Overview:

Body paragraphs are the paragraphs between your introduction and conclusion, the ones in which you demonstrate your points. They are the meat of your essay. Strong body paragraphs do the following things:

stay on a single topic
open with a topic sentence, a sentence that says the main point of your paragraph
give concrete examples with descriptive detail to demonstrate your main idea in the paragraph
explain how the examples relate to your main point
end with a statement about the main point, not on some detail from the example

PIE Structure

One common way of explaining body paragraph structure is using the image of a pie, or PIE structure. A PIE paragraph opens with a main point that your paragraph will discuss, then gives information to support that point, then ends with an explanation of the information.

What you did before:

As you wrote your Influence on Education paragraph and the response paragraph of Essay 1, you used simple PIE structure.

In the point, you gave the topic sentence of the paragraph/told readers what that specific paragraph was arguing.
In the information, you gave either personal examples or cited information from the text.
In your explanation, you analyzed your information and explained to your reader how that information connected to/proved your Point.

In other words, in your Point, you made your claim and in the Information and Explanation, you proved that claim.

Writing a more complex paragraph:

PIE is an effective way to structure your paragraph. However, providing readers with only one example (IE) as proof is often not enough to convince them. To be sure that we are proving out Point, we want to give our readers multiple pieces of support (at least 2-3). That is how our paragraphs becomes PIEIE or even PIEIEIE.

We still make one, single claim as we begin the paragraph, but now, we use more than one thing to prove that Point. It can be two personal examples, two examples from the text, or one of each. As we provide two pieces of information for support, we explain each one.

Examples of a PIEIE Paragraph

In the paragraphs below:

The Point is in yellow
The Information pieces are in pink
The explanation pieces are in blue

Example 1

Colleges and universities should allow hate speech because banning hate speech does not eliminate the hate. The new generation of students are a very passionate group of people and not letting them express their feelings can cause many issues. In the article, "Restrictions Against Hate Speech Violate the First Amendment," McMasters asserts, “Even if laws that the Supreme Court would abide could be crafted, however, there is another, more difficult, problem for the advocates of such laws: They don't stop hate … Censoring hate speech may have emotional and symbolic appeal but little if any utility as a solution. (3).” McMasters is explaining how hate will remain even if a law was made against it and how the law would not make it go away. Even if a law was in place, students will always find a way around it to express something they are passionate about. Essentially, a law will not make feelings go away. Adding on to this idea, McMasters also states, “Language is simply too mercurial for the constraints of legal definitions.” (4). Assuming hate speech would be banned only, students would still have their free speech and will find ways around the law with the words they choose. Courts would have to prove that it was hate speech instead of free speech and that would be a waste of time and the tax payers’ dollars. In addition, in the article, "Colleges Have No Right to Limit Students' Free Speech, Cliff Maloney Jr.," the Executive Director at Young Americans for Liberty, states, “It’s because of what our universities have taught a generation of Americans: If you don’t agree with someone, are uncomfortable with an idea, or don’t find a joke funny, then their speech must be suppressed. Especially if they don’t politically agree with you.” (1). Colleges being able to do this is unacceptable and students will stand up to this. Some students may even take this as an 4 attack on their beliefs and their rights and will try even harder to express their opinions, not reducing the hate which the colleges are trying to do in the first place. Even though the words may be hateful, letting students peacefully express their opinions, such as a group of students hatefully protesting white nationalists, is a better solution than finding ways to silence these students.

Example 2

Banning hate speech on college campuses will ultimately allow for students to focus on their education without any fear of harassment. In the article “Speech on Campus," the ACLU explains that hate speech has become increasingly apparent in the past years, and there has been little to no action being taken to fix such. The article states “Restricting such speech may be attractive to college administrators as a quick fix to address campus tensions. But real social change comes from hard work to address the underlying causes of inequality and bigotry, not from purified discourse.” Although it may seem as if banning hate speech on campuses is a temporary fix to a much deeper rooted problem, it is a necessary start. If hate speech were to be allowed, then students taking part in such actions would then believe what they are doing is allowed, and protected by the law. By banning such speech, it leads to individuals realizing the overall negative attitude they may contain towards a certain individual. Furthermore, bigotry has been present in America ever since its creation; therefore it is a very hard, deep-rooted issue that will take many more years to overcome. We have witnessed many steps being taken to overcome such attitudes, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws. Although banning hate speech on campuses may not seem like much of a step initially, it allows people to open their eyes to the issues college students face on a daily basis, which then leads to more attention, and finally, more action. Little steps are necessary to overcome much larger problems, and by banning hate speech on campuses, it is another small step towards reliving America from the outdated beliefs people may contain, or simply the ill-mannered beliefs they preach. Overall, by banning speech on campus, it is an initial step towards fixing the negative aspects involved with many individuals’ thought process now days. Overall, it is difficult to differentiate