A Body Paragraph

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A Body Paragraph
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Where does a body paragraph fit into the research
paper process?
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Brainstorm the topic
Make it more specific
Write down your topic
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Research
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Source cards
Note cards
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MLA citations
Outline
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Works cited page
Thesis sentence
Body paragraphs
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Parenthetical citations
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Introductory concluding paragraphs
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Copy paste works cited page to back of
research paper
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• A body paragraph is the basic paragraph of a
  research paper or an essay.
• Body paragraphs are all the paragraphs between
  the introductory paragraph and the conclusion.
• Body paragraphs support and prove your thesis.
• You learned about them in middle school

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Introduction
Body paragraph 1
Body paragraph 2
Body paragraph 3
Conclusion
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Were going to learn how to write an effective
body paragraph for a research paper. The body
paragraphs structure may remind you of a certain
food. Which of these three is your favorite?
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Topic sentence
The McParagraph logic
Topic sentence
Support sentence 1
Support reason 1
Proof sentence 1
Support sentence 2
Support reason 2
Proof sentence 2
Support reason 3
Support sentence 3
Conclusion
Proof sentence 3
Concluding sentence
The McParagraph sentences
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Topic Sentences

• Topic sentences state the main idea of the
  paragraph.
• The rest of the paragraph must expand on,
  describe, or prove what the topic sentence states
  in some way.
• A good topic sentence make a point and suggests
  the logical structure of the rest of the
  paragraph.

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Which are good topic sentences?

• Texas has 267,000 square miles.
• Texas is so big that you can find many things to
  do.
• There are several ways of accurately telling how
  old fossils are.
• The animal dies and sinks to the sea floor.

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Topic sentence
Support sentence 1
Now well look at support and proof sentences
Proof sentence 1
Support sentence 2
Proof sentence 2
Support sentence 3
Proof sentence 3
Concluding sentence
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• A topic sentence is the first sentence in your
  body paragraph.
• A support sentence gives a reason in support of
  the paragraphs topic sentence.
• A proof sentence proves a support sentence by
  providing a detail or quotation from a source.
• A conclusion (one sentence) refers back to the
  topic, provides a logical closing, and may
  provide a transition to the next body paragraph.

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What makes each sentence in the following body
paragraph what it is a topic, support, proof, or
concluding sentence?
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The political success of Lincoln's speech - the
last speech in a series sponsored by the Young
Men's Central Republican Union of New York that
winter (Holtzer 13) - had something to do with
timing and luck. A sizable number of Republican
leaders were worried that the front-running
candidate, New York Senator William Henry Seward,
was perceived by the Northern electorate as too
close to the unpopular abolitionist movement
(Holtzer 32). Lincolns best ally in the winter
of 1860 was his lack of association with the
abolitionists in the mind of New Yorkers,
according to Holtzer (32). Republicans were
worried also that Seward has little appeal in the
West (Illinois, Ohio, etc.) (Burris 126). Burris
asserts that Indiana and Illinois Republicans
perceived Seward as an Eastern liberal (127).
Lincoln also benefited from the political
machinations of the speech seriess sponsors.
The Young Republicans planned the speech series
ostensibly to introduce alternative candidates to
Seward, but the real motivation of the group's
leader, James A. Briggs, was to damage Seward
enough to promote his favorite alternative, Ohio
governor Salmon P. Chase (Holtzer 34). The
Republican partys soul-searching and the secret
motivations of the series sponsors gave Lincoln
the opening he needed.
Topic
Support
Proof
Support
Proof
Support
Proof
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Using MLA
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Signal Phrases

• A signal phrase is how you introduce quotes in
  your paper.
• Heres a list of commonly used signal phrases

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You should integrate quotes as smoothly as
possible but NOT make the quotes look like your
words

• According to ornithologist Jay Shepherd, The
  bald eagle seems to have stabilized its
  population, at the very lease, almost everywhere
  (96).
• In the words of researcher Herbert Terrace,
  (22).
• As Flora Davis has noted, (5).
• ..., claims linguist Noam Chomsky.

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It is not always necessary to quote full
sentences from a source. At times you may wish
to borrow only a phrase or to weave part of a
sources sentence into your own sentences
structure.

• Brian Millsap claims that the banning of DDT in
  1972 was the major turning point leading to the
  eagles comeback (2).
• The ultrasonography machine takes approximately
  250 views of each side. Mary Spletter likens the
  process to examining an entire loaf of bread,
  one slice at a time (40).

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When you quote more than four typed lines, set
off the quotation by indenting it ten spaces from
the left margin.

• Desmond describes how Washoe, when the
  Gardners returned her to an ape colony in
  Oklahoma, tried signing to the other apes
• One particularly memorable day, a snake spread
  terror through the castaways on the ape island,
  and all but one fled in panic. This make sat
  absorbed, staring intently at the serpent. Then
  Washoes was seen running over signing to him
  come, hurry up (42).

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Parenthetical DocumentationAuthor in Signal
Phrase, Page Number in Parenthesis

• Ordinarily, you should introduce the material
  being cited with a signal phrase that includes
  the authors last name / the title of the work
• Flora Davis reports that a chimp at the Yerkes
  Primate Research Center has combined words into
  new sentences that she was never taught (67).
• The signal phraseFlora Davis reportsprovides
  the name of the author the parenthetical
  citation gives the page number where the quoted
  sentence may be found.

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Author Page Number in Parentheses

• If the signal phrase does not include the
  authors last name, the authors last name must
  appear in parentheses along with the page number
• Although the baby chimp lived only a few hours,
  Washoe signed to it before it died (Davis 42).

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Two or More Works by the Same Author

• If your list of works cited includes two or more
  works by the same author, include the title of
  the work either in the signal phrase or in
  abbreviated form in the parenthetical reference
• In Eloquent Animals, Flora David reports that a
  chimp at the Yerkes Primate Research Center has
  combined words into sentences that she was never
  taught (67).
• Flora David reports that a chimp at the Yerkes
  Primate Research Center has combined words into
  sentences that she was never taught (Davis,
  Eloquent 42).

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Writing the paragraphs
In order to understand the importance of
Graduation Project, it is important to understand
its beginning. Jane Doe created what was then
called Senior Project as a means of reaching her
senior English students who were bored with the
usual selection of classic British literature
selections (Senior 1). Additionally, Doe saw
that many of her students were, in her opinion,
wasting senior year with easy classes (Doe 3).
To illustrate this, Doe quotes one of her former
students I saw that so many of my students
thought that senior year would be an easy year
to me, that meant a meaningless year. I thought
that a childs final year in high school should
be more significant (name 12). Doe thought that
a project that students could relate to would
help make senior year more meaningful. Once she
started senior project, it quickly spread across
California and the West Coast. By 2001, 297 high
school across the country had made Senior Project
a part of senior English (Facts 22). Even though
the project started out small, so many teachers,
students, and community members recognized its
potential that Senior Project quickly became a
reality for countless seniors.