BODY PARAGRAPHS



HOW TO WRITE BODY PARAGRAPHS

(we’re skipping the intro paragraph for right now… we’ll come back to it)

Each of your three body paragraphs will contain a topic sentence, facts from your note cards, citation information for each fact (where you got it from), an explanation of each fact, a transition to the next fact or idea… repeat.

You must tell (cite/give credit) where you found every piece of information that is not your own knowledge… except for facts that are common knowledge…

STEPS in WRITING a BODY PARAGRAPH

1. Take out:

a. completed topic sentence worksheet

b. printed outline and note cards

c. orange transition worksheet (numbered columns)

2. Log into NoodleTools.

3. Open a Word document. Put your name in the top right corner.

4. Type and center the word “Title” so you remember to come back & rename it later.

5. Type and center the words “Intro Paragraph” to leave a space for it.

6. Hit return twice. Indent. Type your topic sentence for the background paragraph.

7. Look at your outline under the background section.

8. Find your first note card.

9. Check: are you using a direct quote (author’s exact words) or

a paraphrase (author’s idea in your own words)?

10. Type the note (or copy/paste it from your note cards in NoodleTools).

11. Cite your source (Author pg#) at the end of the sentence, unless the information is common knowledge (see above). NOTE the FORMAT: “Quote” (author). ( Period goes AFTER the end parenthesis.

12. Explain the note you just wrote (you wrote something that wasn’t your idea… now you must explain it in your own words.) The answer(s) to these questions below will create a good “my ideas” sentence:

a. What are the effects of/results from the fact you just wrote?

b. How can you explain that fact better?

c. How do experts respond to that idea/fact?

13. Use a transition word/phrase to move you to the next note card’s fact/idea (see box above).

14. REPEAT STEPS 8 - 14 TO FINISH THAT BODY PARAGRAPH. Then write the other two.

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OTHER HELPFUL REMINDERS when WRITING BODY PARAGRAPHS:

o Stay in third person point of view for a research paper – Don’t use I, me, my, we, us, our, you, etc.

o Just say it! Don’t say, “This paragraph will be about...” or “Now that you know about the concerns, I’ll tell you about the solutions…” or “In my opinion…”

o Stay on topic. Remove all information that doesn’t support your topic sentence(s).

o Don’t try to fit all that you learned into your paper. Focus on what you think is important or personally striking.

o Cite where you get your information from. After each piece of information you take from another source (WHETHER YOU PARAPHRASE IT INTO YOUR OWN WORDS OR QUOTE IT WORD-FOR-WORD) you still must tell where you took the information from (see box below) (Author’s Last Name page #). (Smith 24).

o LEAVE YOUR OPINIONS OUT. You should include opinions from experts in your sources.

o Spell out numbers 1-9 ( one ) except for dates and percentages. (ie. September 27, 1998 or 24%)

o DO NOT end your paragraph with: “Those are the solutions to this problem.”

o Just because YOU know a certain fact doesn’t mean it’s common knowledge. You might be an expert on your type of media, but if the fact you know cannot be easily found in 4-5 sources, you must cite it (meaning, you must go to a text and locate it so you can properly cite it).

Citing Sources

After every piece of research you write in your paragraphs—whether you quote or paraphrase the information—you must tell the reader where you took it from.

At the end of the sentence where the fact is found, cite your sources in the ways described below:

|If you know the: |Then the citation at the end of |

| |that sentence looks like this: |

|Author’s last name & page number of a book/article |(Rotar 21). |

|Author’s last name from a website article, but no page number |(Smith). |

| |

|⇩If you don’t know the author’s last name, use one of the options below: ⇩ |

|No author’s name, but a title and page number from an article |(Teens Spurn Blogging 8A). |

|No author’s name, no page number, but a title |(Blogs and Online Predators). |

Always use the author’s last name in the citation if you know it.

Put the title of an article in italics.

The period always goes after the end parenthesis in the citation.

(Smith, Jones, Abrams).

-----------------------

Example of citing a source:

REMEMBER to use TRANSITION WORDS!!!

Sometimes you’ll need to add an additional idea (C2 )

Sometimes you’ll need to give or describe an example (C3)

Sometimes you’ll need to show importance (C5 )

Sometimes you’ll need to show result (C7)

COMMON

KNOWLEDGE

The only time you don’t have to cite your source (tell where you took your information from) is when the information/fact is common knowledge. That means that the information is easily found in four or five sources.

The government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted over six years in the 1990’s found “just the kind of slow but significant rise in hearing loss that experts had been predicting in an era in which kids spend more time attached to earphones than ever before” (Park).

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