At this point, you have created 3-5 categories or big ideas that give some basic structure to your research. Then you subdivided each category into multiple direct connections between the author’s life and novel, based on links in your evidence between the note cards and triple entry journal. Each category should have 3-8+ associated connections, which will guide your paragraph development. Essentially, you will be drafting one paragraph per connection, although this is not a hard and fast rule.
Using the resource that you were given on Building a Full Body Paragraph and combining those ideas with your preliminary outline rendered a basic, conceptual framework for composing fully developed body paragraphs for your research paper. You are now ready to start drafting and adding commentary and analysis to the mix. The framework provides a flexible way to guide your drafting. Thus, each paragraph begins to take on a structure that looks very similar to this:
Category
- Identify and establish the connection to be examined (topic sentence)
- Explain the connection generally (why is connection important?)
- Introduce and provide evidence that supports the connection (note card/journal match)
- Explain the evidence (significance of the evidence)
- Identify and explain relationship between evidence and connection (inter-textual connection)
- Explain the connection more concretely or specifically (add detail)
- Relate connection to the overall thesis of the piece (relate to focus)
Keep in mind the points above do not equal the number of sentences in the paragraph. You may have one sentence for an individual point or four; it all depends on the material you are addressing.
Also this is intended to be a guide or framework designed to help you. It has all of the essential elements that, if addressed thoroughly, will assist you in developing much deeper and richly developed body paragraphs for your research paper. It is meant to be flexible, not a set of sequential rules. The samples should help illustrate this.
Below are three samples of class generated paragraphs to use as models. The first is the simplest and most direct, following the guideline most closely in a nearly one-to-one fashion. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Sandra Cisneros and her novel House on Mango Street.
Category: Pre-life & Childhood
Connection: Class Setting
Both Cisneros and the main character, Esperanza, were born in similar situations1. Their roots are in urban America; however they are of Mexican descent2. Correspondingly, each were born and raised in a poor Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago (B5/6)3. The urban setting of where each lives influences who they are culturally4. Both families choose to live in an area where Spanish mainly spoken5. The neighborhoods resemble and represent the homeland5. Yet, growing up in a poor, working class area motivates each to pursue a better life with broader ethnicity and opportunity6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
The second sample is more elaborate and deals with each piece of evidence individually, explaining it a little, circling back to the next piece of evidence, repeating the process, before consolidating additional explanation of both pieces of evidence. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Julia Alvarez and her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents.
Category: Immigration and American Childhood
Connection: Differences between real and imagined America
Alvarez and the narrators, each of the Garcia Girls, both come from families that fled the Dominican Republic for political reasons1. Each had unrealistic expectations of what they believed the United States to be2. In her article about the author Sonia Benson states, “Instead of feeling like home, the Bronx alienated Alvarez” (B4)3. The culture shock of moving to a new country, with a new language, and different customs made life difficult4. Moreover, Alvarez left her upper-class Dominican life for a lower, working class American one4. In the novel, the family experiences the same conditions4. The Garcia girls do not like America4. It is not at all what they expected4. Yet, one narrator-sister, explains that after a few years, the family eventually adjusted to the new environment (6)3. Still, the girls thought life in the States would be superior in nearly every way compared to their underdeveloped island experience4. Both experiences, between author and narrator, are identical5. They struggle significantly with the disappointments and acceptance of a reality that leaves them living poor in a lower-class section of America’s largest city6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
The third sample is contains greater depth and detail of analysis and deals with both pieces of evidence at once, then explaining and exploring the connection. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Alice Walker and her novel Meridian.
Category: Personal Life Experiences
Connection: Alice Walker’s abortion linked to character suicide
Both Walker and the character Wild Child experience unwanted pregnancies in their late teens that have tragic consequences1. Although the consequences are different, both women consider the same options and both circumstances end with death2. While in college Alice walker traveled to Africa, when she returned she discovered that she was pregnant and slowly began to contemplate suicide3. Ultimately, she decided to get an abortion instead (A12)3. Similarly in the novel, Wild Child shares her experience of an unwanted pregnancy with the main character, Meridian3. Shortly thereafter, Wild Child, in an effort to avoid the burden, jumps in front of a car, killing herself and her unborn child (80-89)3. Wild Child commits suicide because she does not want to have the baby4. She is young and feels as though she cannot handle the responsibility4. By killing both herself and the baby, in her mind, she avoids creating two miserable lives4. She does not want experience the guilt associated with abortion4. Although the character opts for suicide in the story, Walker aborted the pregnancy5. Having suffered from guilt and depression, she was inspired to express her grief through killing Wild Child6. By killing the character, Walker appears to be eliminating the wild child part of her own life6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
One small but significant item to note in each of the sample paragraphs is the changing verb tense. Notice that when addressing the author’s life, experiences that happened in their past, essentially history, past tense is used. Conversely, when addressing the novel, which is literature, present tense is used. So, the tense you need to use switches between past and present. However, when addressing both the author and the novel, at the same time, you will maintain the present tense. My suggestion is that you just write and not worry as much about this until you get to the editing process. Then you can comb through the document, sentence by sentence, and make sure that these mechanics are in order. This will keep your writing momentum moving forward, without finer mechanical issues slowing down your progress.
from the Reader
Research Project 06: Beginning to Draft
May 1, 2008
At this point, you have created 3-5 categories or big ideas that give some basic structure to your research. Then you subdivided each category into multiple direct connections between the author’s life and novel, based on links in your evidence between the note cards and triple entry journal. Each category should have 3-8+ associated connections, which will guide your paragraph development. Essentially, you will be drafting one paragraph per connection, although this is not a hard and fast rule.
Using the resource that you were given on Building a Full Body Paragraph and combining those ideas with your preliminary outline rendered a basic, conceptual framework for composing fully developed body paragraphs for your research paper. You are now ready to start drafting and adding commentary and analysis to the mix. The framework provides a flexible way to guide your drafting. Thus, each paragraph begins to take on a structure that looks very similar to this:
Category
Keep in mind the points above do not equal the number of sentences in the paragraph. You may have one sentence for an individual point or four; it all depends on the material you are addressing.
Also this is intended to be a guide or framework designed to help you. It has all of the essential elements that, if addressed thoroughly, will assist you in developing much deeper and richly developed body paragraphs for your research paper. It is meant to be flexible, not a set of sequential rules. The samples should help illustrate this.
Below are three samples of class generated paragraphs to use as models. The first is the simplest and most direct, following the guideline most closely in a nearly one-to-one fashion. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Sandra Cisneros and her novel House on Mango Street.
Category: Pre-life & Childhood
Connection: Class Setting
Both Cisneros and the main character, Esperanza, were born in similar situations1. Their roots are in urban America; however they are of Mexican descent2. Correspondingly, each were born and raised in a poor Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago (B5/6)3. The urban setting of where each lives influences who they are culturally4. Both families choose to live in an area where Spanish mainly spoken5. The neighborhoods resemble and represent the homeland5. Yet, growing up in a poor, working class area motivates each to pursue a better life with broader ethnicity and opportunity6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
The second sample is more elaborate and deals with each piece of evidence individually, explaining it a little, circling back to the next piece of evidence, repeating the process, before consolidating additional explanation of both pieces of evidence. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Julia Alvarez and her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents.
Category: Immigration and American Childhood
Connection: Differences between real and imagined America
Alvarez and the narrators, each of the Garcia Girls, both come from families that fled the Dominican Republic for political reasons1. Each had unrealistic expectations of what they believed the United States to be2. In her article about the author Sonia Benson states, “Instead of feeling like home, the Bronx alienated Alvarez” (B4)3. The culture shock of moving to a new country, with a new language, and different customs made life difficult4. Moreover, Alvarez left her upper-class Dominican life for a lower, working class American one4. In the novel, the family experiences the same conditions4. The Garcia girls do not like America4. It is not at all what they expected4. Yet, one narrator-sister, explains that after a few years, the family eventually adjusted to the new environment (6)3. Still, the girls thought life in the States would be superior in nearly every way compared to their underdeveloped island experience4. Both experiences, between author and narrator, are identical5. They struggle significantly with the disappointments and acceptance of a reality that leaves them living poor in a lower-class section of America’s largest city6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
The third sample is contains greater depth and detail of analysis and deals with both pieces of evidence at once, then explaining and exploring the connection. This particular paragraph deals with the connections between author Alice Walker and her novel Meridian.
Category: Personal Life Experiences
Connection: Alice Walker’s abortion linked to character suicide
Both Walker and the character Wild Child experience unwanted pregnancies in their late teens that have tragic consequences1. Although the consequences are different, both women consider the same options and both circumstances end with death2. While in college Alice walker traveled to Africa, when she returned she discovered that she was pregnant and slowly began to contemplate suicide3. Ultimately, she decided to get an abortion instead (A12)3. Similarly in the novel, Wild Child shares her experience of an unwanted pregnancy with the main character, Meridian3. Shortly thereafter, Wild Child, in an effort to avoid the burden, jumps in front of a car, killing herself and her unborn child (80-89)3. Wild Child commits suicide because she does not want to have the baby4. She is young and feels as though she cannot handle the responsibility4. By killing both herself and the baby, in her mind, she avoids creating two miserable lives4. She does not want experience the guilt associated with abortion4. Although the character opts for suicide in the story, Walker aborted the pregnancy5. Having suffered from guilt and depression, she was inspired to express her grief through killing Wild Child6. By killing the character, Walker appears to be eliminating the wild child part of her own life6. * Add a sentence that links to thesis7.
One small but significant item to note in each of the sample paragraphs is the changing verb tense. Notice that when addressing the author’s life, experiences that happened in their past, essentially history, past tense is used. Conversely, when addressing the novel, which is literature, present tense is used. So, the tense you need to use switches between past and present. However, when addressing both the author and the novel, at the same time, you will maintain the present tense. My suggestion is that you just write and not worry as much about this until you get to the editing process. Then you can comb through the document, sentence by sentence, and make sure that these mechanics are in order. This will keep your writing momentum moving forward, without finer mechanical issues slowing down your progress.
Filed in College Preparatory, notes, review
Tags: categories, commentary and analysis, connections, drafting, evidence, exemplars, notes, novel, outline, references, research paper, samples, sources, triple entry journal