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How to write an essay: Body

  • What's in this guide
  • Introduction
  • Essay structure
  • Additional resources

Body paragraphs

The essay body itself is organised into paragraphs, according to your plan. Remember that each paragraph focuses on one idea, or aspect of your topic, and should contain at least 4-5 sentences so you can deal with that idea properly.

Each body paragraph has three sections. First is the topic sentence . This lets the reader know what the paragraph is going to be about and the main point it will make. It gives the paragraph’s point straight away. Next – and largest – is the supporting sentences . These expand on the central idea, explaining it in more detail, exploring what it means, and of course giving the evidence and argument that back it up. This is where you use your research to support your argument. Then there is a concluding sentence . This restates the idea in the topic sentence, to remind the reader of your main point. It also shows how that point helps answer the question.

Body paragraph example

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9.2 Writing Body Paragraphs

Learning objectives.

  • Select primary support related to your thesis.
  • Support your topic sentences.

If your thesis gives the reader a roadmap to your essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows your introductory paragraph by simply reading the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs present the evidence you have gathered to confirm your thesis. Before you begin to support your thesis in the body, you must find information from a variety of sources that support and give credit to what you are trying to prove.

Select Primary Support for Your Thesis

Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details within the paragraphs.

Remember that a worthy argument is backed by examples. In order to construct a valid argument, good writers conduct lots of background research and take careful notes. They also talk to people knowledgeable about a topic in order to understand its implications before writing about it.

Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support

In order to fulfill the requirements of good primary support, the information you choose must meet the following standards:

  • Be specific. The main points you make about your thesis and the examples you use to expand on those points need to be specific. Use specific examples to provide the evidence and to build upon your general ideas. These types of examples give your reader something narrow to focus on, and if used properly, they leave little doubt about your claim. General examples, while they convey the necessary information, are not nearly as compelling or useful in writing because they are too obvious and typical.
  • Be relevant to the thesis. Primary support is considered strong when it relates directly to the thesis. Primary support should show, explain, or prove your main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with lots of information that could be used to prove your thesis, you may think you need to include it all in your body paragraphs. But effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Choose your examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to your thesis.
  • Be detailed. Remember that your thesis, while specific, should not be very detailed. The body paragraphs are where you develop the discussion that a thorough essay requires. Using detailed support shows readers that you have considered all the facts and chosen only the most precise details to enhance your point of view.

Prewrite to Identify Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

Recall that when you prewrite you essentially make a list of examples or reasons why you support your stance. Stemming from each point, you further provide details to support those reasons. After prewriting, you are then able to look back at the information and choose the most compelling pieces you will use in your body paragraphs.

Choose one of the following working thesis statements. On a separate sheet of paper, write for at least five minutes using one of the prewriting techniques you learned in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

  • Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.
  • Students cheat for many different reasons.
  • Drug use among teens and young adults is a problem.
  • The most important change that should occur at my college or university is ____________________________________________.

Select the Most Effective Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement

After you have prewritten about your working thesis statement, you may have generated a lot of information, which may be edited out later. Remember that your primary support must be relevant to your thesis. Remind yourself of your main argument, and delete any ideas that do not directly relate to it. Omitting unrelated ideas ensures that you will use only the most convincing information in your body paragraphs. Choose at least three of only the most compelling points. These will serve as the topic sentences for your body paragraphs.

Refer to the previous exercise and select three of your most compelling reasons to support the thesis statement. Remember that the points you choose must be specific and relevant to the thesis. The statements you choose will be your primary support points, and you will later incorporate them into the topic sentences for the body paragraphs.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

When you support your thesis, you are revealing evidence. Evidence includes anything that can help support your stance. The following are the kinds of evidence you will encounter as you conduct your research:

  • Facts. Facts are the best kind of evidence to use because they often cannot be disputed. They can support your stance by providing background information on or a solid foundation for your point of view. However, some facts may still need explanation. For example, the sentence “The most populated state in the United States is California” is a pure fact, but it may require some explanation to make it relevant to your specific argument.
  • Judgments. Judgments are conclusions drawn from the given facts. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and examination of a topic.
  • Testimony. Testimony consists of direct quotations from either an eyewitness or an expert witness. An eyewitness is someone who has direct experience with a subject; he adds authenticity to an argument based on facts. An expert witness is a person who has extensive experience with a topic. This person studies the facts and provides commentary based on either facts or judgments, or both. An expert witness adds authority and credibility to an argument.
  • Personal observation. Personal observation is similar to testimony, but personal observation consists of your testimony. It reflects what you know to be true because you have experiences and have formed either opinions or judgments about them. For instance, if you are one of five children and your thesis states that being part of a large family is beneficial to a child’s social development, you could use your own experience to support your thesis.

Writing at Work

In any job where you devise a plan, you will need to support the steps that you lay out. This is an area in which you would incorporate primary support into your writing. Choosing only the most specific and relevant information to expand upon the steps will ensure that your plan appears well-thought-out and precise.

You can consult a vast pool of resources to gather support for your stance. Citing relevant information from reliable sources ensures that your reader will take you seriously and consider your assertions. Use any of the following sources for your essay: newspapers or news organization websites, magazines, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals, which are periodicals that address topics in a specialized field.

Choose Supporting Topic Sentences

Each body paragraph contains a topic sentence that states one aspect of your thesis and then expands upon it. Like the thesis statement, each topic sentence should be specific and supported by concrete details, facts, or explanations.

Each body paragraph should comprise the following elements.

topic sentence + supporting details (examples, reasons, or arguments)

As you read in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , topic sentences indicate the location and main points of the basic arguments of your essay. These sentences are vital to writing your body paragraphs because they always refer back to and support your thesis statement. Topic sentences are linked to the ideas you have introduced in your thesis, thus reminding readers what your essay is about. A paragraph without a clearly identified topic sentence may be unclear and scattered, just like an essay without a thesis statement.

Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, you should include at least three body paragraphs in your essay. A five-paragraph essay, including the introduction and conclusion, is commonly the standard for exams and essay assignments.

Consider the following the thesis statement:

Author J.D. Salinger relied primarily on his personal life and belief system as the foundation for the themes in the majority of his works.

The following topic sentence is a primary support point for the thesis. The topic sentence states exactly what the controlling idea of the paragraph is. Later, you will see the writer immediately provide support for the sentence.

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, a disorder that influenced themes in many of his works.

In Note 9.19 “Exercise 2” , you chose three of your most convincing points to support the thesis statement you selected from the list. Take each point and incorporate it into a topic sentence for each body paragraph.

Supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Topic sentence: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

Draft Supporting Detail Sentences for Each Primary Support Sentence

After deciding which primary support points you will use as your topic sentences, you must add details to clarify and demonstrate each of those points. These supporting details provide examples, facts, or evidence that support the topic sentence.

The writer drafts possible supporting detail sentences for each primary support sentence based on the thesis statement:

Thesis statement: Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.

Supporting point 1: Dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians.

Supporting details:

  • Cyclists are forced to zigzag on the road.
  • School children panic and turn wildly on their bikes.
  • People who are walking at night freeze in fear.

Supporting point 2:

Loose dogs are traffic hazards.

  • Dogs in the street make people swerve their cars.
  • To avoid dogs, drivers run into other cars or pedestrians.
  • Children coaxing dogs across busy streets create danger.

Supporting point 3: Unleashed dogs damage gardens.

  • They step on flowers and vegetables.
  • They destroy hedges by urinating on them.
  • They mess up lawns by digging holes.

The following paragraph contains supporting detail sentences for the primary support sentence (the topic sentence), which is underlined.

Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, a disorder that influenced the themes in many of his works. He did not hide his mental anguish over the horrors of war and once told his daughter, “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose, no matter how long you live.” His short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” details a day in the life of a WWII veteran who was recently released from an army hospital for psychiatric problems. The man acts questionably with a little girl he meets on the beach before he returns to his hotel room and commits suicide. Another short story, “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor,” is narrated by a traumatized soldier who sparks an unusual relationship with a young girl he meets before he departs to partake in D-Day. Finally, in Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye , he continues with the theme of posttraumatic stress, though not directly related to war. From a rest home for the mentally ill, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield narrates the story of his nervous breakdown following the death of his younger brother.

Using the three topic sentences you composed for the thesis statement in Note 9.18 “Exercise 1” , draft at least three supporting details for each point.

Thesis statement: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 1: ____________________________________________

Supporting details: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 2: ____________________________________________

Primary supporting point 3: ____________________________________________

You have the option of writing your topic sentences in one of three ways. You can state it at the beginning of the body paragraph, or at the end of the paragraph, or you do not have to write it at all. This is called an implied topic sentence. An implied topic sentence lets readers form the main idea for themselves. For beginning writers, it is best to not use implied topic sentences because it makes it harder to focus your writing. Your instructor may also want to clearly identify the sentences that support your thesis. For more information on the placement of thesis statements and implied topic statements, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

Print out the first draft of your essay and use a highlighter to mark your topic sentences in the body paragraphs. Make sure they are clearly stated and accurately present your paragraphs, as well as accurately reflect your thesis. If your topic sentence contains information that does not exist in the rest of the paragraph, rewrite it to more accurately match the rest of the paragraph.

Key Takeaways

  • Your body paragraphs should closely follow the path set forth by your thesis statement.
  • Strong body paragraphs contain evidence that supports your thesis.
  • Primary support comprises the most important points you use to support your thesis.
  • Strong primary support is specific, detailed, and relevant to the thesis.
  • Prewriting helps you determine your most compelling primary support.
  • Evidence includes facts, judgments, testimony, and personal observation.
  • Reliable sources may include newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books, encyclopedias, and firsthand testimony.
  • A topic sentence presents one point of your thesis statement while the information in the rest of the paragraph supports that point.
  • A body paragraph comprises a topic sentence plus supporting details.

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Body Paragraphs

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This resource outlines the generally accepted structure for introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions in an academic argument paper. Keep in mind that this resource contains guidelines and not strict rules about organization. Your structure needs to be flexible enough to meet the requirements of your purpose and audience.

Body paragraphs: Moving from general to specific information

Your paper should be organized in a manner that moves from general to specific information. Every time you begin a new subject, think of an inverted pyramid - The broadest range of information sits at the top, and as the paragraph or paper progresses, the author becomes more and more focused on the argument ending with specific, detailed evidence supporting a claim. Lastly, the author explains how and why the information she has just provided connects to and supports her thesis (a brief wrap-up or warrant).

This image shows an inverted pyramid that contains the following text. At the wide top of the pyramid, the text reads general information introduction, topic sentence. Moving down the pyramid to the narrow point, the text reads focusing direction of paper, telling. Getting more specific, showing. Supporting details, data. Conclusions and brief wrap up, warrant.

Moving from General to Specific Information

The four elements of a good paragraph (TTEB)

A good paragraph should contain at least the following four elements: T ransition, T opic sentence, specific E vidence and analysis, and a B rief wrap-up sentence (also known as a warrant ) –TTEB!

  • A T ransition sentence leading in from a previous paragraph to assure smooth reading. This acts as a hand-off from one idea to the next.
  • A T opic sentence that tells the reader what you will be discussing in the paragraph.
  • Specific E vidence and analysis that supports one of your claims and that provides a deeper level of detail than your topic sentence.
  • A B rief wrap-up sentence that tells the reader how and why this information supports the paper’s thesis. The brief wrap-up is also known as the warrant. The warrant is important to your argument because it connects your reasoning and support to your thesis, and it shows that the information in the paragraph is related to your thesis and helps defend it.

Supporting evidence (induction and deduction)

Induction is the type of reasoning that moves from specific facts to a general conclusion. When you use induction in your paper, you will state your thesis (which is actually the conclusion you have come to after looking at all the facts) and then support your thesis with the facts. The following is an example of induction taken from Dorothy U. Seyler’s Understanding Argument :

There is the dead body of Smith. Smith was shot in his bedroom between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to the coroner. Smith was shot with a .32 caliber pistol. The pistol left in the bedroom contains Jones’s fingerprints. Jones was seen, by a neighbor, entering the Smith home at around 11:00 p.m. the night of Smith’s death. A coworker heard Smith and Jones arguing in Smith’s office the morning of the day Smith died.

Conclusion: Jones killed Smith.

Here, then, is the example in bullet form:

  • Conclusion: Jones killed Smith
  • Support: Smith was shot by Jones’ gun, Jones was seen entering the scene of the crime, Jones and Smith argued earlier in the day Smith died.
  • Assumption: The facts are representative, not isolated incidents, and thus reveal a trend, justifying the conclusion drawn.

When you use deduction in an argument, you begin with general premises and move to a specific conclusion. There is a precise pattern you must use when you reason deductively. This pattern is called syllogistic reasoning (the syllogism). Syllogistic reasoning (deduction) is organized in three steps:

  • Major premise
  • Minor premise

In order for the syllogism (deduction) to work, you must accept that the relationship of the two premises lead, logically, to the conclusion. Here are two examples of deduction or syllogistic reasoning:

  • Major premise: All men are mortal.
  • Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
  • Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.
  • Major premise: People who perform with courage and clear purpose in a crisis are great leaders.
  • Minor premise: Lincoln was a person who performed with courage and a clear purpose in a crisis.
  • Conclusion: Lincoln was a great leader.

So in order for deduction to work in the example involving Socrates, you must agree that (1) all men are mortal (they all die); and (2) Socrates is a man. If you disagree with either of these premises, the conclusion is invalid. The example using Socrates isn’t so difficult to validate. But when you move into more murky water (when you use terms such as courage , clear purpose , and great ), the connections get tenuous.

For example, some historians might argue that Lincoln didn’t really shine until a few years into the Civil War, after many Union losses to Southern leaders such as Robert E. Lee.

The following is a clear example of deduction gone awry:

  • Major premise: All dogs make good pets.
  • Minor premise: Doogle is a dog.
  • Conclusion: Doogle will make a good pet.

If you don’t agree that all dogs make good pets, then the conclusion that Doogle will make a good pet is invalid.

When a premise in a syllogism is missing, the syllogism becomes an enthymeme. Enthymemes can be very effective in argument, but they can also be unethical and lead to invalid conclusions. Authors often use enthymemes to persuade audiences. The following is an example of an enthymeme:

If you have a plasma TV, you are not poor.

The first part of the enthymeme (If you have a plasma TV) is the stated premise. The second part of the statement (you are not poor) is the conclusion. Therefore, the unstated premise is “Only rich people have plasma TVs.” The enthymeme above leads us to an invalid conclusion (people who own plasma TVs are not poor) because there are plenty of people who own plasma TVs who are poor. Let’s look at this enthymeme in a syllogistic structure:

  • Major premise: People who own plasma TVs are rich (unstated above).
  • Minor premise: You own a plasma TV.
  • Conclusion: You are not poor.

To help you understand how induction and deduction can work together to form a solid argument, you may want to look at the United States Declaration of Independence. The first section of the Declaration contains a series of syllogisms, while the middle section is an inductive list of examples. The final section brings the first and second sections together in a compelling conclusion.

10 min read

How to write strong essay body paragraphs (with examples)

In this blog post, we'll discuss how to write clear, convincing essay body paragraphs using many examples. We'll also be writing paragraphs together. By the end, you'll have a good understanding of how to write a strong essay body for any topic.

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Table of Contents

Introduction, how to structure a body paragraph, creating an outline for our essay body, 1. a strong thesis statment takes a stand, 2. a strong thesis statement allows for debate, 3. a strong thesis statement is specific, writing the first essay body paragraph, how not to write a body paragraph, writing the second essay body paragraph.

After writing a great introduction to our essay, let's make our case in the body paragraphs. These are where we will present our arguments, back them up with evidence, and, in most cases, refute counterarguments. Introductions are very similar across the various types of essays. For example, an argumentative essay's introduction will be near identical to an introduction written for an expository essay. In contrast, the body paragraphs are structured differently depending on the type of essay.

In an expository essay, we are investigating an idea or analyzing the circumstances of a case. In contrast, we want to make compelling points with an argumentative essay to convince readers to agree with us.

The most straightforward technique to make an argument is to provide context first, then make a general point, and lastly back that point up in the following sentences. Not starting with your idea directly but giving context first is crucial in constructing a clear and easy-to-follow paragraph.

How to ideally structure a body paragraph:

  • Provide context
  • Make your thesis statement
  • Support that argument

Now that we have the ideal structure for an argumentative essay, the best step to proceed is to outline the subsequent paragraphs. For the outline, we'll be writing one sentence that is simple in wording and describes the argument that we'll make in that paragraph concisely. Why are we doing that? An outline does more than give you a structure to work off of in the following essay body, thereby saving you time. It also helps you not to repeat yourself or, even worse, to accidentally contradict yourself later on.

While working on the outline, remember that revising your initial topic sentences is completely normal. They do not need to be flawless. Starting the outline with those thoughts can help accelerate writing the entire essay and can be very beneficial in avoiding writer's block.

For the essay body, we'll be proceeding with the topic we've written an introduction for in the previous article - the dangers of social media on society.

These are the main points I would like to make in the essay body regarding the dangers of social media:

Amplification of one's existing beliefs

Skewed comparisons

What makes a polished thesis statement?

Now that we've got our main points, let's create our outline for the body by writing one clear and straightforward topic sentence (which is the same as a thesis statement) for each idea. How do we write a great topic sentence? First, take a look at the three characteristics of a strong thesis statement.

Consider this thesis statement:

'While social media can have some negative effects, it can also be used positively.'

What stand does it take? Which negative and positive aspects does the author mean? While this one:

'Because social media is linked to a rise in mental health problems, it poses a danger to users.'

takes a clear stand and is very precise about the object of discussion.

If your thesis statement is not arguable, then your paper will not likely be enjoyable to read. Consider this thesis statement:

'Lots of people around the globe use social media.'

It does not allow for much discussion at all. Even if you were to argue that more or fewer people are using it on this planet, that wouldn't make for a very compelling argument.

'Although social media has numerous benefits, its various risks, including cyberbullying and possible addiction, mostly outweigh its benefits.'

Whether or not you consider this statement true, it allows for much more discussion than the previous one. It provides a basis for an engaging, thought-provoking paper by taking a position that you can discuss.

A thesis statement is one sentence that clearly states what you will discuss in that paragraph. It should give an overview of the main points you will discuss and show how these relate to your topic. For example, if you were to examine the rapid growth of social media, consider this thesis statement:

'There are many reasons for the rise in social media usage.'

That thesis statement is weak for two reasons. First, depending on the length of your essay, you might need to narrow your focus because the "rise in social media usage" can be a large and broad topic you cannot address adequately in a few pages. Secondly, the term "many reasons" is vague and does not give the reader an idea of what you will discuss in your paper.

In contrast, consider this thesis statement:

'The rise in social media usage is due to the increasing popularity of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to connect with friends and share information effortlessly.'

Why is this better? Not only does it abide by the first two rules by allowing for debate and taking a stand, but this statement also narrows the subject down and identifies significant reasons for the increasing popularity of social media.

In conclusion : A strong thesis statement takes a clear stand, allows for discussion, and is specific.

Let's make use of how to write a good thopic sentence and put it into practise for our two main points from before. This is what good topic sentences could look like:

Echo chambers facilitated by social media promote political segregation in society.

Applied to the second argument:

Viewing other people's lives online through a distorted lens can lead to feelings of envy and inadequacy, as well as unrealistic expectations about one's life.

These topic sentences will be a very convenient structure for the whole body of our essay. Let's build out the first body paragraph, then closely examine how we did it so you can apply it to your essay.

Example: First body paragraph

If social media users mostly see content that reaffirms their existing beliefs, it can create an "echo chamber" effect. The echo chamber effect describes the user's limited exposure to diverse perspectives, making it challenging to examine those beliefs critically, thereby contributing to society's political polarization. This polarization emerges from social media becoming increasingly based on algorithms, which cater content to users based on their past interactions on the site. Further contributing to this shared narrative is the very nature of social media, allowing politically like-minded individuals to connect (Sunstein, 2018). Consequently, exposure to only one side of the argument can make it very difficult to see the other side's perspective, marginalizing opposing viewpoints. The entrenchment of one's beliefs by constant reaffirmation and amplification of political ideas results in segregation along partisan lines.

Sunstein, C. R (2018). #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

In the first sentence, we provide context for the argument that we are about to make. Then, in the second sentence, we clearly state the topic we are addressing (social media contributing to political polarization).

Our topic sentence tells readers that a detailed discussion of the echo chamber effect and its consequences is coming next. All the following sentences, which make up most of the paragraph, either a) explain or b) support this point.

Finally, we answer the questions about how social media facilitates the echo chamber effect and the consequences. Try implementing the same structure in your essay body paragraph to allow for a logical and cohesive argument.

These paragraphs should be focused, so don't incorporate multiple arguments into one. Squeezing ideas into a single paragraph makes it challenging for readers to follow your reasoning. Instead, reserve each body paragraph for a single statement to be discussed and only switch to the next section once you feel that you thoroughly explained and supported your topic sentence.

Let's look at an example that might seem appropriate initially but should be modified.

Negative example: Try identifying the main argument

Over the past decade, social media platforms have become increasingly popular methods of communication and networking. However, these platforms' algorithmic nature fosters echo chambers or online spaces where users only encounter information that reinforces their existing beliefs. This echo chamber effect can lead to a lack of understanding or empathy for those with different perspectives and can even amplify the effects of confirmation bias. The same principle of one-sided exposure to opinions can be abstracted and applied to the biased subjection to lifestyles we see on social media. The constant exposure to these highly-curated and often unrealistic portrayals of other people's lives can lead us to believe that our own lives are inadequate in comparison. These feelings of inadequacy can be especially harmful to young people, who are still developing their sense of self.

Let's analyze this essay paragraph. Introducing the topic sentence by stating the social functions of social media is very useful because it provides context for the following argument. Naming those functions in the first sentence also allows for a smooth transition by contrasting the initial sentence ("However, ...") with the topic sentence. Also, the topic sentence abides by our three rules for creating a strong thesis statement:

  • Taking a clear stand: algorithms are substantial contributors to the echo chamber effect
  • Allowing for debate: there is literature rejecting this claim
  • Being specific: analyzing a specific cause of the effect (algorithms).

So, where's the problem with this body paragraph?

It begins with what seems like a single argument (social media algorithms contributing to the echo chamber effect). Yet after addressing the consequences of the echo-chamber effect right after the thesis sentence, the author applies the same principle to a whole different topic. At the end of the paragraph, the reader is probably feeling confused. What was the paragraph trying to achieve in the first place?

We should place the second idea of being exposed to curated lifestyles in a separate section instead of shoehorning it into the end of the first one. All sentences following the thesis statement should either explain it or provide evidence (refuting counterarguments falls into this category, too).

With our first body paragraph done and having seen an example of what to avoid, let's take the topic of being exposed to curated lifestyles through social media and construct a separate body paragraph for it. We have already provided sufficient context for the reader to follow our argument, so it is unnecessary for this particular paragraph.

Body paragraph 2

Another cause for social media's destructiveness is the users' inclination to only share the highlights of their lives on social media, consequently distorting our perceptions of reality. A highly filtered view of their life leads to feelings of envy and inadequacy, as well as a distorted understanding of what is considered ordinary (Liu et al., 2018). In addition, frequent social media use is linked to decreased self-esteem and body satisfaction (Perloff, 2014). One way social media can provide a curated view of people's lives is through filters, making photos look more radiant, shadier, more or less saturated, and similar. Further, editing tools allow people to fundamentally change how their photos and videos look before sharing them, allowing for inserting or removing certain parts of the image. Editing tools give people considerable control over how their photos and videos look before sharing them, thereby facilitating the curation of one's online persona.

Perloff, R.M. Social Media Effects on Young Women's Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles 71, 363–377 (2014).

Liu, Hongbo & Wu, Laurie & Li, Xiang. (2018). Social Media Envy: How Experience Sharing on Social Networking Sites Drives Millennials' Aspirational Tourism Consumption. Journal of Travel Research. 58. 10.1177/0047287518761615.

Dr. Jacob Neumann put it this way in his book A professors guide to writing essays: 'If you've written strong and clear topic sentences, you're well on your way to creating focused paragraphs.'

They provide the basis for each paragraph's development and content, allowing you not to get caught up in the details and lose sight of the overall objective. It's crucial not to neglect that step. Apply these principles to your essay body, whatever the topic, and you'll set yourself up for the best possible results.

Sources used for creating this article

  • Writing a solid thesis statement : https://www.vwu.edu/academics/academic-support/learning-center/pdfs/Thesis-Statement.pdf
  • Neumann, Jacob. A professor's guide to writing essays. 2016.

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Traditional Academic Essays In Three Parts

Part i: the introduction.

An introduction is usually the first paragraph of your academic essay. If you’re writing a long essay, you might need 2 or 3 paragraphs to introduce your topic to your reader. A good introduction does 2 things:

  • Gets the reader’s attention. You can get a reader’s attention by telling a story, providing a statistic, pointing out something strange or interesting, providing and discussing an interesting quote, etc. Be interesting and find some original angle via which to engage others in your topic.
  • Provides a specific and debatable thesis statement. The thesis statement is usually just one sentence long, but it might be longer—even a whole paragraph—if the essay you’re writing is long. A good thesis statement makes a debatable point, meaning a point someone might disagree with and argue against. It also serves as a roadmap for what you argue in your paper.

Part II: The Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs help you prove your thesis and move you along a compelling trajectory from your introduction to your conclusion. If your thesis is a simple one, you might not need a lot of body paragraphs to prove it. If it’s more complicated, you’ll need more body paragraphs. An easy way to remember the parts of a body paragraph is to think of them as the MEAT of your essay:

Main Idea. The part of a topic sentence that states the main idea of the body paragraph. All of the sentences in the paragraph connect to it. Keep in mind that main ideas are…

  • like labels. They appear in the first sentence of the paragraph and tell your reader what’s inside the paragraph.
  • arguable. They’re not statements of fact; they’re debatable points that you prove with evidence.
  • focused. Make a specific point in each paragraph and then prove that point.

Evidence. The parts of a paragraph that prove the main idea. You might include different types of evidence in different sentences. Keep in mind that different disciplines have different ideas about what counts as evidence and they adhere to different citation styles. Examples of evidence include…

  • quotations and/or paraphrases from sources.
  • facts , e.g. statistics or findings from studies you’ve conducted.
  • narratives and/or descriptions , e.g. of your own experiences.

Analysis. The parts of a paragraph that explain the evidence. Make sure you tie the evidence you provide back to the paragraph’s main idea. In other words, discuss the evidence.

Transition. The part of a paragraph that helps you move fluidly from the last paragraph. Transitions appear in topic sentences along with main ideas, and they look both backward and forward in order to help you connect your ideas for your reader. Don’t end paragraphs with transitions; start with them.

Keep in mind that MEAT does not occur in that order. The “ T ransition” and the “ M ain Idea” often combine to form the first sentence—the topic sentence—and then paragraphs contain multiple sentences of evidence and analysis. For example, a paragraph might look like this: TM. E. E. A. E. E. A. A.

Part III: The Conclusion

A conclusion is the last paragraph of your essay, or, if you’re writing a really long essay, you might need 2 or 3 paragraphs to conclude. A conclusion typically does one of two things—or, of course, it can do both:

  • Summarizes the argument. Some instructors expect you not to say anything new in your conclusion. They just want you to restate your main points. Especially if you’ve made a long and complicated argument, it’s useful to restate your main points for your reader by the time you’ve gotten to your conclusion. If you opt to do so, keep in mind that you should use different language than you used in your introduction and your body paragraphs. The introduction and conclusion shouldn’t be the same.
  • For example, your argument might be significant to studies of a certain time period .
  • Alternately, it might be significant to a certain geographical region .
  • Alternately still, it might influence how your readers think about the future . You might even opt to speculate about the future and/or call your readers to action in your conclusion.

Handout by Dr. Liliana Naydan. Do not reproduce without permission.

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How to Score Most Points for Writing Body of an Essay?

Table of content.

  • 01. What Does a Structure of Essay Body Include?
  • 02. Create an Effective Essay Topic Sentence
  • 03. How to Explain Evidence in an Essay?
  • 04. Tips For Creating Strong Body Paragraph
  • 05. Create a Perfect Body for a Perfect Essay

Writing body of an essay is difficult task. In many ways, it’s the most relevant section because all major points of your paper should be introduced and dissected there. This is your chance to study the topic in as much depth as needed, presenting your arguments, defending them, and supporting them with academic sources. Most essay points are awarded for this part, so college students should ensure that every paragraph is thought out, valid, and properly formatted. 

But naturally, several questions occur. How to use evidence in an essay? What structure should typical body have? How long should it be? Body is the largest part of a written text, so while it gives you most opportunities for getting a great grade, there are also more risks of making mistakes. If you want to avoid them, you should know all standard rules and follow them while writing. We’ll be happy to help you meet professor’s requirements, so take a look at the tips we’ve devised.

What Does a Structure of Essay Body Include?

Essay paragraph structure follows the same academic standards, no matter what kind of paper you’re writing or which subject you’re exploring. There are four main parts a body must have. Here are they are:

  • Topic sentence.  Each body paragraph should start with an opening sentence. It functions as an approximate outline of what you’ll be discussing right afterward, preparing the ground and letting your readers know information they can count on getting.
  • Evidence.  Direct quotes, paraphrases, and other facts are needed to solidify your arguments. Remember that every essay requires it: even if one is writing an informal kind of it, they still should include some points that should be elaborated upon. For that, they need evidence.
  • Closing sentence.  This is the last sentence of an essay paragraph. It usually summarizes all the facts mentioned in it and makes a general conclusion on this basis. There are several goals such sentence pursues: on the one hand, it reminds an audience of what they just read, solidifying the key points they’ve learned, and on the other, it finalizes your thoughts in general, bringing order to them. It is important to write it broad yet specific to the paragraph.   
  • Essay transition phrases .  Transitions could be made a part of your closing sentence or added as a separate element at an end of the paragraph. They function as links leading toward the next paragraph, so you should make their content fit both your current and your next paragraphs. Use special transitional words to make process of their incorporation easier. Add them into each part, and you’ll get enough marks for your structure.

Create an Effective Essay Topic Sentence

Now is the time to understand the specifics of opening sentences and see how they work on practical examples. So, like it became clear from the previous section, opening sentences are placed at the start of each body paragraph. They announce writer’s intentions and are in direct relation with thesis. Using the topic about reasons that motivate people to become doctors, we have a caring nature, communicativeness, and hunger for power as three attributes introduced in a thesis. 

What is a topic sentence in an essay like this? For the first body paragraph, it could say the following: “One of the reasons that encourage young people to pursue nursing career is their caring nature.” The opening line for the second paragraph could be, “Being communicative is another big motivator that pushes individuals toward healthcare work.” These lines are connected with thesis and they disclose the main aim of the paragraphs themselves. Follow this example and your topic sentence will be flawless!

How to Explain Evidence in an Essay?

The next point is evidence. Like we explained, it should be present in any paper irrespective of topics, and the stronger it is, the more chances at success you gain. There are several models you could use for presenting and explaining your evidence, but we’re going to focus only on several of them. The first one requires using a quote. You could cite something directly from a book or an article or put this information in your own words. In both cases, watch out for  essay format : some styles like APA need you to use an author’s name and date while formats like MLA demand the mention of pages in all instances. Clarify it with your university — they should provide template. It is vital since, without proper citations, you might be accused of plagiarism. After using this quote, explain its meaning. Elaborate a bit, adding some extra details. After that, present several points of your own, and if needed, support them with more sources.

Another effective model includes basing evidence directly on the first sentence of an essay paragraph. Start going from there: if you mentioned caring qualities, expand on that by pointing out what makes an individual caring and in what ways it is expressed. Slowly, lead toward some relevant quote or paraphrase, and then, again, offer an explanation. This gradual system is just as effective, so choose whichever option you prefer.

Concluding Sentences

What about closing essay transition sentences? They are extremely important because they give a writer an opportunity to solidify the conclusion they need in the minds of their readers. Not every person is reading attentively enough, so they might skip over some crucial points. With a closing sentence, they are reminded of the goal this paragraph had. Writing this bit is more difficult than working with an opening line because it should be concise yet extremely informative. For example, this is how we close paragraph about caring nurses: “Thus, caring people are more predisposed to helping others, and many of them want to make it a part of their future career.” Here we used a concluding word “thus” and covered the core content from a paragraph. It goes back toward thesis, which is another plus. But there is also another way of concluding essay.

Remember! Use our  conclusion sentence generator  to create a great last paragraph.

Transitions are Essential

They either conclude an essay or are added to the second half of a closing sentence. Our examples will help you make sense of them. In the first case, transition is a short ending to a paragraph that hints at what is coming next. When you take a reader from a paragraph about kindness toward a paragraph about communicativeness, it could sound like this: “However, being caring is not the only attribute people choosing nursing as career possess.”  Pay attention to “however” — it works as a transitional word. There are several words like this, such as “nevertheless,” “but”, “in addition,” “nonetheless,” etc.  If you want to incorporate transitions into a closing line, you could rely on them as well. For instance: “Caring people are more inclined to help others, but it is not the only attribute that future doctors tend to possess.” We combined both closing and transitional sentences into one here. Do the same if you like this option.

Tips For Creating Strong Body Paragraph

Before students start writing their paper, they should understand what they need to do. Body is an extremely complex section, so it’s always better to figure out the basics and create an outline. First of all, choose your topic. Determine what argument you’ll be making. Outline all main points, and then rely on these three steps.  

  • Develop thesis and use it as a guide.  Thesis is presented in introduction, but it has strong links with the body, so it’s better to make it before you do anything else. Imagine that you defined 4 main points for your upcoming research. After putting them in a thesis, you can create each paragraph in accordance with them. For instance, your thesis says: “Three main reasons explaining why people become doctors include being caring, communicative, and power-hungry.” “Caring” attribute would be focus of your first body paragraph, “communicative” would be explored in the second, and “power hungry” in the third one. If you find yourself losing focus as you’re working on a body, always look back to thesis and use it for guiding you.
  • Figure out body length.  How many sentences are in a essay? Find an answer to this question to understand what volume of info you’ll be working with. Re-read your instructions, they’ll tell you how many words should be written. If not, clarify it with your teacher. If an essay should be 5 pages long, then it has about 1500 words. 10% will go for intro and the same amount will be given to conclusion (meaning that they’ll have 150 words each). The rest should be good for body, so plan accordingly. This could help you understand how much information you need.
  • Understand structure of a body.  What does a topic phrase mean? How to write a transition sentence? If you know answers to these questions, great! If no, then you should find everything out as soon as possible. Body is not just shapeless wall of text, it is a section where logic, precision, and order are a must. Students writing an essay should know what each paragraph consists of and how to make every element in it effective.

Create a Perfect Body for a Perfect Essay

Whether you’re writing 5 paragraph essay or a whole dissertation, the body of this work has to be flawless. Ensure this by taking all tips we provided above into account. Remember about four components each body should have (opening and closing sentences, evidence, and transitions) together with strategies for making them effective. You could write them down and tick them off whenever you compose another paragraph.

Trust us, if you cover all these moments, this largest section is bound to get you good grades. If you have issues with citing evidence or creating essay transitions, though, never hesitate to  look for help . We have come to the assistance to many students before, and we’ll be glad to do it for you as well. Just explain your instructions and we’ll treat your body like we would our own, with all the care it deserves! 

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  • Mastering the Art of Essay Writing in Canadian…

Mastering the Art of Essay Writing in Canadian Universities: Strategies for Success

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Writing essays is an important skill needed to succeed academically in Canadian colleges. Any student who wants to get good grades needs to learn the art of essay writing. Colleges in Canada require writers to be good at research. They need to have good critical thinking capabilities. Above all, students must maintain high academic standards. You can improve your success in writing by understanding what universities in Canada require. Remember your skills develop one step at a time daily. Whenever you need help, do not hesitate to ask.

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Understand the process of writing essays  

It is good to understand the structure required by universities in Canada. However, understanding the process to follow is critical. The entire process might seem difficult but get help whenever needed. The team of educators in Canadian universities will be more than willing to help.

They understand how to teach essay writing in a fun way to improve understanding rate. One of the ways to help you understand the process is to study. Use different resources to learn the processes. Once you get it right, the rest of the steps will flow smoothly. The process follows several important steps. 

Part of the essay writing process may involve seeking help from expert writers. There are several advantages to hiring experts to write your essays. They have deep experience and understand the processes. Expert writers know what Canadian universities expect in essay writing. It is easy to get an essay writing service Canada online. You just need to connect online and open the writer’s website. When you pay for an essay, you get a paper written according to guidelines. You rest with confidence knowing that you will submit your essay on time. You no longer worry about dealing with plagiarism issues because the paper is original.  

Understanding essay guidelines in Canadian universities  

Colleges in Canada require students to observe the highest academic standards. Educators expect that students will show a high level of skills. They must be good at research and critical thinking. The writers must show good analytical skills and understanding of the essay content. It is necessary to understand the college-specific requirements. The citation and formatting styles in one region could be different in another.  

Understanding the guidelines for your college and the expectations is important. The universities require students to be sensitive to culture. Lecturers expect to see a sense of inclusivity in their arguments. The colleges expect the text to be written in clear language. The texts should be free from errors. Canadian universities may require an interdisciplinary approach to writing . Upholding integrity is a critical aspect of writing in Canada.    

The pre-writing processes  

The pre-writing processes include several phases. In this phase, a student understands what they are needed to do.   They get the necessary information that ensures their essay flows smoothly. The processes may include the following.  

●       Understanding the question . Most colleges in Canada give students a question to think about. It is necessary to understand this question/prompt.

●       Brainstorming . This process helps you understand what type of topic you should choose. It allows you to know the sources to use.

●       Choosing sources . You cannot achieve the right essay quality if you use the wrong sources. If you choose the right topic, you will have no trouble choosing the right sources.

●       Doing research . The next step under the prewriting phase is research. Under this step, you consolidate all the points needed. Consolidate the evidence to help support the points.

●       Creating an outline . After research, take time to reorganize the facts and points. Drop information that does not look relevant to the essay. Use the points that remain to create an outline.

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Understanding the essay structure  

Educators in Canadian schools take time to teach about writing structure. The understanding of different students differs in many ways. Due to these, educators have developed strategies about how to teach essay writing to weak students. They give them more opportunities to write. The educators help them understand the structure of writing. Success in writing essays in Canada requires a good understanding of structure. The following components are crucial in structure.  

Introduction  

The introduction provides a background for the essay. Laying background information allows the audience to understand what the text is about. This section is further divided into sections. The first section is the hook that aims to attract attention from readers. The writer includes a thesis statement. It introduces the main argument of the essay.

  The body discusses the substance of the essay. In Canada, the body of an essay is broken down into segments. The first part is the topic sentence that introduces the main argument. The next sentence provides examples that support the argument. Professors in Canada are very keen to look for supporting evidence. It is necessary to have a smooth transition between paragraphs. 

The conclusion  

The conclusion restates the thesis and provides an overview of the main points. Give the reader a point to think about to emphasize the importance of the arguments.  

Comparing different types of essays  

In Canada, students should be ready to deal with different types of essays. Lecturers do not focus on a single type of writing skill. As a strategy on how to teach essay writing, they assign students a wide range of essays. Once you receive the prompt or question, try and understand what type of essay you have been assigned.  

Descriptive essay . A descriptive paper uses an emotional language approach to discuss a subject. The paper evokes emotions by providing a distinct and immersive description of the subject.  

Persuasive writing . Persuasive writing is also referred to as argumentative text. The writer takes an approach that persuades the reader to agree with their point. They must use points that counter every argument the reader might have.  

Narrative writing . An essay that requires narrative writing offers a series of arguments that attract the reader. They understand the view of a writer and narrate that view.  

Comparing and contrasting . Comparison essays argue on a point and then discuss its contrasting side. Their goal is to argue or compare similarities and contrasts. By examining contrasts and similarities, a writer encourages critical thinking in readers.

  Important essay writing tips for students in Canadian universities  

●       Avoid getting late for submission . Late submissions may attract penalties. Some lecturers in Canada may deduct marks or cancel the paper.

●       Plan your time well . If you want to beat deadlines, manage time well and start early.

●       Avoid hard topics . Tough topics take time to complete and you could be late. It is harder to get points for such topics.

●       Know the reader . Know who will read your paper and write directly to them. Be sure to resonate with them.

●       Cite well . Use the right citation style and know how to cite.

●       Refine your paper . Paper refinement includes several things. It includes reading the first and second time. Check errors with grammar tools and use plagiarism tools. Do formatting correctly by ensuring you use the right fonts. Follow the rules of spacing, paragraphs, and structure flow.  

To sum it up  

Universities in Canada follow strict writing guidelines. The educators expect students to focus on quality and originality. Strategies for essay writing success include taking time to understand the prompt. Know the initial writing processes such as picking a topic, researching, and creating an outline. Understand the structure to follow when writing. Write the submission date in your calendar to make sure you don’t miss it. Ensure you follow the detailed guidelines given by the university.

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All Good Sex Is Body Horror

By Becca Rothfeld

An illustration of a butterfly made from skin in front of a rose.

The residents of the apartment complex are respectable. There are doctors, lawyers, and a surplus of those drably enigmatic persons known as “young professionals.” The building itself, the Starliner Tower, on the outskirts of Montreal, is a modern construction, outfitted with the latest amenities: a heated swimming pool, a golf course, a delicatessen, a boutique. “Sail through life in quiet and comfort,” a calming advertisement instructs, and the residents are only too eager to comply. Still, out of an abundance of caution, there is a doctor’s office on the premises. Under the circumstances, who could suppress the urge to root for disease and disaster?

Not the director David Cronenberg , who has no qualms about subjecting the bourgeoisie in his first feature-length film, “Shivers” (1975), to unexpected upheaval. The ease and efficiency of the modern high-rise are soon upended by the emergence of parasites that resemble larvae and pass from one resident to the next, sometimes by wriggling through the pipes and drilling into their victims’ viscera, sometimes by way of sexual transmission. Once the residents have been infected, they succumb entirely to their appetites: we see them ripping their clothes off, clawing at one another, eating with their hands. Before long, they begin to form feverish clusters around the uninfected, whom they seduce and contaminate.

“This is a disease of the id arising,” Cronenberg, the father of the body-horror genre, said in a 1983 interview. As “Shivers” progresses, it becomes apparent that the id was liberated by design: the in-house doctor, a hyper-rational man, learns that the parasites were created by a scientist seeking “a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will, hopefully, turn the world into one beautiful mindless orgy.”

Unfortunately, the scientist is poised to succeed. One decorous young professional after another is attacked and transformed into a slavering monster, until at last all the residents converge in the heated pool. Here, they descend on the doctor, who is by now the last man standing. “Disease is the love of two alien kinds of creatures for each other,” the doctor’s former lover, now reduced to a raw ravening, has informed him. “Even dying is an act of eroticism.” Before long, he’s subsumed by a swarm of bucking bodies, and chaos prevails.

Some might regard this conclusion as pessimistic, if not apocalyptic, but Cronenberg is quick to correct them. “I identify with the parasites, basically,” he said in an interview. “The ending of ‘Shivers’ was for me a happy ending.”

I loved the early days—the days of sick surrender. It was June, and by midmorning the alleys had grown pungent with rotting trash. Air-conditioners dribbled water down onto the street, and I stumbled through the reek, sweating slickly, uneasy in my body. No one I encountered noticed anything strange about me. Shopkeepers addressed me as if I were not obscene. It was incredible, I thought, that a lust like mine could go so wholly undetected. Didn’t it have a weight and a color? Couldn’t passersby tell that I was feral and filthy, dripping beneath my dress?

From one point of view, no doubt the most sensible, what had happened to me was not as calamitous as what befell the residents of the Starliner Tower. I was not a zombie; I had no trouble refraining from assaulting people in the park. But from a different point of view, less sensible and therefore more appealing, I had been smashed and reconfigured, rendered lushly lavish. In short, I was in love with an alien kind of creature, an anomaly on the outside clamoring to squirm in.

The author of my destruction was a man with long fingers and a shock of hair like a flame. He could build furniture without consulting the instructions and light fires without matches, just by collecting branches and fussing with them on the ground. The subjects about which he seemed to grasp everything were often the ones it had never occurred to me to ask about: chess openings, causal inference, social-network diagrams. I loved the way his lips pursed, the lace of shadow his lashes cast on his cheeks. He was always reading, even in the shower, his hands protruding from behind the curtain so that the book stayed dry.

Confronted with this entity, who was eventually to become my husband, I was in the grip of a carnality that was strange and implacable. I took cold showers; I sucked on ice cubes. But my body was a hungry animal that kept making mad demands. It wanted to choke; it wanted to howl; it wanted to be not just stripped but skinned. In Cronenberg’s 1988 film “Dead Ringers,” a gynecologist muses that “there should be beauty contests for the insides of bodies,” a remark that alarms the patient lying supine on the examining table. But it made sense to my body, which longed to offer up even its offal. It was only a matter of time before the longing attacked.

When Cronenberg described the ending of “Shivers” as “happy,” it was not the last time he would celebrate a transformation that others find appalling. Reflecting on Kafka’s “ Metamorphosis ” three decades later, he wondered why no one in Gregor Samsa’s family “feels compelled to console the creature by, for example, pointing out that a beetle is also a living thing, and turning into one might, for a mediocre human living a humdrum life, be an exhilarating and elevating experience, and so what’s the problem?” Perhaps there is no problem, or at least no problem not vastly outweighed by the tang of transfiguration.

Cronenberg’s genius consists in his rare ability to see that elevation can attend disgust, and almost all his movies raise the possibility that a hideous ordeal might double as a reprieve from banality. Even “A History of Violence” (2005), an effort from his later and more realist period, casts an alteration that most would deplore in a surprisingly ambivalent light. At first blush, both the film and its protagonist are quotidian. There are no mad scientists, no monsters. Instead, there is only the sort of hokey home-town hero we might expect to find in a garden-variety rom-com. Tom Stall, the owner of a diner in a punishingly friendly town in Indiana, spends his time greeting patrons by their first names, affectionately teasing his children, and exchanging pleasantries with his wife, an obligatory blonde who entices him to bed by donning the cheerleading uniform she was issued in high school.

But Tom’s placid existence is disrupted when he repulses armed robbers from the diner, eliciting admiring coverage from national news networks. The surge of unwanted publicity has dire consequences: several members of the Philadelphia Mob spot Tom on television and track him down, maintaining that he is not Tom but Joey, a notoriously violent member of their cohort who disappeared without a trace several years prior. Tom is vehement that they have him confused with someone else, but the skill with which he brutalizes his pursuers belies his denials. In the span of just a few days, the veneer of civilization he has worked so hard to cultivate is peeled back to reveal the savagery still massed beneath. At the beginning of the movie, Tom made tender love to his wife while she gushed about high-school cheerleading; at the end, Tom-reverted-to-Joey wrestles her down onto the stairs, where both of them scream in fury and exultation.

On the face of it, the ending of “A History of Violence” is unhappy. In the parting shot, Tom-cum-Joey’s family sits around the dinner table, looking like figures in a Rockwell painting gone sour. But Cronenberg is too defiantly weird to be convinced that Tom’s devolution is an entirely negative development. “Joey’s violence does have an erotic component,” he told an interviewer. The man’s wife “responds to it, but she’s also repelled by it. It’s the best sex she’s ever had and also the most terrifying. Does she want more of it or not?”

Do we want more of it or not? This is the question that Cronenberg’s œuvre poses relentlessly—and often prompts us, much to our own surprise, to answer affirmatively. Cronenberg speculates that “Shivers” viewers “vicariously enjoy the scenes where guys kick down the doors and do whatever they want to do to the people who are inside.” The film’s French title, “Frissons,” is appropriately ambiguous: a frisson is a quiver of delight as much as a shiver of dread, and for someone convulsed by one, the discomfort is inextricable from the titillation.

The ease with which Cronenberg’s characters and his viewers yield to the sublime paradox of the frisson is revealing, for evidently even the most hardened domestication is still quick to crumble. The population represented by the residents of the Starliner Tower is as restrained as can be, but not one of the young professionals living there manages to resist the enticements of the parasites. “People . . . never quite feel that they are securely embedded in their social context,” Cronenberg has observed. “They always feel that the slightest little thing is going to jar them loose, and they’re going to be hopping around,” drinking one another’s blood. But there is another reason that the tenuousness of social nicety is so tantalizing—namely, that the frailty of our present mode of being hints at the possibility of its reinvention. The staid apartment dwellers in “Shivers,” Cronenberg explains,

experience horror because they are still standard, straightforward members of the middle-class high-rise generation. . . . They’re bound to resist. I mean, they’re going to be dragged kicking and screaming into this new experience. They’re not going to go willingly. But underneath, there is something else.

This “something else” is a new orientation that vindicates their transformation only once it has taken place. The middle-class high-rise generation is not wrong to fear its salvation from ossification, for a self on the verge of metamorphosis is also on the verge of liquidation.

Regenerations as radical as the ones Cronenberg envisions involve what the philosopher L. A. Paul has termed “transformative experiences,” ruptures that change “your own point of view so much and so deeply that, before you’ve had that experience, you can’t know what it is going to be like to be you after the experience.” Not only do we lack access to information that we can acquire only by plunging into the scalding water of a new life, but we cannot foresee how such a jolt will overhaul the very predilections and values that define who we are.

For this reason, transformative experiences “raise a special problem for decision-making,” as Paul explains in her book . Traditional decision theory, propounded by sober economists who do not have Cronenbergian monsters in mind, is no use: it instructs agents who aspire to rationality to select the course of action that maximizes expected value, where expected value is calculated in terms of both “the values of the outcomes, and the probability that the state needed for each outcome will occur, given that the act needed to bring it about occurs.” Theorists have proposed various solutions to the difficulties that arise when we cannot determine how probable a given outcome is—but all the models on offer require us to have some inkling of the “values of the relevant outcomes,” and this is precisely what eludes us in the case of transformative experience.

Such experiences, more familiar but no less dramatic than those Cronenberg envisions, abound in real life. There are medical interventions that restore hearing or sight to those who lack them; there is pregnancy, itself the subject of a great deal of body horror for fairly obvious reasons; and then there is sex, love, and marriage—each of them as gruesome in its own way as the grisliest conceit of Cronenberg’s.

Of course, as flat-footed literalists are sure to object, there are salient differences between a marriage and a murderous rage, among them that one is morally permissible and the other is not. And, moreover, the literalist brigade is sure to continue, there are many reasons the events depicted with perverse glee in Cronenberg films would not be causes for delight if they were to occur in reality. No one would celebrate an epidemic of cannibalistic zombies or the takeover of Montreal by a gang of nymphomaniacs. But an analogy is not an identity, and a metaphor is not a policy proposal. Cronenberg must resort to drastic tactics if he is to remind his audience to want what the civilized world is bent on neutering, and fictionalization must trade in exaggeration if it is to awaken cravings that reality is frequently too thin to gratify. How to do justice to the longing for excess except excessively ?

The oozing oddity of embodiment, in particular, requires hyperbole. More disturbing than fiction, in which a person goes to sleep human and wakes up freshly verminous, and more terrifying than zombifying pathogens is the grafting of one life on another. I had no rational grounds for deciding that I wanted my particles to be spliced with my husband’s, but, before I had any say in the matter, our separate bodies were already minced into a different meat.

It is a commonplace in the literature of romance that love wreaks legible changes on the body, a development that is typically painted in a positive light. As the poet Octavio Paz so tenderly puts it, “My hands / Invent another body for your body.” He is echoed by E. E. Cummings in a similar poem, which opens, “i like my body when it is with your / body. It is so quite new a thing. / Muscles better and nerves more.” Cummings is not the only one to undergo a shift during the act of love, and the full extent of his metamorphosis is explicable only in terms of his partner’s reciprocal mutation: his poem begins with the ways in which his lover renews his body and ends with the ways in which his body renews his lover’s body in turn. “i like the thrill / of under me you so quite new,” he concludes. The poet’s body changes in response to his lover’s body, his lover’s body changes in response to the changes in his body, his changed body changes in response to the changes in his lover’s body, and so on and on, twining into an ouroboros of mutual reconstruction.

These transformations recall the notion of the “interhuman,” evoked to great effect by the writer Gary Indiana in his short and sharp consideration of Cronenberg. The “interhuman,” Indiana maintains, is the product of the “perpetual re-creation of identity: simply by coming into contact, you create me and I create you, as different people than we were just before we encountered each other.” The interhuman can arise whenever we interact with one another, but the changes we inflict on each other in the bedroom, where we are so perilously susceptible, tend to be especially stark. Sex sets the interhuman into motion in Cronenberg’s marvellously demented films, in which characters copulate with cars and television screens, but the idea of erotic interhumanity is perennial. In Greek mythology, lust routinely transforms prurient men into animals, while the women they pursue change into trees and birds; in the twelfth-century tales of the poet Marie de France, one knight steals in through his beloved’s window in the form of a hawk. Cronenberg’s chief innovation is his capacity to recognize that whether lusting and falling in love are more like body horror or more like reincarnation is merely a matter of emphasis. Like Paz, he knows that desire invents another body for our bodies. But like Ovid, he asks: Why should we expect desire to leave us intact? Why wouldn’t it tear us apart with its talons?

In “ Phaedrus ,” Plato proposes that the soul of the lover is “in a state of ebullition and effervescence, which may be compared to the irritation and uneasiness in the gums at the time of cutting teeth.” The lover’s skin softens, he continues, and she becomes dizzy to the point of nausea. She sweats, she shudders, she feels sick as if at sea, and at last she begins to grow wings.

In Cronenberg’s best-known film, “The Fly” (1986), matters are considerably more horrific. We don’t guess it yet, but we catch our first glimpse of the wings that are soon to emerge when Veronica, a science journalist, discovers a patch of coarse hairs on the back of her new lover, Seth Brundle, an eccentric physicist who has just teleported himself across his lab. At least, this is what Brundle believes he has done; in reality, he has genetically fused himself with a fly that happened to wander into the teleportation pod alongside him. He does not realize it yet, but he is on the cusp of a hideous metamorphosis into a gigantic man-insect hybrid.

Brundle’s transformation into Brundlefly is painful and, above all, repellent. In “The Fly,” perhaps more than in any other entry in his fantastically foul corpus, Cronenberg luxuriates in the grotesque. As Brundle degenerates, he putrefies, slimes, and squishes, presenting a perverse caricature of a person flush with lust. To allow the wings to emerge, his human body has to disintegrate, one piece at a time. First, he sprouts the wiry hairs that gave Veronica pause; next, his skin roughens and his nails flake off; then his teeth decay, and he begins to eat, as flies do, by dissolving solid food in a wash of acidic vomit. When his ears fall off, he deposits them in his bathroom cabinet, where he is preserving the rest of his erstwhile body parts for posterity. When Plato wrote “the growing of wings is a necessity” to “fluttering love,” I doubt this is what he had in mind.

And yet Brundle’s devolution—and, by extension, his anguished acquisition of wings—is quite literally precipitated by the violence of his love for Veronica. He enters the teleportation pod in a drunken stupor because he is driven to distraction by fear that she plans to leave him. For her part, Veronica is subject to a parallel (if less overtly disturbing) transformation, set off by her infatuation with pre-metamorphosis Brundle. When she goes to break things off with her possessive former boyfriend, she announces, “I still have the residue of another life, you know—I have to scrape it off my shoe and get rid of it once and for all.” Earlier, she lies next to Brundle and kisses and bites him so forcefully that he recoils. “Sorry,” she says as he flinches. “I just want to eat you up. You know, that’s why old ladies pinch babies’ cheeks. It’s the flesh, it just makes you crazy.”

The flesh! It just makes you crazy! It just disassembles you and puts you back together in a different form! Brundlefly is disfigured and ultimately destroyed, yet I suspect that many of us would rather turn into something other, even something awful, than stay siloed in the solitary and workaday self. “The disease . . . wants to turn me into something else—that’s not too terrible, is it?” Brundle, already halfway to Brundlefly, muses with characteristically Cronenbergian flair. “Most people would give anything to be turned into something else.”

Most people would give anything to be turned into anything else, because most sex is mediocre, and the measure of its mediocrity is that it leaves us unaffected. No one falls ill; no one transforms into a fly or a cockroach; nothing changes. As the narrator of Norman Rush’s novel “ Mating ” sagely observes, “sex can be various things, but in my experience the usual thing it is is considerate work on the part of both parties,” accompanied by the exchange of careful courtesies: “after you, no, after you, mais non.” No one has transformative sex all the time, and there is nothing wrong with sex that is merely pleasant. Indeed, a polite volley of pleasantries is probably the best thing that unecstatic sex can be.

Of course, many mediocre sexual encounters are rote in a more pernicious way. Heterosexual sex that follows the standard scripts, with its spankings and its schoolgirls, is not always devastating or traumatic, but its tiresomeness is nonetheless not innocuous. Women are the most obvious losers when the scenarios faithfully reënacted in the bedroom so consistently favor male predilections, but men who inherit their desires from the prevailing sexual culture—or, worse, men who feel they must satisfy a virile masculine ideal whether it appeals or not—lack the opportunity or the means to develop sexual agency. For both parties, the resultant comedy of errors is not satisfying. What nefariously underwhelming sex has in common with respectfully underwhelming sex is that neither brand is especially surprising or especially erotic.

To have sex erotically—and ethically—is to have it with someone else , and a person demonstrates her difference from the self by being impossible to predict, domesticate, or assimilate to preëxistent fantasy. It is not erotic to impose a ready-made desire onto someone pliant, or to slot her into a fetish that has little to do with her. Eroticism occurs only when someone rewrites us so completely that she rewrites even the quality and content of our appetites, and only when this radical rewriting is reciprocal.

Eroticism does not arise every time there is sexual activity, no matter how plodding, but it is also not the exclusive concomitant of love, marriage, or conventional commitment. Most sexual pairings are no more dishevelling than a game of tennis, but it is constitutive of sex that it has the potential to thrust us into metamorphosis that may be sweet, may be sinister, and may be both concurrently. When at last we grow wings, who can say exactly where we will want to fly?

Can a person consent to dying? Can she consent to a complete renewal, which amounts to the same thing?

Surely she cannot consent in the normal way. To consent in the normal way is not merely to grant permission but to grant permission on a particular basis—perhaps a reasonable expectation of pleasure, security, or safety. In any case, there is some positive inner state to which the outward utterance of license is supposed to correspond. A woman, almost always the presumed consenter in a heterosexual exchange, is exhorted to have sex with someone only when she has good reason to believe that she will have a generally happy time with him. Over and over, she is told: you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do; you don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Because she is assumed to know exactly what makes her comfortable, and because comfort is assumed to be a necessary condition of good sex, the procedure the consenter is instructed to follow is not unlike the operation favored by decision theorists. First, she is to imagine what sex with the partner under consideration will be like; second, she is to assign a value to the experience that she has conjured; third, she is to assign a probability of accuracy to her prediction. Having done all this, she finds herself in a position to make a rational decision, consenting if and only if she foresees that an exchange will turn out to be unimpeachably agreeable. Should she prove wrong in her predictions, should she ever feel the slightest scintilla of unease, she should withdraw her consent and beat a hasty retreat.

Three faulty assumptions are baked into this model. The first is that people in general, thus women in particular, can predict, if roughly, what a prospective partner will be like during sex; the second is that people in general, thus women in particular, can predict what they will be like during sex with a prospective partner; the third is that sex can and should be comfortable.

In fact, we are not impermeable packages of preformed desires, importing our likes and dislikes around with us from one encounter to the next like papers in a briefcase. An erotic craving is inextricable from the ferment that foams up when oneself is sluiced into another. Not only is it impossible for us to know whether an encounter will be deflating or transformative but we cannot know what sort of metamorphosis will ensue if the sex is as jarring as we can only hope it will be. We can have no more success when it comes to divining how we will change our partners than we can have when it comes to divining how they will change us—or, following Cummings, how their changes will change us, and how our changes will change them, iteratively and indefinitely. Maybe we will grow the wings of cherubs, but maybe we will find ourselves meshed with the coarse bristles of gigantic flies. All we can say with certainty is that sometimes, when it is working, sex carves out new bodies for our bodies, and these bodies can be both better and more brutal than the ones we could invent alone.

From Cronenberg’s fever dreams, we can surmise that there is a further reason to reject the decision-theoretic model of consent: not only is it impossible for us to know what we will become if an erotic encounter is transformative but we should not want to. To determine in advance what a transformative experience will churn into existence is to sap its power, for the very essence of transformative experience is that we cannot predict how it will transform us. To be sure, it is uncomfortable to stand on the precipice of metamorphosis, but unless we are willing to assume genuine risk we cannot be undone and remade.

Writing of the conservative fear of sexual deviance, the feminist cultural anthropologist Gayle Rubin notes that we are bent on drawing a line between “sexual order and chaos.” The line in question “expresses the fear that if anything is permitted to cross this erotic DMZ, the barrier against scary sex will crumble and something unspeakable will skitter across.” Conservatives are right. If the gender binary melts away, if heterosexuality is no longer the default assumption, if parasites enter the building and dismantle the tenants, something unspeakable will skitter across—and that is the point of any erotic effusion worth pursuing.

None of this means that consent is not an essential condition of erotically exalted and morally acceptable sex. Assault and rape are shattering, but not in the way that transformative experiences can be: indeed, both are all too predictable, all too consistent with the patriarchal pattern. They oppress and dehumanize for many reasons, but prime among these is that a sexual predator is incapable of taking his victim on her own stingingly singular terms. One of the rapist’s greatest moral failures is that he foists his own wants onto his victim without allowing hers to make any mark on him, without allowing any of his own expectations to be thwarted. (The genders, of course, may be reversed, or need not be opposing.)

Consent cannot be jettisoned, but it must be reconceptualized. If consenting is a matter of expecting to feel perfectly protected, even in the throes of the wildest elation, it comes at too high a cost. But we can consent to erotic shocks in roughly the same way that, according to Paul, we can rationally decide to undergo a transformation: if we can’t know what an experience will be like, “we might choose to have an experience because of its revelatory character, rather than choosing it because what it is like to have it is in some way pleasurable or enjoyable.”

This solution to the decision-theoretic conundrum is not completely satisfying. Someone who chooses to transform because she values revelation can never be sure that her future self will not evolve a preference against revelation, such that she will wish, retrospectively, that she had decided against metamorphosis. Consent cannot provide a wholly satisfying solution to the perils of sex, either, at least if a satisfying solution is one that insulates us from suffering. To consent to a sexual encounter that might be erotic is to countenance the prospect of a transformation that changes the consenter into someone averse to transformation, or something as horrendous as Brundlefly, or something heretofore unimagined and unimaginable. And transformative experience in the erotic domain is not the sort of thing that can be chosen, anyway, so much as it is the sort of thing that happens to us (though its preconditions can be fostered or frustrated).

Still, we can come to want revelation, while acknowledging that genuine and dizzying uncertainty is the cost of our capacity for paroxysms so potent. At best, consent is vital not because it insures safety but because it enables danger.

When I met my husband, I did not know what to say about him. He was too new for my secondhand language. I wanted a fresh mouth, capable of pronouncing unprecedented words, and a body unstained by prior touch. Now I have them. My life has been split open, like a cocoon, and I am still waiting to see just what sort of creature crawls out. ♦

This is drawn from “ All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess . ”

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  • How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.

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Table of contents

When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.

You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.

The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.

Argumentative writing at college level

At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.

In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.

Examples of argumentative essay prompts

At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.

Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.

  • Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
  • Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
  • Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
  • Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
  • Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
  • Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.

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An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.

There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.

Toulmin arguments

The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:

  • Make a claim
  • Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
  • Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
  • Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives

The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.

Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:

  • Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
  • Cite data to support your claim
  • Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
  • Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.

Rogerian arguments

The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:

  • Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
  • Highlight the problems with this position
  • Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
  • Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?

This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.

Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:

  • Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
  • Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
  • Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
  • Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.

Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .

Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.

In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.

Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.

This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.

Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

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An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.

No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.

Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

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Scott Christensen

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Each year on the weekend closest to the new year, the Globe Magazine prints a one-page calendar. I cut it out and put it on my desk. I have fond memories of the Globe calendar hanging in my Aunt Ro’s kitchen. This story brings me right back.

Cellphone calendars are for immediate notations in MY life. Paper calendars are for OUR lives: me, my husband, my sons and their families, school events, grandparenting schedules, lunches with friends, and an amazing number of things that come up and events/appointments that need to be accessed by more than me. It is easy to reference and quick to edit. I’m happy to continue to use our family’s paper calendar and ignore generational labeling.

Diane Campbell

No Time to Waste

Sabrina Shankman’s Perspective ( “I Tried Eliminating Plastic Waste. Then Came the Barbie Dreamhouse,” January 21) perfectly illustrates how individual consumer efforts and commitments are frustrated, and ultimately overcome, by systemic packaging practices. Until we pressure the producers of consumer goods to stop spewing mounds of packaging, which are largely not reusable or recyclable, our individual efforts to reduce plastic will remain insignificant. Individual responsibility and effort ARE important, but directing them at systemic change is critical. When will we Americans learn that corporate practices shape our lives as much as, if not more than, individual action?

Irene Maksymjuk

Buy Nothing groups on Facebook are actually pretty great. I’ve found new homes for many of the toys and gear my kids have outgrown — sometimes with other families, sometimes with child care providers and teachers looking for supplies. They’re a really valuable community resource.

posted on bostonglobe.com

As it is, the plastics industry has pulled a stunt by making us blame ourselves for our sins, rather than them for pushing their products on us! Programs like glass bottle and aluminum deposits work great and should be updated to index inflation. A similar program could be in place for recyclable plastics. So, if you had to pay a $20 surcharge on the Barbie house, but got your money back if it was given to a disposal/recycling service, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard for us all to do better?

Andrew Martens

In ‘88 I exercised our Massachusetts right to file legislation “by request” and wrote... the law requiring plastic containers be labeled with the “chasing arrows” to encourage recycling. For years, it was one of my proudest accomplishments — until I became aware of the deplorably low level of actual recycling that [Shankman cites] in the column (and until I visited Bali and saw for myself the horrific price people in the developing world pay for plastics that we throw away). Now I’m trying as best I can to follow [her] example and minimize my own use of single-use plastics....I think a deposit on ALL plastic containers ...would help, but I suspect it will take more Draconian measures!

WDStephenson

Healthy Dialogue

In a patriarchal capitalist society, in which it pays (really, really well) to keep women obsessed with obtaining only one acceptable body type, our current obsession with semaglutide is not surprising ( “Will Ozempic Kill Body Positivity?” January 21). No one in our society questions that a person can be “naturally thin” and eat whatever they want. But almost no one believes that someone can be naturally fat while working out and “eating clean.” The “health and wellness” industry (aka the rebranded $70-billion-a-year diet industry) wants us to believe that weight is 100 percent within our control. As Americans, and especially women, we are willing to endure anything, really, to be thin. I hope writer Marisa Meltzer and more women will join me in accepting their weight, while truly caring for their health in ways that may not shrink their bodies, but will nourish and further their actual health.

Waitsfield, Vermont

Very interesting observation about weight loss drugs and accepting your body as is. If somebody was 220 pounds and now they are 170 and they feel better, it’s a wonderful thing. Nobody needs to feel ashamed by their body; it’s always going to be better if you are proud of your body — and if Ozempic helps you, then so be it.

garymichael

The article’s discussion of the difference between implicit and explicit bias is spot on. There are true health issues associated with obesity — which most of America is at serious risk of. I was a contributor to the President’s Cancer Panel report of 2011. I ended with two hard policy recommendations: 1) Continue efforts related to smoking cessation, and 2) Focus on preventing childhood obesity. The cost to society of obesity, and now drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, is simply not sustainable.

Barri M. Blauvelt

CEO of Innovara

There are no quick fixes toward good health. However, there are quick fixes that give big pharma big bucks.

Obesity is a disease. It’s no different than diabetes. It doesn’t have anything to do with lack of willpower.

As a physical therapist for the past 52 years and mental health counselor for the past 20 years, with a PhD in gerontology, I am dismayed that not once in this article was the word and/or concept of exercise. The amount of money for one year of Ozempic could cost $10,000 — compare that to a walk in the park or around your neighborhood. Body positivity comes from a complex array of internal and external factors with the bottom line pointing to health, not weight. I hope each reader comes away with the insight that feeling healthy can be a choice (with the input from reliable sources such as your health care provider, a physical therapist, etc.). The ending quote is the healthiest statement in the article: “The body positivity movement, she said, ‘is not about whether you are gaining or losing weight. It’s about whether you’re at peace with yourself.’” And to that I would add and your health.

Terry E. Ruby

CONTACT US: Write to [email protected] or The Boston Globe Magazine/Comments, 1 Exchange Place, Suite 201, Boston, MA 02109-2132. Comments are subject to editing.

Many people want a toned body. Here's how to get one.

body for essay

While many of us are after a more toned body because we want to feel or look better, doing so also brings plenty of health benefits. Because a lean physique requires the avoidance of excessive body fat , for example, you're more likely to eat right and exercise regularly in order to obtain it - both of which are crucial for optimal physical health. And because a healthy diet and exercise have also been shown to reduce stress and boost confidence, striving for a toned body could improve your mental health as well. 

But becoming obsessed with a toned body could also stem from a negative body image or an overly restrictive diet, and there are misunderstandings about what having a toned body means or requires from each individual. "Achieving a toned body is a highly individual process and what is achievable and healthy can vary widely from person to person," explains Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, a licensed psychotherapist at  Pacific Pearl of La Jolla  and the director of the San Diego Marathon Clinic.

What is a toned body? 

A toned body generally consists of having a strong physique and a relatively low amount of body fat, so your muscles remain visible. This means your muscles will "feel firm to the touch due to consistent strength training and physical conditioning," Gontang explains. Such muscles are visibly defined, he adds, "but not to the extent of a bodybuilder." He says that a toned body also means having low to moderate amounts of body fat and an overall healthy appearance that reflects that you're eating right and getting plenty of exercise. 

Any effort to get a toned body, Gontang cautions, should avoid extreme practices and should focus "on health and fitness rather than just aesthetics." 

What are the health benefits of having a toned body?

Focusing on health and fitness as you work on getting a toned body has many advantages, in addition to helping you feel better about your appearance. "A toned body provides strength, energy and flexibility and can decrease your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease," says Dr. Michael Fredericson, director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the co-director on Longevity at Stanford Medicine.

Some other benefits of having a toned body that Gontang points to include improved balance, better posture, a boosted immune system, improved joint health and bone density, better sleep quality , overall stamina, and an increased metabolic rate "as muscle tissue burns more calories at rest compared to fat tissue." This can help with weight management goals . Gontang adds that having a toned body can also help you age better. "Regular exercise and maintaining a toned body can reduce the rate and effects of aging, keeping the body functionally younger," he says.

Dr. Shelby Johnson, a physical medicine & rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, speaks of similar benefits and adds that being physically active also means you're more likely to avoid many of the diseases and complications associated with obesity . It can also have a positive effect on your mood and your ability to concentrate.

How to tone your body?

Getting a toned body comes down to a healthy diet and regular exercise. "A toned body should be a result of healthy lifestyle choices that include balanced nutrition and exercise rather than extreme dieting or excessive fitness regimens," says Gontang. 

Fredericson says that drinking plenty of water and getting enough fruits and vegetables along with low-fat dairy, lean proteins and complex carbs are a good place to start. He also suggests limiting added sugars, refined carbs and fried or processed foods.

For exercise, he says it's important to balance cardio and weight training as cardio can help you decrease body fat while weight training can help you build muscle. "Thus, a combination may be best for improving your body composition ," he says.

Some good cardio exercises that Johnson recommends include walking, running , biking or swimming . When it comes to strength training, Gontang recommends including exercises that target all the major muscle groups such as squats , deadlifts , bench presses and shoulder presses if you're using weights; or push-u p s , pull-ups, planks, lunges and leg raises if you prefer to use your body weight. " Resistance bands are also great for adding resistance to workouts, especially if you're working out at home," he adds. 

Consistency is especially important. "Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, plus strength training twice a week," he advises. Johnson adds that it's also important to incorporate rest days into your routine and says that "a healthy body needs not only exercise and a healthy diet, but also appropriate amounts of sleep and stress control."

It's also important to be realistic about expectations. Fredericson says that most people who stick to working out regularly and eating right will start to see a measurable difference as early as a few months in but will experience their best results after crossing the one-year mark. "There is no quick fix to decreasing body fat and getting in shape," he says.

Want a healthy body? It's all about that fat and muscle, not your BMI

IMAGES

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  27. Letters about a Patty Dann essay and Ozempic and body image

    Very interesting observation about weight loss drugs and accepting your body as is. If somebody was 220 pounds and now they are 170 and they feel better, it's a wonderful thing.

  28. How to tone your body: Tips, health benefits explained

    Consistency is especially important. "Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, plus strength training twice a week," he advises.