How to Build a Paragraph (PEEL) for Junior Cycle English

Junior Cycle English · Grammar & Language

A paragraph is the basic unit of every answer you write, in every section of the paper. If your paragraphs are clear, your whole script reads well. If they are a wall of text, even good ideas get lost. The good news: a strong paragraph follows a simple shape you can learn in five minutes and use forever.

What a paragraph actually is

A paragraph is a group of sentences about one idea. That is the whole rule. One idea per paragraph. When you move to a new idea, you start a new paragraph. Students who write one giant block usually have four or five ideas crammed together, and the examiner has to dig them out. Do the digging for them. Break your ideas apart and give each one room to breathe.

The PEEL shape

The most reliable shape for an exam paragraph is PEEL. It stands for Point, Evidence, Explain, Link. You may also have met it as PEE, which is the same idea with the last step folded in. Here is what each letter asks of you.

• Point. Your first sentence. It says what this paragraph is about. Make a claim.
• Evidence. Back the point up. A quote, an example, a reference to the text or to real life.
• Explain. Now do the thinking. Say what the evidence shows and why it matters. This is the sentence that scores.
• Link. Tie it back to the question, or lead into your next point.

The order matters. Claim, then proof, then thinking, then a connection. Most weak paragraphs have the Point and the Evidence but skip the Explain, which is exactly the part that lifts you up the marks.

A worked example

Say the question asks why Ponyboy is a sympathetic narrator in The Outsiders. Here is a PEEL paragraph doing its job.

Ponyboy earns our sympathy because he is honest about being afraid. When the Socs surround him in the opening chapter, he admits he is genuinely scared rather than pretending to be brave. That honesty is what makes us trust him: a narrator who hides nothing from us, even his fear, is one we believe later when the stakes are higher. From the very first pages, Hinton is teaching us to take Ponyboy at his word.A PEEL paragraph in action

Read it back against the four letters. Point: he is sympathetic because he is honest about fear. Evidence: the opening attack, where he admits he is scared. Explain: that honesty makes us trust him. Link: it sets up the whole novel. Four moves, one tidy paragraph.

How long should a paragraph be?

There is no magic number, but a useful guide for an exam answer is three to six sentences. Long enough to make a point and develop it. Short enough that it stays about one idea. If your paragraph is running past eight or nine sentences, check whether a second idea has crept in. If it has, split it.

The mistakes that cost marks

• The one-block answer. No paragraph breaks at all. The hardest thing for an examiner to read, and the easiest to fix.
• Point and stop. A claim with no evidence and no explanation. It reads like an opinion, not an answer.
• Evidence dump. A quote with no comment after it. The quote does not speak for itself. You have to say what it shows.
• New idea, same paragraph. Two separate points jammed together. Give each its own space.

Using This in the Exam

How to use it: Before you write any answer, decide how many points you are making, then plan one PEEL paragraph per point. That single habit turns a vague answer into a structured one. When you proofread, check the Explain sentence in each paragraph: is there a sentence that does the actual thinking, or did you stop at the evidence? If it is missing, add it. That one sentence is usually the difference between the middle band and the band above it.

In short

One idea per paragraph. Build each one with Point, Evidence, Explain, Link. Never let a quote sit there without saying what it shows. Master this shape and it carries you through comprehension, functional writing and studied-text answers alike, because every good answer is just a series of well-built paragraphs.