The body paragraphs

The body of your essay is the place for you to prove the thesis that you made in the introduction. How do you do this?

Your body should have four components:

1. Topic sentence
2. Relevance link
3. Personal narrative
4. Counterargument

It makes a lot of sense to put the body paragraph elements in this order, but it doesn’t need to be in this order to work.

Let’s continue the example essay that we started in the chapter [The introduction]. If you need a reminder, below is the prompt that the example essay is based on.

Topic sentence

The first sentence of each body paragraph should be a topic sentence. This is meant to create a transition between paragraphs and to state your position. Remember that whether you include effective transitions or not is on the grading rubric your audience will use to assign you a score (we talk about this in the [Overview of the ACT Writing section] chapter). Similar to the hook (the first sentence of the essay), the topic sentence shouldn’t be more than one line long.

Remember, be careful not to say things like… “I agree with this perspective” or to number the perspectives for the audience. It’s lazy. Simply state a claim. You’re allowed to copy the prompt if you like. But remember that mentioning the perspectives breaks the narrative building for the audience. You don’t want your audience to feel like they are grading an assignment, you want them to simply be engaged in your writing.

Below is the introduction we have already created plus an example topic sentence in bold.

Consider the abilities of social media. A person that has moved across the country can see a post from an old friend and maintain some connection. Reddit groups of all flavors offer a community for just about anyone looking to connect and find ideas. I am a daily user of social media. However, when left unchecked, social media has detrimental effects, especially on young people.

Social media jeopardizes the mental health of young people.

This topic sentence connects the ideas from the thesis (the last sentence from the introduction) to what will be discussed in the second paragraph—addressing perspective one.

Relevance link

The sentence that follows is a relevance link. You learned about the relevance link once before in the chapter on [The Introduction]. Do you remember what its purpose is?

Let’s continue the example, looking at just the body from this point on.

Social media jeopardizes the mental health of young people. Consider the example of following a particular influencer.

Notice that our relevance link has the potential to ignite some memories in the audience. This helps them connect to what you’re saying and makes it relevant to them.

Personal narrative

This is arguably the most important part of your essay. This is where your audience gets to know (and even care) about you.

You might not have much experience adding a personal narrative (or a story from your life) to your writing. Research papers are probably what you are more familiar with writing. However, because you can’t look up scientific articles (or anything else) during your 40-minute essay, you need to use what’s already in your head: your personal experience.

Here’s why telling stories from your life is important:

1. It will help the audience see the person behind the writing.
2. It will aid you in one of your most important goals in writing this essay: making the audience forget they are at work.
3. Real-life examples provide powerful reasoning behind your stances. It’s hard to refute a personal conviction brought on by life experience.
4. Stories are captivating, entertaining, and a whole lot more memorable than even the most eloquent arguments.
5. Your graders are more likely to give you a high score if they know something about you.

Here’s an example of a personal narrative:

Social media jeopardizes the mental health of young people. Consider the example of following a particular influencer. People as young as 13 can make an Instagram account and follow whomever they choose. I was one who joined Instagram in middle school and became obsessed with another influencer: an older college girl named Kayla. I studied the outfits Kayla wore, copied her makeup tutorials, and cried about how my 14-year-old body didn’t look like hers. After a year of comparison, I lost my sense of identity and realized that I was a copy-cat version of someone else. It made me sick. As I took baby steps to lower and change my social media usage, unfollowing Kayla and other toxic influencers, I felt happier and less stressed.

Now, this example may not mirror your experience with social media. I just used the first example that popped into my head and wrote it down. With only 40 minutes, this is what you will want to do too. It doesn’t have to be some eloquent, impactful example. It just has to make your point.

Notice also that names are mentioned whenever possible. This forms a more personal story. So, if you use other people in the story, use their names. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing the names, you’re allowed to make them up. Help the audience connect with you by giving them these extra details.

Counterargument

This is the part where you address the other side of the argument. This is what a sympathetic, intelligent person does: they acknowledge that their view is not the only good opinion out there. It’s common for this step to make writers feel kind of silly at first. But having a counterargument is better than not having one—even if it sounds funky. If you can’t think of one though, don’t stress too much. You will probably be counted off for it, but other things matter more (like your personal narrative).

Here’s an example of a counterargument:

Social media jeopardizes the mental health of young people. Consider the example of following a particular influencer. People as young as 13 can make an Instagram account and follow whomever they choose. I was one who joined Instagram in middle school and became obsessed with another influencer: an older college girl named Kayla. I studied the outfits Kayla wore, copied her makeup tutorials, and cried about how my 14-year-old body didn’t look like a college girl’s. After a year of comparison, I lost my sense of identity and realized that I was a copy-cat version of someone else. It made me sick. As I took baby steps to lower and change my social media usage, unfollowing Kayla and other toxic influencers, I felt happier and less stressed. While some argue that social media brings young people together, my experience has taught me that it breaks people down.

Many counterarguments can be made in only one to two sentences—meaning coming up with one doesn’t have to be a whole lot of work. If you struggle thinking of a counterargument, simply think of the opposite of your position.

Here’s a simple example that often works:

While many say X, my experience has taught me otherwise.

Notice that this short template for a counterargument will avoid absolutes. You don’t want to sound arrogant by stating that “This is the way it is, always!” when there’s always a chance you’re wrong.

The body paragraphs should seem much more doable now that you have a template to guide you. While only one body paragraph is exemplified here, your ideal essay should have three (one addressing each perspective).