RESEARCH ESSAY

Body Paragraphs

IDEA → Introduce an idea related to your thesis. This will be the topic sentence of your paragraph.

ILLUSTRATE → Show that idea. Flesh it out. Use examples, details, data, quotes. This is where you’ll bring in your sources.

INTERPRET → Explain the significance of what you just illustrated. Draw connections between the idea and

the illustrations. Point it all back to the thesis. Help your readers understand what’s going on.

Example

[…] THESIS → In order to preserve the natural state of the Amazon rainforest, we must quickly begin implementing

sustainable practices that will both protect the Amazon, as well as boost the local economy and provide a means of

making a living for the workers who call the Amazon their home. [ … ]

IDEA → One potential answer to this problem that scientists have been exploring is Permaculture, short for

“Permanent Agriculture.” ILLUSTRATE → This type of agriculture relies on biodiversity and a mimicking of natural

ecosystems to grow a variety crops while also keeping the soil healthy enough to let it sustain human farming. The idea is

“to develop and apply methods to minimize work, to transform ‘waste’ into a resource, to increase productivity and yields,

and to restore environments” (Delambre 8). Specific techniques employed in Permaculture include “Agroforestry,” where

farmers glean from the interaction between trees and smaller foliage that grow around them, to recreate a forest floor

biosystem, that will then create a healthier environment for trees. Another is “Hügelkultur,” which involves burying scrap

wood — that otherwise would have been discarded — under the forest floor to help retain more water. Rainwater is also

often harvested to minimize the use of extra water from other sources. INTERPRET → These methods of Permaculture

have actually been drawn from the way that Amazon natives and other indigenous have been farming for thousands of

years; the reason why they have been able to maintain their way of life for so long is precisely because they do not deplete

their environment. If Permaculture were to be implemented, farmers would simply just switch their methods of farming,

rather than give it up altogether, and the environment would benefit from the less-destructive practices. Not only would

the land be revitalized, but there would not be as intense of a need to cut down trees to make way for newer plots of land.

Furthermore, because Permaculture is based on the principle of recycling, it wouldn’t require a massive investment of

money; in fact, theoretically, it would save farmers money. The implementation of tools needed to practice agriculture

would take some time, but natural regeneration would prevent corporations from needing to constantly replace equipment.

This is the idea of Permaculture, realized: permanent agricultural methods that we can rely on far into the future.