Body Paragraphs: Development

BODY PARAGRAPHS: DEVELOPMENT

English 86
Mr. Moran

Each body paragraph in every essay that you write must have adequate development. This means that you must include enough supporting ideas to "prove" your topic sentence and thus prove your thesis; it also means, however, that each supporting idea must be explained in enough detail, usually with an extra sentence or two, before it becomes an example, which is your goal.

Let's see how this works. Suppose that you are writing an essay describing your friend Lisa. Your thesis statement might be:

My friend Lisa is intelligent, kind, and generous.

This thesis suggests that you will write three body paragraphs, one on each quality of Lisa's. An outline for the second body paragraph about "kind" might look like this:

II. Kind
A. Topic Sentence: kindness toward many people
B. friends - shares time
C. family: cares for siblings
D. boyfriend : gives help
E. Restatement of topic

Now, a bad body paragraph, one without adequate development, could look like this:

Lisa, moreover, demonstrates her kindness to many people. She always
shares time with her friends when they need her. Further, she takes care of her brothers
and sisters in her family. Also, she helps her boyfriend Sam when he needs it. Clearly she is kind.

None of these sentences is actually an example; consequently, they do not "prove" the topic sentence. The conclusion is not a restatement. This would be a very weak body paragraph.

Now if we add information to illustrate each idea and create examples, the paragraph could look like this (extra sentences in boldface):

Lisa, moreover, demonstrates her kindness to many people. She always
shares time with her friends when they need her. Once Lisa stayed with a sick friend for three days, cooking meals and cleaning the house. Further, she takes care of her brothers and sisters in her family. Both of her parents work, so Lisa spends most of her free time baby-sitting. When she does, she helps her siblings with their homework as well. Also, she helps her boyfriend Sam when he needs it. Sam has two jobs and is a part-time student, and Lisa helps him by fixing his car, driving him to work, and offering him emotional support. Clearly, Lisa is motivated by her concern for others.

This is a much better body paragraph because there are now examples to "prove" the topic. The paragraph could be even better with more examples for each idea demonstrating kindness. The example above is the minimum length that a body paragraph should be.

Your essay should have at least three body paragraphs of this length or longer in each essay.