How to start a body paragraph in a research paper

How to start a body paragraph in a research paper

When you write a body paragraph in a research paper, your job is to take the evidence you’ve found and clearly explain how this evidence proves your point (topic sentence/supporting point). Haphazardly dumping all the evidence randomly into a paragraph won’t do it. Think about the order of the evidence, and explain how each bit of evidence supports A strong body paragraph explains, proves, and/or supports your paper’s argumentative claim or thesis statement. If you’re not sure how to craft one, try using this handy guide! 1. INSERT A TOPIC SENTENCE: Encapsulates and organizes an entire paragraph. Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often appear at the beginning. When 29/10/ · A good body paragraph contains three main sections: a topic sentence (or key sentence), relevant supporting sentences, and a closing (or transition) sentence. This structure keeps your paragraph focused on the main idea, providing clear, concise information. A classic five-paragraph essay format contains an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In general, an

How do you start a first body paragraph in a research paper? – blogger.com

Organize your ideas in a logical order—one that makes sense—and provide enough details—facts and examples—to support the points you how to start a body paragraph in a research paper to make. The first sentence of your body should continue the transition from the end of your introduction to present your first topic.

The final sentence of the paragraph should provide a transition to the third paragraph of the paper where the second topic will be presented. The topic of each paragraph will be supported by the evidence you itemized in your outline. However, just as smooth transitions are required to connect your paragraphs, the sentences you write to present your evidence should possess transition words that connect ideas, focus attention on relevant information, and continue your discussion in a smooth and fluid manner.

You presented the main idea of your paper in the thesis statement. In the body, every single paragraph must support that main idea. Each paragraph also has a main idea of its own.

That main idea is stated in a topic sentence, either at the beginning or somewhere else in the paragraph. Just as every paragraph in your paper supports your thesis statement, every sentence in each paragraph supports how to start a body paragraph in a research paper main idea of that paragraph by providing facts or examples that back up that main idea.

If a sentence does not support the main idea of the paragraph, it is not relevant and should be left out. Make sure you provide enough supporting details for all your ideas. A paragraph needs at least two or more sentences to be complete.

In that case, you can make the sentences part of another paragraph or leave them out. Arrange the paragraphs in the body of your paper in an order that makes sense, so that each main idea follows logically from the previous one.

Likewise, arrange the sentences in each paragraph in a logical order, how to start a body paragraph in a research paper. If you carefully organized your notes and made your outline, your ideas will fall into place naturally as you write your draft. The main how to start a body paragraph in a research paper, which are building blocks of each section or each paragraph in your paper, come from the Roman-numeral headings in your outline.

The supporting details under each of those main ideas come from the capital-letter headings. In a shorter paper, how to start a body paragraph in a research paper, the capital-letter headings may become sentences that include supporting details, which come from the Arabic numerals in your outline. In a longer paper, the capital letter headings may become paragraphs of their own, how to start a body paragraph in a research paper, which contain sentences with the supporting details, which come from the Arabic numerals in your outline.

In addition to keeping your ideas in logical order, transitions are another way to guide readers from one idea to another. Transition words and phrases are important when you are suggesting or pointing out similarities between ideas, themes, opinions, or a set of facts. As with any perfect phrase, transition words within paragraphs should not be used gratuitously. Their meaning must conform to what you are trying to point out, as shown in the examples below:.

Other phrases that can be used to make transitions or connect ideas within paragraphs include:. Remember, a sentence should express a complete thought, one thought per sentence—no more, how to start a body paragraph in a research paper, no less.

The longer and more convoluted your sentences become, the more likely you are to muddle the meaning, become repetitive, and bog yourself down in issues of grammar and construction. In your first draft, it is generally a good idea to keep those sentences relatively short and to the point.

That way your ideas will be clearly stated. You will be able to clearly see the content that you have put down—what is there and what is missing—and add or subtract material as it is needed. The sentences will probably seem choppy and even simplistic. The purpose of a first draft is to ensure that you have recorded all the content you will need to make a convincing argument. You will work on smoothing and perfecting the language in subsequent drafts. Transitioning from your topic sentence to the evidence that supports it can be problematic.

It requires a transition, much like the transitions needed to move from one paragraph to the next. Choose phrases that connect the evidence directly to your topic sentence. If an idea is controversial, you may need to add extra evidence to your paragraphs to persuade your reader. Look for ways to incorporate your research without detracting from your argument. It is often difficult to write transitions that carry a reader clearly and logically on to the next paragraph and the next topic in an essay.

Because you are moving from one topic to another, it is easy to simply stop one and start another. Great research papers, however, include good transitions that link the ideas in an interesting discussion so that readers can move smoothly and easily through your presentation.

Close each of your paragraphs with an interesting transition sentence that introduces the topic coming up in the next paragraph. Transition sentences should show a relationship between the two topics.

Your transition will perform one of the following functions to introduce the new idea:. Transitions make a paper flow smoothly by showing readers how ideas and facts follow one another to point logically to a conclusion. Each paragraph should end with a transition sentence to conclude the discussion of the topic in the paragraph and gently introduce the reader to the topic that will be raised in the next paragraph.

However, transitions also occur within paragraphs—from sentence to sentence—to add evidence, provide examples, or introduce a quotation. The type of paper you are writing and the kinds of topics you are introducing will determine what type of transitional phrase you should use. Some useful phrases for transitions appear below. They are grouped according to the function they normally play in a paper.

Transitions, however, are not simply phrases that are dropped into sentences. They are constructed to highlight meaning. Choose transitions that are appropriate to your topic and what you want the reader to do. How to make effective transitions between sections of a research paper?

There are two distinct issues in making strong transitions:. The first is the most important: Does the upcoming section actually belong in the next spot? The sections in your research paper need to add up to your how to start a body paragraph in a research paper point or thesis statement in a sensible progression. This difficulty, if you encounter it, is actually a valuable warning. It tells you that something is wrong and you need to change it. If the transitions are awkward and difficult to write, warning bells should ring.

Effective transition sentences and paragraphs often glance forward or backward, signaling that you are switching sections. Take this example from J. He is finishing a discussion of the Punic Wars between Rome and its great rival, Carthage. The last of these wars, he says, broke out in B. Roberts, A History of Europe. London: Allen Lane,p.

given near the end of the previous section. Simple and smooth. Michael Mandelbaum also accomplishes this transition between sections effortlessly, without bringing his narrative to a halt. In The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy, and Free Marketsone chapter shows how countries of the North Atlantic region invented the idea of peace and made it a reality among themselves.

The widespread aversion to war within the countries of the Western core formed the foundation for common security, which in turn expressed the spirit of warlessness.

To be sure, the rise of common security in Europe did not abolish war in other parts of the world and could not guarantee its permanent abolition even on the European continent. Neither, however, was it a flukish, transient product. The European common security order did have historical precedents, and its principal features began to appear in other parts of the world. The security arrangements in Europe at the dawn of the twenty-first century incorporated features of three different periods of the modern age: the nineteenth century, the interwar period, and the ColdWar.

Michael Mandelbaum, The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy, and Free Markets. New York: Public Affairs,p. Sometimes, however, you need to end one section with greater finality so you can switch to a different topic. The best way to do that is with a few summary comments at the end of the section.

Mokyr is completing a section on social values in early industrial societies. The next section deals with a quite different aspect of technological progress: the role of property rights and institutions.

So Mokyr needs to take the reader across a more abrupt change than Mandelbaum did. Mokyr does that in two ways. First, he summarizes his findings on social values, letting the reader know the section is ending. Then he says the impact of values is complicated, a point he illustrates in the final sentences, while the impact of property rights and institutions seems to be more straightforward. So he begins the new section with a nod to the old one, noting the contrast.

In commerce, war and politics, what was functional was often preferred [within Europe] to what was aesthetic or moral, and when it was not, natural selection saw to it that such pragmatism was never entirely absent in any society. The contempt in which physical labor, commerce, and other economic activity were held did not disappear rapidly; much of European social history can be interpreted as a struggle between wealth and other values for a higher step in the hierarchy.

The French concepts of bourgeois gentilhomme and nouveau riche still convey some contempt for people who joined the upper classes through economic success. Even in the nineteenth century, the accumulation of wealth was viewed as an admission ticket to social respectability to be abandoned as soon as a secure membership in the upper classes had been achieved. The institutional background of technological progress seems, how to start a body paragraph in a research paper, on the surface, more straightforward.

Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. New York: Oxford University Press,p. Good transitions between sections of your research paper depend on:. Every good paper ends with a strong concluding paragraph. To write a good conclusion, sum up the main points in your paper. Back to How To Write A Research Paper. How to Write a Research Paper.

Writing a Body Paragraph in a Research Paper

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How to Write a Body of a Research Paper - iResearchNet

How do you start a first body paragraph in a research paper? Write the Body ParagraphsStart by writing down one of your main ideas, in sentence form. Next, write down each of your supporting points for that main idea, but leave four or five lines in between each blogger.com the space under each point, write down some elaboration for that point A strong body paragraph explains, proves, and/or supports your paper’s argumentative claim or thesis statement. If you’re not sure how to craft one, try using this handy guide! 1. INSERT A TOPIC SENTENCE: Encapsulates and organizes an entire paragraph. Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often appear at the beginning. When 29/10/ · A good body paragraph contains three main sections: a topic sentence (or key sentence), relevant supporting sentences, and a closing (or transition) sentence. This structure keeps your paragraph focused on the main idea, providing clear, concise information. A classic five-paragraph essay format contains an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In general, an