This week's post will focus on generative writing that will help you construct the problem and solution paragraphs in your essay. You will have two tasks.1. As you read in last week's module, your bo

Constructing Body Paragraphs/The PIE Paragraph

As soon as a reader receives your thesis statement, your job as writer becomes supporting that thesis statement. We support thesis statements with our body paragraphs. Each body paragraph needs to cover a different point/idea. The body paragraphs should always take on the same form. We will construct body paragraphs using the PIE (point, illustration, explanation) method. Please review the notes and examples below and contact me with any questions you may have.

The P.I.E. Paragraph: Body Paragraphs after Thesis

P = Point

What is the point of this paragraph?

What claim is being made?

Often, the point is the TOPIC SENTENCE. The topic sentence for each body paragraph needs to be arguable, one that a reader can agree or disagree with. By stating a claim in your topic sentence, you are letting your reader know that you will support your claim by providing illustrations and explanation/analysis in the rest of the paragraph.

I = Illustration

How is the point supported with specific data, experiences, or other factual material?

The illustration is the evidence used to support/develop the point.

E = Explanation

What does the provided information mean? The explanation is the writer's analysis, elaboration, evaluation of the point and information given, connecting the information with the point (topic sentence) and the thesis.

Below is a sample PIE Paragraph.

From The Color of Water:

Ruth’s method of dealing with the pain she experiences is by turning outward. Ruth herself describes that, even as a young girl, she had an urge to run, to feel the freedom and the movement of her legs pumping as fast as they can (42). As an adult, Ruth still feels the urge to run. Following her second husband’s death, James points out that, “while she weebled and wobbled and leaned, she did not fall. She responded with speed and motion. She would not stop moving” (163). As she biked, walked, rode the bus all over the city, “she kept moving as if her life depended on it, which in some ways it did. She ran, as she had done most of her life, but this time she was running for her own sanity” (164). The image of running that McBride uses supports his understanding of his mother as someone who does not stop and consider what is happening in her life yet is able to move ahead. Movement provides the solution, although a temporary one, and preserves her sanity. Discrete moments of action preserve her sense of her own strength and offer her new alternatives for the future. Even McBride’s sentence structure in the paragraph about his mother’s running supports the effectiveness of her spurts of action without reflection. Although varying in length, each of the last seven sentences of the paragraph begins with the subject “She” and an active verb such as “rode,” “walked,” “took,” “grasp” and “ran.” The section is choppy, repetitive and yet clear, as if to reinforce Ruth’s unconscious insistence on movement as a means of coping with the difficulties of her life.

The claim that is presented in this topic sentence is that Ruth turns outward to deal with her pain. This is something that a reader can agree or disagree with and this is a claim that needs support. Right after, the claim is supported by bringing in examples from the text that show Ruth turning outward, that show Ruth in constant movement. Note that the textual evidence does not offer any explanation; it only provides examples/illustrations. Once the topic sentence is supported with illustrations, an author must explain HOW and WHY these illustration support the claim. The author must explain the significance of these illustrations (which answers the “so what?”).

Here is a sample PIE Paragraph from the student’s essay about overanalyzing.

Even the simplest of planning for the future leads to anxiety. One recent weekend, I attended an open house at Eastern Washington University. It was my first college trip; I was ecstatic to finally explore a college campus. I and a hundred other teenagers had traveled to the campus for what was supposed to be informative and fun day dedicated to learning what EWU had to offer. While I tried my hardest to enjoy the tour, worries flooded my mind: tuition costs, application process, high school requirements, campus living all swirled around. At the end of the day, I felt overwhelmed thinking about everything that would lead up to college – the thought of applying was now daunting. I had not gotten to appreciate the sunny day or the beautiful campus around me. My anxieties had crowded out all the wonderful things and made me unable to live in the moment.

 We can see that her topic sentence is an arguable claim that warrants support – she needs so show us that a simple task can lead to anxiety. She does show us this by providing the example of what happened during her college tour. She shows the anxiety she faced. Then she explained the effect of this – she did not get to enjoy a day she has been looking forward to; she was unable to live in the moment. This explanation, though quick and concise, works because she is able to answer the “so what?” We understand what her problem cost her. We also see that this paragraph supports her main thesis.