ENGL (TIF 025-M11)

Steps for Writing Body Paragraphs

This week, you will write three paragraphs.  Each paragraph will either describe or explain one of the three characteristics in your thesis statement.

Follow this format to write each body paragraph:

1. Begin with a topic sentence that introduces the characteristic.

Example: Though as an adult I have only ever grown tomatoes and flowers, I still consider myself part of the farming community.

2. Add two-three descriptions or examples that show (not tell) your reader how this characteristic has shaped you.

Example: I have vivid memories of running through the tall corn stalks with my sister and shelling butterbeans on my grandmother’s front porch until my thumbnails were sore and green.

Example: Each Sunday after dinner, we would drive out to the country to look at the crops, and the mood was undoubtedly better when there was a good rain that summer.

3. Write a sentence that connects the descriptions/examples to the characteristic.

Example: The work ethic displayed by my grandparents and parents, whether it was in the hot warehouse that smelled so strongly of tobacco or in the yellow kitchen where all that corn was being put up has instilled in me a determination to persevere and an appreciation of the simple things in life.

4. Write a transition sentence that leads to your next characteristic.

Example: Even though those long summer days in the garden and kitchen involved lots of hard work, I remember them fondly because they were always filled with laughter.

5. Now begin your next body paragraph with a new topic sentence.

Example: They say that laughter is the best medicine, and that has definitely been the case for me.

Example Paragraph:

Though as an adult I have only ever grown tomatoes and flowers, I still consider myself part of the farming community. I have vivid memories of running through the tall corn stalks with my sister and shelling butterbeans on my grandmother’s front porch until my thumbnails were sore and green. Each Sunday after dinner, we would drive out to the country to look at the crops, and the mood was undoubtedly better when there was a good rain that summer. The work ethic displayed by my grandparents and parents, whether it was in the hot warehouse that smelled so strongly of tobacco or in the yellow kitchen where all that corn was being put up has instilled in me a determination to persevere and an appreciation of the simple things in life. Even though those long summer days in the garden and kitchen involved lots of hard work, I remember them fondly because they were always filled with laughter.

They say that laughter is the best medicine, and that has definitely been the case for me….

EXAMPLE BELOW

Thesis Statement

My childhood, my desire to be healthier, and my goals to become a teacher have all contributed to who I am today. 

In my childhood, I learned that working hard for what I wanted in life and becoming the person I wanted to be. I learned by sitting in the room, having quiet talks with Mom about life. Growing up with all sisters was fun, but being the baby was not; I was spoiled from sitting in the room and thinking about life, which made writing in the journal a habit that kept me focused and determined. I lay across my bed and dreamed of what life would look like when I got older, from going over to my granddad's house to helping him on the farm with sweet potatoes, watermelon, and collard greens, from sitting on the porch shelling peas and smelling the pot of collards cooking on the stove, to having fun and going to the state fair, which was small in my time, with funnel cakes so good, loving the smell of fall when it came in from outside, falling in the fall leaves, which my sisters and I would get out and rake up in the yard, and from going to the flower shops every summer with Mom and gardening in the yard, planting my favorite sunflower that was a great childhood.

When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and found out I was borderline diabetic, I knew it was time to start eating healthier. I had been eating out at fast-food places a lot, and the food was greasy. I knew it was not good for me. I love to drink coffee every day with four packs of creamer and seven packs of sugar. In my mind, I would say it is okay for me. I love sweets, making cupcakes down to Debbie cakes, which I always got from a Food Lion, a candy bar, but when it was time for me to go to the doctor because my body was not feeling right, that's when I did all those tests, and they diagnosed me with border line diabetic it does run in my family, so what I did I chance my eating habits. I would eat salads and fruit and go for walks a lot; then I fell back into sweets I got sick. My mom would say to me, " Girl, being a diabetic is nothing to pay for. When I went back to eating greasy food, I had a little mini stroke, which got me on high blood pressure Medine now, so I had to learn to look at my health and also eat healthier. I love fruit now, but it has to be cold watermelon, strawberries, and my favorite kiwi.

My goal of becoming a teacher started when I learned what working means. I knew I had to set my goals for what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I have changed my mind so many times. First, I wanted to be a CNA. When I did some research, I said that field was not for me. Then I went to school to work in EMS. When I started watching the videos, I said, " Nope, this is not for me either when I started having nieces and nephews, I was saying to myself I wanted to work with children. I always dreamed of teaching. When I got older, I would sit my baby dolls in the living room and teach them; Mom used to laugh at me when I got online to do research on how to become a teacher. I keep saying to myself Is this what I wanted to do and I took the next step in life to do what I wanted, to set my goals, wrote them down daily, and I am now taking classes to become a teacher. I want to teach elementary level, nothing higher. Now I am at the elementary school level and love it as a TA; my goal is to become a teacher someday.

Description

You will use description to tell your readers about the physical characteristics of a person, place or thing. Description relies on the five senses- sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Through description, you communicate your view of the world to your readers. If your readers come to understand or share your view, they are more likely to accept your observations, your judgements, and, eventually, your conclusions.

Description conveys your personal response to your subject. Here your perspective is not necessarily stated explicitly; often it is revealed indirectly, through your choice of words and phrasing. For something that has a special meaning to you, you could give a subjective reaction to your topic by selecting and emphasizing details that show your feelings about the place. A subjective description should convey not just a literal record of sights and sounds but also their significance. For example, if you objectively described a fire, you might include its temperature, duration, and scope. If, however, you subjectively described the fire to re-create for your reader a sense of how the fire made you feel, you might give your reactions to the noise, to the dense smoke, to the destruction.

Inexperienced writers tend to pack their descriptions with general words such as nice, great, terrific, or awful substituting their own reactions to an object for the qualities of the object itself. All good descriptive writing, whether objective or descriptive, relies on specific detail. Your aim is not to just tell readers what something looks like but to show them. Every person, place, or thing has special characteristics, and you should use powers of observation to detect them. Then, you need specific words that will enable your readers to imagine what you describe. Don’t be satisfied with “He looked angry” when you can say. “His face flushed, and one corner of his mouth twitched as he tried to control his anger.”

Examples

Examples are used to illustrate or explain a general point or an abstract concept. Most effective and successful essays are exemplification extensively. Exemplification is used in every kind of writing situation to explain and clarify, to add interest, and to persuade. Sweeping generalizations and vague statements are not nearly effective as specific observations, anecdotes, details, and opinions. It is one thing to say, “The mayor is corrupt and should not be reelected” and another to say, “The mayor should not be reelected because he has fired two city workers who refused to contribute to his campaign fund, has put his family and friends on the city payroll, and has used public employees to make improvements to his home.”

Using Examples (Illustrating Ideas)

How can you spice up your general ideas with the “stuff” of real life? How can you tug your readers deeper and deeper into your essays until they can say, “I see just what you mean”? Well-developed essays have such power because they back up general points with evidence that comes alive for readers.

Though illustrations take many forms, writers often find themselves indebted to description in order to supply enough relevant examples to achieve their rhetorical intent.

There is no one number that applies in all instances. The appropriate number of examples to use in an essay is a decision you should make based upon audience and purpose. How much does your audience know about your subject? How difficult is the material? Are you attempting to get your audience to think or act in a particular way? Sometimes the length of your examples factors into your decision about how many to use. If your examples are extended, you may be able to use fewer than you would if your examples were brief.

Steps for Writing Body Paragraphs

This week, you will write three paragraphs.  Each paragraph will either describe or explain one of the three characteristics in your thesis statement.

Follow this format to write each body paragraph:

1. Begin with a topic sentence that introduces the characteristic.

Example: Though as an adult I have only ever grown tomatoes and flowers, I still consider myself part of the farming community.

2. Add two-three descriptions or examples that show (not tell) your reader how this characteristic has shaped you.

Example: I have vivid memories of running through the tall corn stalks with my sister and shelling butterbeans on my grandmother’s front porch until my thumbnails were sore and green.

Example: Each Sunday after dinner, we would drive out to the country to look at the crops, and the mood was undoubtedly better when there was a good rain that summer.

3. Write a sentence that connects the descriptions/examples to the characteristic.

Example: The work ethic displayed by my grandparents and parents, whether it was in the hot warehouse that smelled so strongly of tobacco or in the yellow kitchen where all that corn was being put up has instilled in me a determination to persevere and an appreciation of the simple things in life.

4. Write a transition sentence that leads to your next characteristic.

Example: Even though those long summer days in the garden and kitchen involved lots of hard work, I remember them fondly because they were always filled with laughter.

5. Now begin your next body paragraph with a new topic sentence.

Example: They say that laughter is the best medicine, and that has definitely been the case for me.

Example Paragraph:

Though as an adult I have only ever grown tomatoes and flowers, I still consider myself part of the farming community. I have vivid memories of running through the tall corn stalks with my sister and shelling butterbeans on my grandmother’s front porch until my thumbnails were sore and green. Each Sunday after dinner, we would drive out to the country to look at the crops, and the mood was undoubtedly better when there was a good rain that summer. The work ethic displayed by my grandparents and parents, whether it was in the hot warehouse that smelled so strongly of tobacco or in the yellow kitchen where all that corn was being put up has instilled in me a determination to persevere and an appreciation of the simple things in life. Even though those long summer days in the garden and kitchen involved lots of hard work, I remember them fondly because they were always filled with laughter.

They say that laughter is the best medicine, and that has definitely been the case for me….

EXAMPLE BELOW

Thesis Statement

My childhood, my desire to be healthier, and my goals to become a teacher have all contributed to who I am today. 

In my childhood, I learned that working hard for what I wanted in life and becoming the person I wanted to be. I learned by sitting in the room, having quiet talks with Mom about life. Growing up with all sisters was fun, but being the baby was not; I was spoiled from sitting in the room and thinking about life, which made writing in the journal a habit that kept me focused and determined. I lay across my bed and dreamed of what life would look like when I got older, from going over to my granddad's house to helping him on the farm with sweet potatoes, watermelon, and collard greens, from sitting on the porch shelling peas and smelling the pot of collards cooking on the stove, to having fun and going to the state fair, which was small in my time, with funnel cakes so good, loving the smell of fall when it came in from outside, falling in the fall leaves, which my sisters and I would get out and rake up in the yard, and from going to the flower shops every summer with Mom and gardening in the yard, planting my favorite sunflower that was a great childhood.

When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and found out I was borderline diabetic, I knew it was time to start eating healthier. I had been eating out at fast-food places a lot, and the food was greasy. I knew it was not good for me. I love to drink coffee every day with four packs of creamer and seven packs of sugar. In my mind, I would say it is okay for me. I love sweets, making cupcakes down to Debbie cakes, which I always got from a Food Lion, a candy bar, but when it was time for me to go to the doctor because my body was not feeling right, that's when I did all those tests, and they diagnosed me with border line diabetic it does run in my family, so what I did I chance my eating habits. I would eat salads and fruit and go for walks a lot; then I fell back into sweets I got sick. My mom would say to me, " Girl, being a diabetic is nothing to pay for. When I went back to eating greasy food, I had a little mini stroke, which got me on high blood pressure Medine now, so I had to learn to look at my health and also eat healthier. I love fruit now, but it has to be cold watermelon, strawberries, and my favorite kiwi.

My goal of becoming a teacher started when I learned what working means. I knew I had to set my goals for what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I have changed my mind so many times. First, I wanted to be a CNA. When I did some research, I said that field was not for me. Then I went to school to work in EMS. When I started watching the videos, I said, " Nope, this is not for me either when I started having nieces and nephews, I was saying to myself I wanted to work with children. I always dreamed of teaching. When I got older, I would sit my baby dolls in the living room and teach them; Mom used to laugh at me when I got online to do research on how to become a teacher. I keep saying to myself Is this what I wanted to do and I took the next step in life to do what I wanted, to set my goals, wrote them down daily, and I am now taking classes to become a teacher. I want to teach elementary level, nothing higher. Now I am at the elementary school level and love it as a TA; my goal is to become a teacher someday.