- Define and explain Essay Paragraphs in your own words
- Use key terms such as PEED accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Essay Paragraphs: build PEED paragraphs that argue, evidence and develop ideas.
Build PEED paragraphs that argue, evidence and develop ideas.
Key ideas
Develop, don't just explain
Good paragraphs go beyond explaining a quotation — they develop the idea. After explaining what a quotation shows, ask so what?: what does this reveal about the character, the theme or the writer's message? That final step lifts a paragraph from a middling grade to a top one.
Plan every answer
Spend five minutes planning before writing a single sentence. For an essay, turn the question into three or four points; for a story, map the beginning, middle and end. A plan prevents rambling and guarantees you answer the actual question.
Key term — PEED: Point, Evidence, Explain, Develop — the paragraph structure examiners love. Develop means linking your point to the bigger picture or the writer's purpose.
Essay question: How does the writer present fear? Plan one PEED paragraph using the quotation 'her feet refused to move'.
Point: the writer presents fear as something that freezes the body. Evidence: choose the short quotation 'her feet refused to move'. Explain: the verb refused personifies her feet, as if fear has taken control of them. Develop: this suggests fear is more powerful than willpower — a message that helps readers recognise their own fear. Write the paragraph in full, linking each sentence back to the question.
Answer: The writer presents fear as a force that paralyses the body. The quotation 'her feet refused to move' personifies her feet, suggesting fear has seized control of them. This develops into a wider message: fear can overpower willpower itself, which helps readers recognise their own experiences of being frozen by fright.
- Repeating the same discourse marker Vary however, furthermore and in contrast. Repeating also in every paragraph makes writing sound immature.
- Writing everything you know about a text Only include points that answer the question. Irrelevant knowledge, however accurate, earns no marks.
Practice
Develop.
The central argument of an essay, which every paragraph supports.
To organise your points and make sure you answer the actual question.
Shadows crawled across the walls — it shows the fear through imagery.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "PEED"?
Give a discourse marker that contrasts two ideas.
Name three of the five senses to use in descriptive writing.
- Essay Paragraphs: build PEED paragraphs that argue, evidence and develop ideas.
- Develop, don't just explain: Good paragraphs go beyond explaining a quotation — they develop the idea.
- thesis: The central argument of your essay, stated in the introduction.
- Watch out for: repeating the same discourse marker