Social Media Platforms.
Learning Goal: I’m working on an English writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
You focus on social media platforms instead of how the human body conveys a nonverbal message. It may help if you focus on one image or person.
Each of your body paragraphs should fully explore a single point or idea presented in your thesis. Remember that paragraphs are idea containers, so you should limit each paragraph to a single idea. Your audience needs you to stay on topic! In most essays, you need to use evidence to support assertions. A clear citation should accompany this evidence. After this evidence, you will spend time on analysis. Most of your essay should be analyzed. Your instructors want to see what you think, and what connections you can make. You can use this guide when you begin writing body paragraphs:
- Topic sentence
- Introduce evidence
- Evidence (a quote or statistic and citation)
- Analysis of evidence in which you input your own thoughts regarding the significance of the information.
- Transition sentence connecting this information to your next point.
Step 1: Write an Introduction
The introduction should provide any necessary context your audience needs to understand your topic, and it should engage your reader. If your reader doesn’t get past the first two or three lines of your essay, then your message has been lost. Your introduction paragraph should include the following information, in this order:
- Hook
- Context
- Thesis
Step 2: Write a Thesis Statement
Your thesis is a map of your essay. Let’s say you wanted to take a road trip and had a choice between two buses. You ask each driver: Tell me where this bus is going.
Driver number one says: “This bus is going to a few cities and then maybe we can stop for cake at a place or maybe Jello.”
Driver number two says: “This bus is going to Albany, Syracuse, and Manhattan, with a short rest stop at Atalier Bakery in NYC.”
See how one statement is clear and specific? Which bus would you take if you had the choice? Think of your thesis statements just like that. Your reader wants to know exactly what they are getting into.
Follow these tips to create a great thesis statement:
- Keep your thesis limited to a single sentence
- Place your thesis at the end of your introduction
- Keep your thesis in active voice (see here for more on active voice)
- Be sure your thesis addresses all prompt requirements
- Be specific!
Examples of good thesis statements:
At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution.
America’s anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because it would allow most citizens to contribute to national efforts and care about the outcome.
This essay will explore the origins of Inuit face tattoo, the reason the art form died out, and how Inuit women have reclaimed their stolen culture by reinstituting the practice of hand-poke face tattoos.
Step 3: Write Three Body Paragraphs
Each of your body paragraphs should fully explore a single point or idea presented in your thesis. Remember that paragraphs are idea containers, so you should limit each paragraph to a single idea. Your audience needs you to stay on topic! In most essays, you need to use evidence to support assertions. This evidence should be accompanied by a clear citation. After this evidence, you will spend time on analysis. Most of your essay should be analysis. Your instructors want to see what you think, and what connections you can make. You can use this guide when you begin writing body paragraphs:
- Topic sentence
- Introduce evidence
- Evidence (a quote or statistic and citation)
- Analysis of evidence in which you input your own thoughts regarding the significance of the information.
- Transition sentence connecting this information to your next point.
Note that in each body paragraph, you can and should have several sentences in which you analyze the material presented in your essay.
Step 4: Conclusion
This paragraph should wrap up your essay. Many students simply restate their points, but you can also use this paragraph to call your reader to action or to emphasize that more research is needed for this particular topic. It’s really up to you! The most important thing to remember is that you should not introduce a new point.