THREE kinds of strong paragraphs (with samples)

/ cesikkenga
  1.  THE SUMMARY BODY PARAGRAPH
    • Includes a topic sentence that identifies how the character changes or deals with conflict over the course of the novel in order to support your claim/thesis.
    • Summarizes events
    • Connects summaries with time/order transitions (First, initially, Next, Then, Finally, After, Before, Previously, Later etc.).
    • Explain how the list of events connect to one another and explain the claim.
    • EXAMPLE (claim is “the power of love is worth the pain of suffering)
      • Jonas goes from accepting the ordered, emotionless life his Elders have created, to questioning it, to finally rejecting it all together.  At first, Jonas willingly takes his medication to curb his “Stirrings” accepting that is for the best that he not experience emotions.  Later, when the Giver explains that the Elders want to protect people from their emotions, Jonas begins to feel angry.  Finally, as he leaves the society, we see his total rejection of this ordered life.  To him, life is not worth living unless it includes love.  Although he is forced to endure pain, he is happy to have found what he was looking for: love.
  2. THE EXTENDED EXAMPLE BODY PARAGRAPH
    1. Includes a topic sentence that includes a key turning point or a key internal event for the character in the story.  THIS EVENT MUST SUPPORT THE CLAIM.
    2. Needs to use exact words from the text (lift a key phrase, sentence or short passage)
    3. Briefly summarize the context for this moment in the story.
    4. Explain/interpret how the line is connected to the other details in the moment to illustrate the claim.
    5. Repeat key words from the topic sentence to connect and explain important moments.
    6. EXAMPLE (claim is “the power of love is worth the pain of suffering)
      • When Jonas flees on his bicycle to save Gabriel from “release” and himself from a solitary and burdened life, he is met with overwhelming obstacles.  He is exhausted from riding his bike every night and hiding Gabriel during the day.  He has little food and lacks proper clothing for the elements he is finding on his way.  Jonas is starvig, freezing and lonely, but none of this is as iportant ans his love for Gabriel.  “He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel.  He no longer cared for himself” (173).  The physical and psychological hardships are less meaningful than the love Jonas feels.  The obstacles he faces as he takes flight on the bike are the price he pays for love.
  3. CONNECTED EXAMPLES PARAGRAPH
    1. Topic sentence that connects 2-3 events/details from across the text that support the claim.  Look for moments that show how the characters change or the story shifts.
    2. Use exact words from the text.  (Lift a phrase or a sentence).
    3. Determine the relationship of the examples (comparison/contrast or cause/effect).  Use transitional words to connect the examples and/or indicate sequence of the events.
      1. Cause effect transitions include
        • Because, As a result, so, since…
      2. Comparison-contrast transtions include
        • On the other hand, but, however, both, each, either, neither.
    4. EXAMPLE (claim is “the power of love is worth the pain of suffering)
      • From the time Jonas first learns about love from the Giver to the end, where he looks onto a home where a family’s holiday is being clebrated,  Jonas’ attitude about love changes drastically.  Originally, Jonas likes the feeling of love, but reluctantly agrees that his Elders are probably right to keep people away from it.  “I like the feeling of love,” he confessed.  “Of course, he added quickly, ‘I do understand that it wouldn’t work very well.  And that it’s much better to be organized the way we are now.  I can see that it was a dangerous way to live'”(126).  However, by the end, he sees no reason for his society’s lack of love.  At the end of his journey, he recognizes a place “where families created and kept memores, where they clebrated love” (178).  He knows “with certainty and joy” they are waiting for Gabriel and him.  The need for love becomes obvious to Jonas as he learns to see its power

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