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:
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.
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.
Few pause to consider the consequences of the modern technology we rely so heavily upon. A simple “Hey Google, take me home” gives me automatic instructions for how to get back to my house. The cereal I ate this morning and its ingredients went through several automated systems to end up in my bowl so all I have to do is buy it from the store. I am a daily user of these automated processes. However, without exercising care and thought, replacing people with machines would have detrimental consequences.
We jeopardize our relationships when we replace people with machines.
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.
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?
A relevance link is meant to make the topic relevant to the reader. You make the topic relevant by triggering memories of the reader they associate with the topics.
Let’s continue the example, looking at just the body from this point on.
We jeopardize our relationships when we replace people with machines. Consider the dilemma of calling Mom for her recipe versus looking up the recipe online.
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.
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:
Here’s an example of a personal narrative:
We jeopardize our relationships when we replace people with machines. Consider the dilemma of calling Mom for her recipe versus looking up the recipe online. Just last week, my husband, Ben, and I agreed that our pizza recipe was only subpar. I remembered the excellent pizza my mom used to make for me as a kid, and I thought to give her a call for some tips. As most moms would be, she was more than happy to give me the detailed list of instructions. After about ten minutes of chatting, I hung up the phone having gained information I needed and trusted.
Now, probably none of you have a spouse and don’t have to call up your mom for recipes. This is definitely not an example you could realistically use on test day. 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. This one certainly isn’t. 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.
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:
We jeopardize our relationships when we replace people with machines. Consider the dilemma of calling Mom for her recipe versus looking up the recipe online. Just last week, my husband, Ben, and I agreed that our pizza recipe was only subpar. I remembered the excellent pizza my mom used to make for me as a kid, and I thought to give her a call for some tips. As most moms would be, she was more than happy to give me the detailed list of instructions. After about ten minutes of chatting, I hung up the phone having gained information I needed and trusted. Could I have gotten a just as excellent pizza recipe online in only thirty seconds versus my invested ten minutes with Mom? Probably. However, I can’t help but wonder what Mom and I would lose if I never called her for her advice. My relationship with her is too important to hand over to a machine.
This example is a bit lengthy, but 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).