ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Today's lesson is about tea! [A mug of tea]

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No, not that tea.

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Tee!

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That's a golf tee.

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We meant T.

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Still no.

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T!!!

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Seriously? T. E. E.

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As in, a TEE PARAGRAPH. [A TEE paragraph on a piece of paper]

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Aha! Bingo. That TEE.

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A TEE paragraph is sort of like a formula. But instead of using numbers to solve some

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sort of complex equation, this formula can teach you how to write an effective paragraph [Coop teaching TEE paragraphs]

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in an essay!

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It's almost as exciting as Potions class in Harry Potter! Except not at all! [Wizards put potion in a cauldron]

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Whoo! Is our fake enthusiasm convincing you this might be fun! Whoo!

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Anyway. The letters in TEE each stand for a word, which will help us easily remember

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what to write about.

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The first letter, T, stands for “Topic Sentence.” Each and every TEE paragraph starts with a

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topic sentence. Your topic sentence should contain the main idea of your paragraph. It's [Coop discussing topic sentence]

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pretty important, because it explains your point of view.

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If your paragraph was about, say.... how awesome ice cream trucks are, your topic sentence [People cue at an ice cream truck]

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might look something like this:

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“Ice cream trucks are the numero uno best thing about summer!"

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Which…is a little casual, but hey! This is a summery topic sentence. No shoes, no [Man playing guitar on beach and boy appears with a surfboard]

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shirt, no problem. The second letter in the word TEE is E, and

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this E stands for “Examples.” Once you've finished your topic sentence, you then have

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to provide reasons that support the main idea in your topic sentence.

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In our case, we might have a few examples like... [Ice cream truck drives by]

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“The tinny jingles that play as the truck circles the block make everyone happy!"

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And...

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“There's no better way to cool off on a hot summer day than with some delicious soft [Father and son eating ice cream]

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serve ice cream.”

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And even...

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“And really, is there anything better in the world than a super duper fudgy Fudgesicle? [Boy holding a fudgesicle]

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Nope.” Once you've provided a few examples, all that's

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left to do is move on to the final letter in TEE!

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Which is…drum roll please…another E!!!! [Letter E appears out of a hat]

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…Man, how boring. Couldn't they have splurged for an X, or a Q…? Guess Es were on sale,

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or something.

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Anyway, this E refers to Explanation. This is where you tie everything up with a concluding [Coop teaching explanation of TEE paragraphs]

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sentence or two, while also explaining why your topic sentence makes sense.

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It's also a great time to re-state your original topic sentence, but in a different way.

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In our case, we might say something like...

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“All in all, summer wouldn't be the same without all the pleasures that the ice cream

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truck brings.” And just like that we've written a complete [Example of a TEE paragraph]

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TEE paragraph.

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Now it's up to you to give it a go. Just remember: Topic Sentence, Examples, Explanation. TEE!

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No, not tee-ball! Ugh! [Boy walks to a tee-ball]

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This whole video is a hot mess…

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We're gonna cool down with some ice cream. [Boy buying an ice cream]

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