Jane Shaffer’s

MULTIPARAGRAPH ESSAY

A Step-by-Step Guide

TERMINOLOGY FOR TERMINOLOGY FOR PARTS OF AN ESSAYPARTS OF AN ESSAY

• Essay• Introduction• Thesis• Body Paragraph• Topic Sentence• Concrete Detail• Commentary• Chunk• Weaving• Ratio• Concluding Paragraph• Concluding Sentence

ESSAYESSAY

• A piece of writing that gives your thoughts (commentary) about a subject

• All essays should have at least four paragraphs:–Introduction–Body–Paragraphs–Conclusion

ESSAY FORMESSAY FORM

• Paragraph #1: Introductory Paragraph (40+ words)

• Paragraph #2: First Body Paragraph (100+ words)

• Paragraph #3: Second Body Paragraph (100+ words)

• Paragraph #4: Concluding Paragraph (40+ words)

IntroductionIntroduction

• The first paragraph in an essay

• It includes the thesis at the end.

What is a thesis?What is a thesis?

• A sentence with a subject and an opinion (also called commentary)

• A thesis provides the focus for your essay.

Thesis SentenceThesis Sentence

• A thesis is a general sentence with a subject and an opinion (also called commentary).–Example: California is the

best state of all for a vacation.–Example: Vista High School

is a wonderful place to go to school.

Introduction Paragraph• Sentence #1: all commentary

Starts with a theme or themes. “This is a book about….”

• Sentence #2: says more about sentence #1. All commentary.

• Sentence #3: the thesis. Starts with “In (name of work)…..” Makes sense after sentences 1 and 2

• There is no concrete detail in this paragraph.

Body ParagraphBody Paragraph

• A middle paragraph in an essay• Develops a point you

want to make in supporting your thesis.

Body Paragraph FormatBody Paragraph Format• Sentence 1

TS Topic Sentence• Sentence 2

CD First sentence of concrete detail• Sentence 3

CM Commentary on sentence two• Sentence 4

CM More commentary• Sentence 5

CD Second sentence of concrete detail

• Sentence 6CM Commentary on sentence five

• Sentence 7CM More commentary

• Sentence 8CS Concluding sentence

Topic Sentence

• The first sentence in a body paragraph• Focuses on main idea

of paragraph• Provides direction for

the paragraph

Terminology for writing Terminology for writing the essaythe essay

• Pre-writing• Shaping the essay• First draft•Word counts• Peer response• Revision• Final draft

Pre-writingPre-writing

•Bubble Clusters• Spider Diagrams•Outlining• Line Clustering•Columns

CommentaryCommentary• Commentary means your –opinion, – interpretation, – insight, –analysis,–personal response,– feeling, –evaluation, –explication, and– reflections

about a concrete detail in an essay.

Conclusion ParagraphConclusion Paragraph

• The conclusion is the last paragraph in the essay.• It is all commentary.• It does not repeat key

words from anywhere in the essay.• It gives a finished feeling

to the paper.