Writing Strong Body
Paragraphs and Analysis
Evidence, Interpretation, and Connection
Parts of the Body
• Topic Sentence
• Direction and Controlling Ideas
• Evidence
• Quoted material
• Relevant, thesis-centered
• Analysis
• Connection of parts to whole, evidence to interpretation
• Strong, precise verbs
• Transitions
• Connecting different arguments in essay
Topic Sentence
•Controlling ideas for each paragraph
•Should be analytic and relate back to thesis
statements
Organized by P2
Thesis: The speaker of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”
expresses a whimsical, yet realistic appreciation
for his present lover by employing naturalistic
similes, ironic imagery, and the uniting Elizabethan
sonnet.
- TS1: The speaker’s prolific use of similes comparing his lover to recognizable
natural features echoes a tradition of love poetry to elevate the female
subject.
- TS2: While these comparisons to the natural world do inform the
characterization of the woman, the irony of the grotesque images reinforces
the imperfection of her physical attributes.
Organized by Chronology (in poem)
Thesis: The speaker of Browning’s “Sonnet 43”
argues for the necessity of religion in romantic
love through varied syntax and hyperbolic
figurative language.
•
TS1: In the first quatrain [four lines], the speaker employs a
rhetorical question and hyperbole to establish the extreme depth
of her love towards her husband.
•
TS2: This illustration of limitless love continues in the next
quatrain, as the speaker adds a sense of timelessness to her
devotion through the anaphora of “I will love thee”.
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Topic sentence 1
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Topic sentence
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Topic sentence 3
If thesis has to do with auditory imagery and varied
syntax, prove both patterns in each of your
paragraphs
We always look for major shift. Here is a
poem:
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Again, the paper isn’t determined by stanzas or paragraphs, but the shifts!
How many shifts in this poem? How many body paragraphs?
Organized by Controlling Idea
This approach includes papers organized by a definition, a classification, an
analogy/comparison, a comparison-contrast, or a cause-effect. The topic
sentences, then articulate separate parts of the thesis statement. For
example, topic sentences might define the aspects of a definition, classify
the evidence into categories, identify one cause, etc.
•
Thesis: In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses his diverse characters
to explore three moral categories: depravity, vice, and redemption.
• [NOTE: this progression is logical. depravity (cause) -> vice (effect) -> redemption (solution)]
•
TS1: The lowest level Chaucer describes is one of complete
depravity, representing morality without God.
•
TS2: Chaucer’s second moral plane is further defined by the
perpetration of evil acts as a direct result of this expanded depravity:
sloth, selfishness, and hypocrisy.
Organized by Controlling Idea
This approach includes papers organized by a definition, a classification, an
analogy/comparison, a comparison-contrast, or a cause-effect. The topic
sentences, then articulate separate parts of the thesis statement. For
example, topic sentences might define the aspects of a definition, classify
the evidence into categories, identify one cause, etc.
•
Thesis: In this excerpt from Brave New World, Huxley criticizes
technology worship using ironic imagery in the individual, social, and
religious depictions of the New World State.
• [NOTE: this progression is logical. individual character (smaller) -> social (larger) -> religion
(transcendental)]
•
TS1: In the portrayal of London’s Hatchery as a hive of insects,
Huxley relates the production of humans to that of bees, dehumanizing
citizens from the moment of birth.
•
TS2: From the dislocation of the individual to the collective, the
passage suggests a loss of social identity as the
Transitions – the paper should have a logical
development
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The Nerves sit ceremonious,
like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions
‘was it He, that bore,’
Analysis
Remember the Toulmin Model:
YOUR CLAIM/INTERPRETATION
Dickinson’s
formal diction
reveals a tone of
reverence
EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXT
CLEAR ANALYSIS (connecting the dots)
By employing formal language,
exhibited in the antiquated
“twas” and ritualistic
“ceremonious,” Dickinson
channels a level of respect that
mirrors the speaker’s respect
toward her subject.
Analysis: Basics of Strong
Analytic/Interpretive Sentences
•Complex (more than 1 clause)
•Coherent – transitions used to connect
various aspects of the sentence into a
unified logical whole.
•Strong, precise verb
In “The Ruin,” the speaker uses
morbid imagery to lament the
destruction of human
achievements by fate – a theme
announced in the first two lines
by the contrast of the “thousand
dead eyes” with a city broken by
fate.
Your claim/argument!
Approach it as a
persuasive
interpretation!
Specific section,
lines, or work
Hooray!
Strong,
precise verb!
Context
Literary
Device
Verb
Interpretation
Text Reference
In "The Ruin" the
speaker uses
morbid imagery
to lament
the destruction of
human achievements
by fate—
a theme announced in the first
two lines by the contrast of
the “thousand dead eyes” with
a city broken by fate.
Qualified Lit
Device/Technique!
Here’s the connection
between “Claim” and
“Evidence”
Example: In all the stanzas of “Dover Beach,” language describing
setting suggests positive and negative moods, a part of the larger motif
of contrast conveyed by setting—sea and land, present and past, real
and metaphorical places, the individual and society, and national and
universal identity.
Context Literary
Device
Verb
Interpretation
Text Reference
language
In all
describing
the
setting
stanzas
of
"Dover
Beach,"
suggests
positive and
negative moods, a
part of the larger
motif of contrast
conveyed by
setting
—sea and land, present
and past, real and
metaphorical places, the
individual and society, and
national and universal
identity.
In lines 9-10 of Dickinson’s “Hope is the
thing with feathers,” the speaker
celebrates the ubiquity of hope by
appealing to the auditory imagery of the
bird that transcends both surfaces of
human habitation, the “land” and “sea.”
In “Fire and Ice,” Frost’s speaker
nonchalantly unites concepts of desire and
destruction through the juxtaposition of
contrasting thermal imagery, indicated in
the “fire” and “ice” (1, 2). This lack of
concern, expressed in the passive diction of
“would suffice” (9) suggests a
powerlessness to change the “world[‘s]
end” (1).
Frost’s use of alliteration in the opening two
lines, in which the speaker repeats the soft “s”
sound in “some say” (l. 1), brings a light, wispy
auditory effect to the poem, a wistfulness that
stands in stark contrast to the morally
corrupted diction established in “hate” (6) and
“destruction” (7).
Parts of the Body
• Topic Sentence
• Direction and Controlling Ideas
• Evidence
• Quoted material
• Relevant, thesis-centered
• Analysis
• Connection of parts to whole
• Strong, precise verbs
• Transitions
• Connecting different arguments in essay
Tocqueville’s opening claim, that “no novelty in
the United States struck me more vividly…than
did the equality of conditions,” signals a move
beyond a simple understanding of democracy
and suggests that democratic action stems
from basic social conditions.
Look at your prose analysis and
rework two sentences to be
strong interpretive sentences.
Also, use your “strong analytic
verbs” handout to replace any
weak or imprecise verbs.