. The whole paragraph should not be quotes. You must tie them to YOUR idea (your topic sentence, which is supporting your thesis). At the end of each body paragraph, you must have a sentence in your words which gives the significance of the information you have just provided. In other words, each body paragraph will, at the very least, begin with a sentence in your words (the topic sentence) and end with a sentence in your words (a clincher). Here are some examples. I have provided the thesis statement from each introduction for reference so that you can see how the topic sentence for each body paragraph relates and connects to that thesis statement.

Example #1:

(Thesis statement: These negative aspects all contribute to the black experience, and Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye depicts rather well the black experience of the early to middle 1900’s.)

One very important aspect of the black experience of this time period is the use of the Dick and Jane text. Michelle Wallace points out, “Countless American children have encountered this text--which lays out the world as classless, lily-white, sexually stratified but sexless, timeless and without history . . .” (64). The Dick and Jane text, emphasizes Klotman, “is one which we are all familiar--It is the world of the first-grade basic reader--middle-class, secure, suburban and white, replete with dog, cat, non-working mother and leisure-time father” (par. 3). In The Bluest Eye, Morrison quotes a passage from the Dick and Jane reader using three different versions. The first version is as follows: “Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty.

Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy . . .” (Morrison 3). This

first version of the simulated-reader quotation is clear, straight, rendered in ‘Standard English’--correct and white. The second, while it repeats the message exactly, assumes a different visual appearance on the page which is less clear yet still comprehensible although written without proper capitals or punctuation . . . The third, the wording of which is likewise unaltered, is completely run together, one long collection of consonants and vowels seeming to signify nothing . . .. (Klotman par. 6)

By making reference to this passage and using different versions of it, Morrison is depicting and comparing them to the lifestyles of her characters.

(NOTE: Example #1 also shows how to block a quote and how to document a source that is electronic. The reference is to paragraph numbers. Also, you block a quote that is more than four lines. Finally, notice how she ties in the topic sentence to the thesis by re-using the phrase “black experience.” Then, read her last sentence which gives the significance of her use of the sources. In other words, she answers my question of “So what’s your point?”).

Example #2:

(Thesis statement: Individually, the female characters in Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place represent a number of character types, but, collectively, they portray a large segment of black women living in American during the mid-to-late twentieth century, searching for identity and self-worth.)

Several of Naylor’s female characters may be seen as stereotypes of black women, but together they struggle to transcend the boundaries placed on them by society. As one critic points out, “The Women of Brewster Place portrays seven very different African American women. The familiar stereotypes are there: the motherly, religious woman who accepts things and goes on, the hussy with the heart of gold, the welfare mother who has one baby after another by different men, the gossip (Sophie), the middle-class matron” (Brown). Though each of Naylor’s characters may represent what American white society label as typical, she shows how hard black women work together to rid themselves of these labels. In the chapter “The Block Party,” Naylor demonstrates this when she writes:

Women flung themselves against the wall, chipping away at it with knives, plastic forks, spiked shoe heels, and even bare hands; the water pouring under their chins, plastering their blouses and dresses against their breasts and into the cracks of their hips. The bricks piled up behind them and were snatched and relayed out of Brewster Place past over-turned tables, scattered coins, and crushed wads of dollar bills. They came back with chairs and barbecue grills and smashed them into the wall. The ‘Today Brewster—Tomorrow America’ banner had been beaten into long strands of red and gold that clung to the wet arms and faces of the women. (Naylor 186)

Naylor uses the tattered banner to symbolize their battle with stereotypes. The banner also offers words of hope for a better future. Clearly, it can be seen when there is a cause, black women will unite and work together to overcome the wall of oppression with words that prove valuable to their culture.

(NOTE: Example #2 shows how to format a blocked quote. A blocked quote is a direct quote that is more than four lines. It is indented in further than a paragraph indention – approximately ten spaces. Also, if you have a quote within your blocked quote, you will use single quotation marks. In addition, you should note the information in the parenthetical documentation of the secondary source – Brown. If your source is electronic and very lengthy, you may just put the author’s last name. Finally, notice that in punctuating the quote, for a blocked quote, the period will go before the parenthetical documentation.)

Example #3:

(In his first novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden explores the mind of a young girl as she struggles to discover her own identity – not only as a geisha, but as a unique individual.)

At the beginning, Chiyo is just an ordinary girl who must learn to adapt to the changing ways of a dysfunctional family. As her mother falls ill, Chiyo is forced to let go of her child-like life and accept responsibilities she may not be ready for, especially since her sister is not skilled at domestic work. Chiyo and her sister are then sold to Mr. Tanaka Ichiro who separates the sisters and gives Chiyo over to an okiya to be raised as a geisha. This places Chiyo into a “position of indentured servitude: she may not leave until she has repaid all of her living expenses and even her original purchase cost” (Zaleski & Stienberg 49). During this time, Chiyo is unable to see past the pain she is experiencing. However, after some time passes, Chiyo realizes that “[her] life would have been a simple stream flowing from [their] tipsy house to the ocean. [But] Mr. Tanaka changed all that when he sent [her] out into the world” (Golden 172). This landscape metaphor allows the reader to see the changing paths of Chiyo’s life and the sudden change in her perspective by relating her life to the waters of a stream (Moore 144). After hearing news of both of her parents’ deaths, Chiyo is then able to “[turn] around and face a new direction . . . forward toward the future” (Golden 175). Although it would be easy for Chiyo to break down at this point, she manages to continue working at the okiya. Scholar and author Ekken states that women must always remain in control and “even at the peril of her life, must she harden her heart like rock or metal, and observe the rules of propriety . . . “ (Jansen 197). This is the first turning point for Chiyo as she begins to accept the unpredictability and uncontrollable nature of life. She also begins to notice that despite personal grief and pain, the standards and everyday lives of women, especially geisha, are strict and unforgiving during this time in Japan.

Note: Students should use quotes from both the novel/play AND secondary sources to develop body paragraphs. Also, notice that this student used “non-literary” secondary sources about her subject (women and geisha life) – which is sometimes necessary for a more current novel.