Writing an Essay

Body Paragraphs and Conclusions

Body Paragraphs

• …are complete paragraphs (at least 5-7 sentences).

• …start with a topic sentence that ties in directly with your claim and a reason from your outline.

• …uses carefully selected evidence from the text to support the reason and claim.

• …include several sentences after the quote which interpret how and why the evidence supports your claim. This is called a warrant.

A reminder of our prompt:

• A symbol is an object that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea or clarify meaning. Focusing on one symbol in The Sneetches, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work as well as what it reveals about a theme of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Visualizing a Body Paragraph

Step 1: Topic Sentence

A sentence that uses one of the reasons that supports your claim.

Topic Sentences

• …explain where you’re going in the paragraph.

• …tie in directly with your claim.

• …are a variation of the one of the reasons you presented in your introduction (in order).

–Your topic sentence probably ties in with answering part of the prompt.

What was the first reason I used to support my claim in my

introduction?

Seuss employs the star symbol in his story as the Sneetches use them to seem superior to their peers.

Topic Sentence Example

• As the story of unfolds, Seuss’s characters, the Sneetches, utilize the image of a star as a status symbol that creates a hierarchy of which Sneetch is better than the other.

This fits with the first reason I listed in my intro without simply copying it.

It guides the reader through my thinking as the writer—they know what’s coming up in this paragraph now.

I’ll need to have some evidence in mind to support this topic sentence.

• “But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

Visualizing a Body Paragraph

Step 1: Topic Sentence A sentence that uses one of the reasons that supports

your claim.

Step 2: Introduce Evidence A sentence or phrase that gives context for the quote you are about

to use.

Step 2: Introduce your evidence

• Before I use the quote I have to back up my topic sentence and claim, I need to transition into it with a short introduction.

– This way the quote is NOT NAKED in front—the reader won’t be surprised by the quote.

• Here are 3 possible ways to introduce evidence:

1. Use a complete sentence followed by a colon.

A star on the belly is more than just a mere birthmark or tattoo, it becomes a way to judge others based on their appearance: “But, because

they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

2. Use an introductory phrase, separated from the quotation with a

comma

The idea of a star being a symbol of status is established when Seuss writes, “But, because

they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

Use this when you use verbs like “says,” “writes,” “thinks,” “questions,” etc.

3. Make the quotation part of your own sentence without any punctuation

between your writing and the author’s

• The idea of a star being a symbol of status is clear when Seuss discusses how the sneetches treat each other; early in the book it states that “because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-

Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

• In these cases, the word “that” replaces a comma and makes the quote a completion of the sentence you’ve set up.

Quote Introductions

• Use one of the three methods.

• Clothe your quote. Your quote introduction tethers your evidence to your topic sentence.

• It’s a transition between your words and those of the author.

• Never use the word “quote.”

• Without a quote introduction, a reader lacks background for your evidence. – Missing quote intros makes your writing choppy and

confusing.

Visualizing a Body Paragraph

Step 1: Topic Sentence A sentence that uses one of the reasons that supports

your claim.

Step 2: Introduce Evidence A sentence or phrase that gives context for the quote

you are about to use.

Step 3: Evidence 1-2 sentence quotes from the book that support your

topic sentence and claim

Step 3: Evidence

• In critical essays responding to a book, it’s a direct quote from the text.

• Anything word-for word from the text that the author wrote.

• It doesn’t need to be something said out loud by a character.

• Without quotes, you are not giving proof that you’ve read the text.

• Without quotes, you are not showing me that you know how to find and use evidence to back up a claim.

• The quote must be directly tied to the topic sentence (what you said you’d prove in this paragraph).

• A star on the belly is more than just a mere birthmark or tattoo, it becomes a way to judge others based on their appearance: “But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

• Quotes should be quite short.

• Anything that takes up more than three lines on your paper should be narrowed down.

– Surround it with quotation marks and give the author and page number.

Visualizing a Body Paragraph

Step 1: Topic Sentence A sentence that uses one of the reasons that supports

your claim.

Step 2: Introduce Evidence A sentence or phrase that gives context for the quote

you are about to use.

Step 3: Evidence 1-2 sentences quote from the book that supports

your topic sentence and claim

Step 4: Warrant 3-5 sentences explaining the connection (the why and how) between the specifics of the evidence

and the claim.

Step 4 Warrant

• After providing a quote that ties in with the topic sentence and claim, I need explain how this evidence supports my claim.

• I need to connect the dots between specific details the author wrote and the point I’m trying to make.

• This is the bread and butter of analysis so it should take up at least half of your paragraph. 3-5 sentences is typical length.

Analyze, don’t Summarize • Remember that warrants require analysis of

author details.

• Warrants are your explanation and interpretation of your evidence.

• They are the “Do you see what I’m saying?” Part of each paragraph.

• Similar to how lawyers explain and interpret evidence to a jury.

• Don’t leave the analysis up to your reader.

Key to focused warrants

• If you focus merely on what characters were doing, you’re going to be summarizing.

• If you focus on what the author of the work was doing and the results of his or her choices, you’re going to be analyzing.

– Look for at least 2 details/author choices to discuss. Then you get 4 sentences pretty easily in your warrant.

Different things to “point to” in warrants:

• An Author’s:

– Use of a character’s significant action/inaction during a specific moment.

– Word choice in a specific passage.

– Use of literary devices.

– Choice on the structure of events & its effect.

– Depiction of a character changing during a specific passage.

– Discussion of social or political issues.

Warrants explain the connection between evidence and the topic sentence

• What was my evidence?

– “But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4).

• What was I proving in the first paragraph?

– That the sneetches in the story use the star as a symbol of status to decide who is best.

• Details: the labels they give each other (word choice by the author), snoots/sniff (character actions)

Seuss emphasizes the idea that the Sneetches are using the stars as a symbol of status by including the fact that his characters label each other based on their stars. These capitalized labels focused solely on whether or not a sneetch has a star show the power of that symbol in their society. The worth of a “Star Belly” is clearly more than the worth of a “Plain-Belly” here. Seuss also includes the detail that the sneetches with stars are purposefully excluding their star-less peers. They literally turn their noses up at the sneetches who lack stars. This emphasizes the idea that many of the characters follow in the story: that those with the symbolic star see themselves as better than those without.

• My focus in this warrant was on the author’s word choice—he purposefully has the characters create labels for each other based on their star symbol status.

• I also focus on the character action he includes—that Sneetches are shown to physically and verbally exclude those who are star-less.

Sometimes one quote isn’t enough

• You’re required to have at least one, but if that doesn’t fully prove your point, another one is needed.

• Just make sure it’s not NAKED. Introduce before (with a quote intro) and explain thoroughly after (with a full warrant).

Final Result: As the story of unfolds, Seuss’s characters, the Sneetches, utilize the image of a star as a status symbol that creates a hierarchy of which Sneetch is better than the other. A star on the belly is more than just a mere birthmark or tattoo, it becomes a way to judge others based on their appearance. This idea of the star being a symbol of status is established early on in the book: “But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort’” (Seuss 4). Seuss emphasizes the idea that the Sneetches are using the stars as a symbol of status by including the fact that his characters label each other based on their stars. These capitalized labels focused solely on whether or not a sneetch has a star show the power of that symbol in their society. The worth of a “Star Belly” is clearly more than the worth of a “Plain-Belly” here. Seuss also includes the detail that the sneetches with stars are purposefully excluding their star-less peers. They literally turn their noses up at the sneetches who lack stars. This emphasizes the idea that many of the characters follow in the story: that those with the symbolic star see themselves as better than those without.

Conclusion Need-to-Knows • Conclusions should:

– return to your claim of your essay. – go over the main points of your essay.

– never simply “copy” statements in the introduction or body paragraphs.

– never introduce new material.

– never end with an “after-school special” announcement (“and that’s what I think about…” or “and that’s why Odysseus is a hero”).

– Avoid using the cliché “in conclusion” transition.

Step-by-Step

• Step 1: Revisit and reword your claim. Include the title and author again.

• Step 2: Review your main points (topic sentences) and HOW you proved each point.

• Original claim:

– Throughout the story, the star becomes a central symbol employed by the author to tell his story and convey the message that one’s appearance should not be used to determine status in society. Reworded for my conclusion:

– Through his short story, The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss teaches through a focus symbol of a star that physical differences of individuals do not make one group of people better than another.

– Did it restate the claim? Did it re-state the title? Did it re-state the author’s name?

• Topic Sentence #1 (In 1st Body Paragraph):

–As the story of unfolds, Seuss’s characters, the Sneetches, utilize the image of a star as a status symbol that creates a hierarchy of which Sneetch is better than the other.

• Reworded Topic Sentence #1 for Conclusion:

– This issue is first raised in the story when Seuss shows how the sneetches actively segregate their community based on who has a star and who does not.

• Topic Sentence #2 (In 2nd Body Paragraph):

– In addition, Seuss’s use of the star symbol conveys the message that physical differences should not make one group of people better than another.

• Reworded Topic Sentence #2 for Conclusion:

– Later on, he uses the confusion revolving around the star status symbol to show that deciding someone is better based only on physical differences is small-minded and, thus, should not be done in any society.

Conclusion: Put it all together

Through his short story, The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss teaches through a focus symbol of a star that physical differences of individuals do not make one group of people better than another. This issue is first raised in the story when Seuss shows how the sneetches actively segregates their community based on who has a star and who does not. Later on, he uses the confusion revolving around the star status symbol to show that deciding someone is better based only on physical differences is small-minded and, thus, should not be done in any society.