8/7/2019 Components of an Essay

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BODY : Your body allows your reader to participate with you in theprocess of your thinking (and feeling). Your body will lead the readerthrough a step by step journey of discovery how did you arrive at yourmain idea or central theme stated in your thesis. These paragraphscontain supporting examples (concrete detail) andanalysis/explanation (commentary) for your topic sentences/supporttheses. Each paragraph in the body includes (1) a topicsentence/support thesis, (2) integrated concrete detail andcommentary, and (3) a concluding sentence. In its simplest form, eachbody paragraph is organized as follows:

1. topic sentence / support thesis2. concrete detail4. commentary5. transition to next concrete detail6. concrete detail7. commentary concrete detail.8. concluding or clincher sentence

TOPIC SENTENCE : A topic sentence us the first sentence of abody or support paragraph. It identifies one aspect of the thesisand states a primary reason why the thesis is true.

CONCRETE DETAIL : a specific example from research used toprovide evidence for your topic sentence/support thesis. Concretedetail can be a combination of paraphrase and direct quotationfrom the work.

COMMENTARY : your explanation and interpretation of theCommentary tells the reader what the author of the text means orhow the concrete detail proves the topic sentence/support thesis.Commentary may include interpretation, analysis, argument,insight, and/or reflection. ( Helpful hint: In your body paragraph,

you should have twice as much commentary as concrete detail. Inother words, for every sentence of concrete detail, you should have at least two sentences of commentary.)

TRANSITIONS : words or phrases that connect or hook one ideato the next, both between and within paragraphs. Transitiondevices include using connecting words as well as repeating keywords or using synonyms. Examples : Another example Finally, Later In contrast Not onlybut also Furthermore

CLINCHER/CONCLUDING SENTENCE : last sentence of the bodyparagraph. It concludes the paragraph by tying the concretedetails and commentary back to the major thesis.

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that follows the MLA style

GRAMMER & MECHANICS:

Essays must be free of any type of error that distracts thereader from concentrating on the meaning.

Therefore, misspellings, poor word choice, inexact phrasing,

faulty punctuation, or ambiguous references , when theyinterfere with the meaning of a sentence, cannot be consideredminor errors.

Errors in verb tense or form are not acceptable in college-levelwriting.

Syntactical errors , including sentence fragments, run-onsentences (sentence fusions and comma splices), and garbledsentences (errors of sentence unity or sentence sense), cannot betolerated. A single egregious error is enough to discredit and failan essay.