Building Body Paragraphs

Welcome back everybody. In today’s lecture we’re going to look for the first time at what I keep referring to as the most important part of the task to essay and that is the body of the essay. So by the end of this lecture you should have a good understanding of how a quality body paragraph is structured and how it is developed and you should be able to use this knowledge to go away and create similar paragraphs yourselves. So let’s begin by talking about why the body paragraphs are so important. The body of the essay is where you demonstrate your ability to engage with a task appropriately. Construct an argument or develop a discussion. Use a range of vocabulary related to a specific topic. And use a range of grammar for specific purposes. And link ideas explanations and examples cohesively. So really the body is the place where you are addressing every one of the bad descriptors awful or in other words 100 percent of your score. So we are looking at Task response constructing an argument lexical resource range of vocabulary grammatical range and accuracy a range of grammar and coherence and cohesion linking ideas and explanations cohesively or in other words we are looking at all of the band descriptor categories within the body. That’s why it’s so important and that’s why whereas we only spend five minutes on the introduction five minutes on the conclusion we dedicate 10 minutes each to the body paragraphs 20 minutes all together. Now that we know why the body paragraphs are so important we can look into how to construct very high quality paragraphs so that we can go much further to achieving band 7 or above in the exam. So now let’s look at what a high quality body paragraph looks like on the right hand side of it. This slide you can see a model body paragraphs for a problem and solution essay say the reason that this body paragraph works so well is that each sentence has a clear purpose and you can see these different purposes. On the left hand side here so the first sentence is called a topic sentence which we denote with the letter T. One problem in big cities is the lack of green spaces. This tells the reader what the main idea is in this paragraph what the main topic is. Thing that follows this sentence can be related back to the original idea. Now in this paragraph we are following. The topic sentence with an example. For example in the city where I live we only have one small park which is itself surrounded by concrete buildings. The example is used here to support the idea that there is a lack of green spaces in big cities. Everything must be related. We follow that up with a supporting sentence where we’re asking how or why this is an issue because. So why is it an issue. This is an issue because city citizens need green areas in order to relax and the plants and trees also help to filter the air. Now because this is a problem and solution essay This is followed by a solution sentence to solve this problem. City authorities must invest more in building parks and gardens. And finally we look at a result sentence which we do note with the letter are as a result. The people who live in cities will suffer from less stress and breathe cleaner and safer air. So everything in this paragraph has a purpose. And notice how every sentence here logically links on to the next sentence and also logically links back to its preceding sentence. Now this is quite a lot to take in. So what we’re going to do is look at two more model paragraphs looking at different question types. So here we have a body paragraph for a discussion essay where we’re not giving any opinions but we just want to point out what the advantages are of a particular topic. In this case travelling by aeroplane. Notice that the structure of the body paragraph here is slightly different to the previous paragraph. This is an important point to make. Your body paragraphs do not need to follow all the same structures in fact you should try to mix it up so that you don’t sound too repetitive in your structure. Variety is essential. So rather then t e e s Sol r. As we looked at in the previous paragraph this paragraph follows a different structure which will look at now. So first of all you have a very clear topic sentence. One of the most significant benefits of air travel is speed recovering both the task language air travel travelling by aeroplane and giving a very clear idea about what the argument here is speed. We follow that up in this paragraph with a supporting sentence. So saying why or how or just giving a little bit more information about the main idea. Most aircraft nowadays are able to travel faster than any other mode of transport and they do not have to deal with the same obstacles as on land. How can we further support this idea. Well we can use an example to illustrate this speed a journey from London to New York by air takes just 10 hours. Now here we come to the letter A which represents an alternative or an alternative situation where we look at an alternative to further support the strength of our argument. In this case in contrast travelling across the Atlantic by sea takes several days an extra supporting sentence at the end. Evidently travelling by plane is far more convenient and travelling by any other means. Let’s look at another example. So here we are looking at the other body paragraph in this discussion essay where we’re looking at the drawback. So try experimenting with lots of different combinations but remember to always put the topic sentence first. In this case we’ve gone topic sentence support. Example. Second topic. Second example. However air travel does have a drawback in air pollution. The power required for a plane to take off and fly to its destination causes a huge amount of fuel to be burnt. It is believed that 13 million flights are taken each year and this creates a huge strain on the environment. Furthermore aeroplanes require airports and Airports often cause a lot of stress for locals. For example the sound pollution airports leak can prevent local families from sleeping properly. So what we’ve done in this case is looked at an extra arguments and supported it with an extra example. Let’s finish up with some general tips for body paragraphs. So first of all make sure all body paragraphs begin with a topic sentence how you choose to follow that topic sentence is up to you. There’s no strict rules. Just make sure that it follows in a clear and logical progression. Where do you support sentences or examples sentences or alternative solutions sentences or resolves sentences topic sentences should be relevant to both the task itself and the paragraph idea. There should be two halves to a soft topic sentence. One of the main disadvantages of travelling abroad that relates back to the task is that it can cause homesickness that is related to the paragraph your topic sentence should contain two halves. Keep paragraphs four to five sentences long. Any more than five sentences can seem a little bit drawn out. Can also waste your time remembering that time is very important in the exam or anything less than four sentences may seem underdeveloped unless your sentences are very complex and are filled with many clauses in discussion and opinion essays. Remember to begin your body with the side that you disagree with. This is much more logical as it allows us to refute that previous argument and leads much more naturally onto the conclusion for problem and solution essays. Remember to use the same body paragraph formula twice three sentences about the problem then two sentences about the solution. Keep paragraphs based on one central topic. Try not to think about too many different ideas as this can run the risk of diverging from the band set from requirement for one central topic per paragraph and carrying out in cohesion. So now you know how to construct a high quality by paragraph. I want you to go away and try creating one of these yourself. Looking at a new i else writing question see how the formula works for U.S. health planning process now works for you and see if it gives you a bit more confidence in your writing and I will see you in the next lecture. Where we’re going to look at the end of the essay which is d conclusion.