How to Write the BEST Body Paragraphs in English Essays

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Hi, my name is John and today I will be going through how you can write close to perfect english essay body paragraphs here in Australian high schools.

Body paragraphs are much more difficult compared to introductions as you are expected to prove your points and provide clear examples from your chosen texts. This is the ‘body’ of your essay. Remember that these essays are here to test your logic and ability to create a compelling argument in a certain time frame. There is no point in writing anything that is not relevant, understood or backed up.

Here are my best rules to follow in a paragraph structure:

I like to use PEEL in my junior years and in primary school but in high school, I like to go a little bit more in-depth compared to it. It comes in five parts and is a little more complicated than what you may have seen before but I will and make it as simple as possible.

1. Thesis
2. Context
3. Evidence/technique
4. Linkage

REPEAT 2,3,4 x2 more*
5. Reference back to question


1. Thesis: What you are trying to prove with your essay and is usually a sentence or at most two. It shows your position to the question of whether you agree or disagree with it for instance and usually comes from the dominant theme that is evident in your texts and question. Being able to customise your thesis depending on the test question is really good as it demonstrates that you can write an essay beyond just memorising a pre-written one. If your thesis is, say, agreeing with a certain aspect, make one of your themes ‘to a certain extent, the character development is fixated on’ etc. You will have an overarching thesis in the introduction but in each body paragraph, you can start off with another thesis based on it. Make sure you mix it up. Five identical thesis statements for each paragraph is not a good look.

2. Context: This is where you write a bit of background of where your evidence comes from. I know some people went to the point of writing and including act numbers, but I think that was just too overkill and too much to remember. Basically, you’re setting the scene for your quote so if it was a line someone says, who said it, who was it said to and where in the text was it? The reason for a context sentence is to show the marker that you are not making up quotes on the spot. Including the scene where you found your evidence invites the marker to check you on your honesty. It also helps enormously in ‘giving a feel’ to the general vibe of your quote, so the marker can see you’re using it appropriately and not twisting it to have an entirely different interpretation.

3. Evidence/technique: Your word for word quote from the text.  The length can range anywhere from one word to two sentences. This is the part of your essay (apart from techniques) that absolutely MUST be memorized. When you introduce the quote, preface it with a technique that you can see in it and then include a bit on why it is significant and what meaning it has with the target audience. Sometimes if the quote is long, you can make the technique like Simile, imagery etc in the sentence after it especially if I want to highlight what is trying to say. This is crucial otherwise your quote and context have no real value.

4. Linkage: This is a sentence where I show the significance of your quote is, and how it answers the question. Linkage usually takes the form of The use of (technique) makes the audience feel (significance), and this means they can identify with (your thesis). As a result, (your thesis) is an especially relevant take on (the question). It can take several sentences to get this across if the technique and significance are difficult to explain. I relate the preceding sentences hard with the thesis of the body paragraph.

REPEAT – I then use context, evidence/technique and linkage again so I usually end up with a paragraph that has at least 3 techniques that have been given clear context and analysis that show why it is significant. My paragraphs are a bit longer than others but I found that to work really well in selective schools at least.

5. Reference to the question: I finish off the paragraph with a line that shows a statement that your thesis answers the question. It was mentioned in the linkage section earlier where you link it to your overarching thesis.

This paragraph structure is essentially the formula used in top selective schools and allowed me to get a band 6 in Year 12 English advanced & extension. It has also helped countless students succeed when it is properly utilised.

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