A simple, student-friendly system for teaching introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions
“Graphic Organizer” is a general term that can mean almost anything.
Even when it comes to writing graphic organizers specifically, there are so many options it can feel overwhelming.
That’s why I wanted to make this post exclusively about the graphic organizers I use, why they work for middle schoolers, and how I use them to teach essay writing. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, don’t forget to download them for free in my shop!
My Favorite Writing Graphic Organizers
I have a graphic organizer for each paragraph of a middle school essay: introduction, body, and conclusion. It’s a simple, student-friendly, easy-to-understand design that I certainly can’t take credit for—a coworker shared theirs with me in my first year (which changed my life, but that’s a whole other story), and I’ve finally adapted it in a way that fits my 6th grade students’ needs.
Why do I love these?
- They work for any essay. Their framework is compatible with both argumentative and informative essays. That means we literally use it ALL YEAR, and students easily have it memorized by the time the state test rolls around. (If they don’t, that’s on them 👀)
- They’re specific, but flexible. Students have clear direction, but must still fill in the blanks with their own ideas.
- They’re concrete. In 6th grade, abstract thinking can be tough, especially about topics like how scientists use animal tagging research and how that research has evolved over time. (Real essay topic on a retired state test we used in class, and it was as hard and boring as it sounds).
- They easily connect directly to the prompt.
Quick note before we jump in:
I tell my students repeatedly that any of these parts can be more than one sentence long—except their thesis statement.
That’s it.
Need two sentences to hook your readers? I love it.
Need two sentences to introduce the evidence you’re setting up? You do you boo.
Need three explanations to fully elaborate? SLAY. I am so proud.
Only your thesis statement must be ONE sentence long.
Introduction Paragraph
The introduction paragraph has 3 parts: Hook, Bridge, & Thesis Statement.
Hook: A strong opening statement to hook your readers. In middle school, we’re moving away from using questions in our hook. Especially what I like to call basic questions.
Going back to my previous example, the hook, “Do you know what animal tags are?” would be frowned upon (although not forbidden) in my class. I tell my students to make a statement that gets people’s attention. Questions like that tend to be basic.
When modeling, we would write a sentence like,
“Animal tags aren’t just interesting, they’re actually a really important part of animal research.”
Topic introduced ✅ Attention grabbed ✅ No question required ✅
Bridge: The bridge in our essay does what real bridges do—connect things.
The bridge connects our hook to our thesis statement by giving background information on our topic.
If it’s argumentative, we’re looking to set up the fact that there are two sides to this argument: “There is an ongoing debate…”
If it’s informative, you’re just telling your reader a little about the topic at hand.
In the case of animal tagging,
“Animal tagging is when scientists mark animals and track them to learn about their behaviors and characteristics, and has been going on for decades.”
This sentence lets us know what tags are and why they’re used.
Thesis Statement: The single most important sentence in your essay.
The thesis statement tells your reader exactly what they’re going to be reading about in the essay.
It is one sentence long, but has two parts. While there is a slight variation between an argumentative thesis and an informative thesis, they are very similar:
Informative Essay: Your main idea and your supporting ideas
Argumentative Essay: Your argument and your reasons to support it
The two parts tell what your essay is about, and what you’ll be building body paragraphs on, respectively.
Note: I always tell my students their body paragraphs should “match” their thesis—meaning the first thing they list should be the topic of their first body paragraph, etc.
Body Paragraphs
We follow the same pattern for each body paragraph, using a different reason or supporting idea.
Topic sentence: Begins with a transition word and introduces the topic of this paragraph. For example, if the topic of this paragraph is about using animal tags to determine animals’ location and gather information based on that, our topic sentence could be:
First, scientists use animal tags to determine location.
We have a transition word, and we know that everything in this paragraph is going to have something to do with tags tracking animals’ location for research.
Intro to Evidence: This one is a lot simpler than it sounds: Make a statement about your topic that can be proven with evidence. And speaking of evidence…
Evidence: A quote from the passages that proves the statement you just made. Pretty straightforward.
Explanation x2: The last two (or three) sentences of the paragraph are called “Explanation,” meaning we have to elaborate on our evidence. I teach students 3 strategies for this, and we practice combining them in multiple orders for a fluent, well-elaborated essay.
Note: This is why I love modeling! We get to practice combining different types of explanations again and again, and see them come together differently for different reasons.
Strategy #1: What does this mean? – What does this evidence show in our own words? We’re not just repeating what we just said, we’re letting the reader know in our own words the meaning behind it.
“This shows location can uncover unexpected secrets about what we thought we knew about species.”
This explains what the evidence is saying clearly in our own words.
Strategy #2: Why does this matter? – So what? Why should this evidence mean something to the reader?
“These discoveries give scientists new questions to investigate, such as what resources animals rely on in open ocean environments and why they remain there for so long.”
Note: This is the “10-point” sentence. If you can’t elaborate by saying why evidence matters, then you’ll lose an elaboration point and come short of a 10.
We talk about this sentence a lot in my class, and practice it repeatedly as a group and individually.
Strategy #3: Paraphrase more information. Is there something else you think it’s important to note from this passage, but you’ve already used a quote? You can add that information in your own words.
Scientists can use the animal’s location to research its diet and eating patterns, their traveling patterns or to simply find it again.
It’s important. ✅ It came from the text. ✅ It’s in our own words. ✅
Note: I always tell students that what the evidence means and why it matters are mandatory. Paraphrase is optional, but helpful. And it’s something we practice in almost every body paragraph of every essay.
Conclusion Paragraph
Restate thesis: What was your main idea or argument? Say it again, being careful not to use the same words.
Summarize: Summarize your three key points—whether they were supporting ideas or reasons—and why they were meaningful. Be sure not to use the same words or phrases you used in your body paragraphs, and avoid quoting the text.
End with a Mic Drop: Your last sentence not only lets your reader know they’ve reached the end of your essay, it should be designed to make them think. If it’s argumentative, this should be a call to action. If it’s informative, it should drive home the main idea in a way that is memorable and thought-provoking.
Thanks to tagging, we now know that animals have highways in the sky, interstates on the ocean floor, and strategies that aren’t anything short of genius.
And that’s it!
You can download these for free and start using them in your classroom right away to make teaching, modeling, and writing essays much easier!
If you would like a student-friendly binder handout with definitions and examples for each paragraph, that’s available as well! Get it here!
Happy Teaching!!