Writing your main body
In this post, we will explore the purpose, structure and content that should go into the main body of your essay or assignment.
Contents
The purpose of the main body
The main body is where you will spend the majority of writing time. It will usually take up around 80% of your word count. In the main body, you will:
- Expand on the topics or areas you mentioned in the introduction.
- Build your argument by writing about and analysing the evidence you found when researching.
- Structure your argument into paragraphs that guide your reader through the argument you are making.
In the next section, we will look at paragraphs.
Paragraphs
The main body of your essay will be made up of different paragraphs. Having a well-structured paragraph will help you present your ideas in a clear, concise and convincing way.
You can think of each paragraph as a mini-essay with an introduction, discussion and conclusion. Each paragraph should contain four types of sentences that each tell the reader something different:
1. Topic Sentence: This tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
2. Evidence Sentences: This tells the reader what evidence you have found about this topic.
3. Analysis Sentences: This tells the reader what you think about the evidence and/or why it is important.
4. Concluding Sentence: This tells the reader what you have found out about the topic and/or how it helps you answer the assignment question.
Activity - Stop and check: Look back at your most recent piece of writing. Do your paragraphs include all four sentence types?
Importantly, this structure can help make sure your paragraphs are short, relevant and critical. We will explore these elements more in the next section.
Short, relevant, critical
- Keep it short:
Long paragraphs can confuse your reader and make them lose track of your argument. Remember, one paragraph should include only one idea. The topic sentence can help to keep your paragraph short by ensuring you focus only on one idea at a time.
- Keep it relevant:
Your job as a writer is to convince your reader of your ideas and/or answer the assignment question you have been given. Each paragraph should develop your argument in some way. If you are struggling to connect the paragraph to your wider argument or assignment question in your concluding sentence, you may need to rethink if that paragraph is still relevant.
- Keep it critical:
You need to make sure every paragraph in your essay is critical and that it helps build your argument. If you only have evidence sentences, your work will be too descriptive. Make sure you have an equal balance of evidence sentences and analysis sentences to keep your writing critical.
Writing analysis sentences
Writing analysis sentences can be difficult; they require critical thinking and evaluation skills. Luckily, there are a number of techniques you can use to help make analysing evidence a bit easier; asking questions, agreeing or disagreeing with evidence and giving examples or illustrations. We will look at each of these in this section.
1. Asking Questions
There are a number of different questions you can ask to help when analysing evidence.
- How? — How was this found out? How does this author know this? What methodology did they use?
- When? — When was this evidence produced? Is it up-to-date or out-of-date? Is it current?
- Why? — Why was this evidence produced? Was it produced to serve a specific purpose?
- So what? — What does this mean to your essay questions? Why is this evidence important? What does this evidence suggest to you?
- What? — What type of source is this?
- Who? — Who wrote this information? Do they have any bias or agenda?
Example Evidence Sentence: “Outside of London, Manchester is the most culturally significant city in the UK” (Manchester City Council, 2010)”
Example Analysis Sentence (who/why): “This evidence comes from Manchester City Council, who are may biased due to their need to promote Manchester to tourists and businesses.”
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Activity - writing: Try writing further analysis sentences for this example using the other analysis questions.
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2. Agreeing or disagreeing with evidence
Agreeing or disagreeing with other researchers is a great way to show your own critical thinking and engagement with the evidence. It shows that you are not simply believing everything that you read or taking things at face-value. When you do this, it’s important to explain why you agree or disagree with another person’s idea.
Example Evidence Sentence: “McMahon (2017) believes that Manchester, not Birmingham, is the true ‘second city’ in the United Kingdom”
Example Analysis Sentence — Agreement: “This belief certainly has credence when one considers the global brands, such as Google, Adidas, Guardian Media Group and Manchester United Football Club. The city clearly has a pull that other cities in the UK struggle to compete with.”
Example Analysis Sentence — Disagreement: “Although McMahon is correct in some regards, as Birmingham has a bigger population, it should still be viewed as the second most important city in the country.”
3. Giving examples and/or illustrations
Giving examples and illustrations is a useful way to interact with concepts and theories. It highlights your own understanding and perception of those ideas. This technique can also help make abstract ideas clear and allow you to connect them to your own argument.
Example Evidence Sentence: “Important cities across the world are regarded as cultural transmitters. Cultural transmitter cities are defined as having a large proportion of the population involved in cultural activities, being well-connected internationally and a place were different cultures and ethnicities mix (McAdams, 2007).”
Example Analysis Sentence: “Manchester does seem to fit this description. For example, Manchester Airport is the third biggest in the UK, and the biggest outside of London.”
Connecting Your Paragraphs
As well as keeping your paragraphs short, relevant and critical, you also need to make sure your writing flows, ensuring each paragraph connects to the next smoothly. Using transition words and phrases will ensure you connect your paragraphs and clearly guide your reader through your argument. Here are three ways you can do this:
- Reinforcing or adding to an idea
This can be used focusing on a different element of the same source or example or providing different types of evidence to support the same point.
Examples: ‘Furthermore’, ‘Additionally’, ‘Moreover’, ‘Therefore’, ‘Likewise’, ‘Similarly’.
Example in a sentence: “Manchester is similarly a major hub in the ‘indie’ music scene.”
2. Contrasting with an opposing idea
This can be used when discussing one idea in a paragraph, then moving to an opposing idea in the next.
Examples: ‘In contrast’, ‘However’, ‘On the other hand’, ‘Unlike’, ‘Conversely’, ‘Nevertheless’.
Example in a sentence: “On the other hand, cities such as London and Liverpool can claim they are at the heart of popular culture in the UK.”
3. Signposting to an earlier idea
This can be used when referring directly back to an idea presented in a previous section to build upon your argument.
Examples: ‘As noted earlier’, ‘As previously argued’, ‘As outlined above’, ‘As previously discussed’.
Example in a sentence: “As previously discussed, many of the most successful bands in the last two decades have came from Manchester.”
Further support
- Library support for writing
- The Academic Phrasebank can help you find more examples of transition words and phrases to signify other connections between paragraphs.
