The Introductory Paragraph is sometimes viewed as a ‘hook’ or ‘grabber’. In part, its function is to engage readers and make them want to continue reading. It also introduces the main ideas to be supported in the essay and should present the thesis or claim— in other words, the writer’s position on a subject.

The Supporting Paragraphs do just what their name suggests: they support the thesis. That is a critically important job. Support paragraphs focus on a specific topic or point of support and develop that point of support by discussing and presenting reasons, evidence, and examples that are designed to convince us that the thesis is, in fact, worth considering.

Take time in developing your supporting paragraphs. They can make or break your essay. Use examples or evidence from credible sources to support and illustrate your points.

Finally, we have the Concluding Paragraph. This is the writer’s last chance to engage the reader. Typically, it will present the thesis and the supporting points for the final time in a mini-summary. The writer might want to bring things together at the end, maybe by stressing the importance or significance of your argument, by asking questions that keep your readers thinking, or by suggesting actions that they might take.

The topic sentence of a supporting paragraph should begin with your point. It should clearly state the topic of the paragraph and make a connection to the thesis. The topic sentence is usually at the beginning of the paragraph.

The point you made in the topic sentence should be further discussed in this section. The writer must make the significance of the issue clear to the reader.

The point made in the topic sentence and elaboration sections should be followed up with a specific supportive example. Readers tend to remember examples more because they illustrate the point clearly. Evidence is also another form of support for your paragraph.

This can include quotations or paraphrased passages with the proper documentation. When you use quotations or paraphrases, make sure to include an introduction to a quotation or paraphrase (often called a 'lead-in' phrase), the quotation/paraphrase, the citation for the sourced material, and an explanation of how the sourced material relates to your point. (Step 3 should be repeated for each quotation/paraphrase).

This sentence should restate the main point as a way to conclude the paragraph. Remember: The reader is not as aware of the ideas as the writer is, so it is the responsibility of the writer to keep the reader on track by restating the main idea from the beginning of the paragraph at the end.

Transitions are important parts of the essay. They help to guide the reader through the paragraphs and the essay, in general, in order to better understand the points and the overall argument. A transition doesn’t have to be a sentence or two. It can be a word, a phrase or even several sentences.

For Comparison

For Contrast

For Cause

A quotation, or quote, is someone else’s thoughts or ideas used word-for-word in writing in order to provide evidence or support.

Quotations are only one of the ways that you can integrate sources into your writing. Here are the reasons you might choose to use a quotation instead of a paraphrasing or summarizing:

If the exact wording of an argument is not important, consider paraphrasing or summarizing the passage.

When you include a quotation, it is helpful to integrate the quote into your sentence or paragraph by giving some context to the quotation. The following verbs and phrases are among those commonly used to introduce quotations:

All quotations should be credited to the source in both the essay and in a Works Cited page. Some well-known style guides include the MLA, the APA, and the Chicago Manual. Quotations are formatted differently depending on their length. The following examples are in the MLA style.

Short quotations

Normally, quotations should be integrated into the paragraph while maintaining the flow of the essay. Short quotations are identified by the use of quotation marks. Punctuation within a quotation should remain unchanged except for the last period in the sentence, which should instead appear after the citation.

Example

In reference to the time period of “A Tale of Two Cities,” Dickens writes, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (11).

Long quotations

A quotation that is longer than three lines should be formatted as a block quotation. Long quotations should only be used when absolutely necessary as they may disrupt the flow of an essay and are sometimes viewed as an attempt by the writer to lengthen the essay. Note that quotation marks are not used for block quotations and that the citation sits outside of the ending period. Long quotations should be introduced with a colon after the lead in.

Example

“A Tale of Two Cities” begins with a passage that effectively uses anaphora and oxymora to illustrate the parallels and contradictions present in the story:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, . . . we had everything before us, we had nothing before us . . . – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (Dickens 11)

Altering the source’s words

A quotation may have to be altered because it is too long, or its tense or grammatical structure is different from the rest of the essay. Missing text is indicated with an ellipsis (. . .). Other changes to the text should be within square brackets.

Example

Dickens describes the great divide between the rich and the poor before the French Revolution as, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, . . . we had everything before us, we had nothing before us” (11). At the end of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” Prospero wishes to return to a real life in Milan, where “every third thought shall be [his] grave” (V.i.308).

A quotation should be followed by an analysis of its importance. It should provide support for, but never take the place of, the writer’s argument. As such, the writer should try to avoid ending a paragraph with a quotation.

A summary is a brief description of the main ideas or concepts in an essay, article or story. It is very useful in determining what information is necessary and what information acts as ‘filler’; that is, what are unnecessary details. It is often an account of someone else’s ideas, and so it is important to give credit to the author. When somebody reads your summary, they should be able to get a clear idea of what the essay, article or story is about without actually reading the original.

When writing a summary, it is useful to know what to include:

Summarizing essays and articles is different from summarizing works of fiction. When you are summarizing an essay or an article keep in mind the following:

Here are some tips to help you write a summary:

A paraphrase is the rewording of a passage into one’s own words. It generally deals with smaller sections of text, such as one paragraph, rather than an entire story or essay.

Paraphrasing is used for information in non-fiction documents.

It is usually used to restate a piece of information for use as a secondary source in an essay. Fiction, however, is more focused on descriptive language and can't be captured effectively by paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is primarily about summarizing information in non-fiction documents.

A summary condenses and highlights only the key points in a passage, whereas a paraphrase restates the original in different words. A summary is a more useful tool for dealing with an essay or story. It helps to highlight only the main points. A paraphrase is more useful for indirectly quoting small passages from a source, by telling exactly what it says, but saying it in your own words.

Rules for paraphrasing

1. Only use a limited number of words from the original, or else it will be necessary to use quotation marks.
2. Keep the paraphrase approximately the same length as the original.
3. It is necessary to cite paraphrased passages directly after the paraphrase, not only in the 'Works Cited' list or bibliography.
4. Try to use paraphrasing as an alternative to using direct quotes, which should be reserved for remarkable words/phrases that can’t be expressed in any other words.
5. Understand the article as a whole before you paraphrase. It is important to understand what the article is about and what the author’s stance on the topic is before you try to explain what he or she is saying.
6. Do not merely replace words with synonyms. It is necessary to restate the whole meaning in a completely different way. Synonym – a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another in the same language.

Shared language

Shared language is the language shared among a group of people in a certain discipline or genre.

The following categories are types of shared language:

You do not need to cite shared language. It is more like terminology than a way of expressing something. It is better to use shared language than to attempt to express simple concepts in your own words.