Writing Purposeful Body Paragraphs

Here’s a review on how to write purposeful body paragraphs (TCEEC):

1. Begin with topic sentence which states the main idea of the entire paragraph; it should support the overall central idea or thesis
2. Set up the evidence by explaining necessary context from the text
3. Provide textual evidence in the form of a paraphrase or quotation that clearly supports and explains the topic sentence
4. Elaborate: Explain what the evidence means and how it supports the topic sentence and overall thesis. Follow these guidelines to help you:
1. Make sure you choose the best evidence to explain your main idea
2. Elaborate and unpack evidence:
1. reveal what the evidence shows, expresses, proves, communicates, or makes clear...
2. draw a conclusion or imagine a next step; "Therefore,...; This means...; If..., then..."
3. rephrase the evidence; "In other words... This also means..."
4. connect to a related reason or example; "This relates/connects to..."
5. explain why that evidence is important
6. provide a personal and emotional appeal to the reader by showing how the evidence personally affects you or readers in general; "This statement makes me want to... This emphasizes... This urges us to..." 
3. Cite the source by writing the last name and page number at the end of the sentence.

5. Concluding sentence: connect back to the topic sentence and evidence; make sure you have made your main idea clear to the reader. Begin to guide the reader to the next paragraph.