P.E.E.L. Paragraph
On this page you can learn about how to organize your ideas in a paragraph
The P.E.E.L. (point, example, explain, link) paragraph is a paragraph format that helps writers create clear and concise paragraphs that have a claim and present evidence. One of the challenges in writing can often be organizing your writing that supports the purpose you hope your writing to serve (such as writing for English class), and the P.E.E.L. paragraph helps you do just that!
The P.E.E.L. paragraph can be used for any type of writing where you are stating a claim, and fits into the "point" in the P.E.E.L. formula. Remember, a claim is when you are stating a point that you believe to be true. You can learn more about claims here!
POINT
Before writing a paragraph, remain clear about your topic and context. Start the first paragraph with a clear sentence that establishes the point or meaning of the whole paragraph. The points which you are going to write in your essay should be supportive of your essay argument.
The first sentence should itself be explanatory for the whole paragraph. That should be an indication of the subject you are going to write further in the paragraph. It makes the paragraph interesting for the reader to read further. You should avoid adding irrelevant things, otherwise, the purpose of writing won’t be served. Once you have written the paragraph, try analyzing it to give clearly intended the topic you wanted to convey to the reader. If it does, that is pretty awesome. If you feel like something should be changed to make it more impressive, go for it.
EVIDENCE
Once you are done with your points, the next paragraph should be written in such a manner that provides support for your argument. You can also call that support as evidence. This includes facts, history, events, statistics, analysis, data from authentic sources, citations from reasonable journals, and many more. The collection of evidence in support of your argument is a crucial part of the essay writing. You can use already published research papers, reliable book sources, and reputed websites to do your research and gather relevant information. This might seem difficult but the outcome would be great.
EXPLANATION
After the evidence for your topic, now the table turns. It’s time for an explanation. It is crucial to explain all the arguments and evidence to present a clear meaning in front of the reader. Your explanations should be precise and not dance around the topic. This keeps the user interested and engaged while reading the essay.
LINK
What does link mean here? Linking is necessary to keep the reader feel connected while reading the essay. Linking here denotes ending a point and starting a new one in such a manner that it feels the later one is connected to the previous one. It can be puzzling but a necessary aspect of essay writing. A link should give a conclusion to the sentence. The PEEL in writing can be considered a great tool to organize the structure of an essay.
P.E.E.L. Paragraph Example
This example here is stating a claim answering the question, "Should animals be kept in zoos?"
Notice how each section connects to the point, or the claim? How the evidence is presented and then it is explained? The closing thought in the paragraph creates a link between the evidence presented, the explanation, and the claim.
A well organized paragraph sends a powerful message when you are establishing a claim that you can back up with evidence.
Getting Started with P.E.E.L.
How may sentences are in a paragraph, you ask? As many as you need to clearly and directly establish a claim, provide evidence, explain that evidence, and link it back to the claim! The amount of words, sentences, and pieces of evidence will vary based on your topic and purpose in writing.
👇 Here are some sentence starters that you can use as you are framing the first sentence in each step of the P.E.E.L. paragraph.👇
POINT
It has been suggested that...
It is believed that...
Some people argue that...
Many people believe that...
One argument is that...
One school of thought is that...
EVIDENCE
The evidence clearly shows...
This is supported by...
This is demonstrated by...
The source tells us that...
EXPLAIN
The source clearly indicates...
This shows us that...
It is clear from this that...
The evidence explains that...
This supports the argument by...
This demonstrates...
LINK
With this in mind, it is clear that...
Therefore, it is evident that...
All of this evidence demonstrates...