Peel

PEE, PEEL & PESOL
Practical approaches
to paragraph writing.
PEE(L) – Point, Evidence, Explain, Link
• P – Make a clear and relevant point. This is your
topic sentence.
• E – Back it up. Support your point with evidence
from your sources. Use quotations and data
points and always, always cite.
• E – Explain how the evidence given supports
your point.
• L – Link this point to the next point in your essay
as well as your thesis statement.
The PEE(L) Burger
The TOP BUN is your point.
By 1700, the East India Company’s only serious
competitors for Indian trade were the French
companies based at Pondicherry …and
Chandarnagar. ..
The FILLING is your evidence.

The Portuguese still retained the enclave of Goa, … but
were spent as a commercial force. The Dutch and the
Danes also had trading posts, but their share of the
market was falling. The East India Company, on the
other hand , was going from strength to strength.
The BOTTOM BUN is your explanation.

Its success was based upon the seemingly insatiable
demand in Europe for cheap calico, chintz, silks, fine
china and tea. During the first half of the eighteenth
century its dividends never fell below 6 per cent…
The Full Paragraph
By 1700, the East India Company’s only serious competitors for Indian trade
were the French companies based at Pondicherry on the south-east coast and
Chandarnagar on the Hooghly river. The Portuguese still retained the enclave
of Goa, south of Bombay, but were spent as a commercial force. The Dutch
and the Danes also had trading posts, but their share of the market was
falling. The East India Company, on the other hand , was going from strength
to strength. Its success was based upon the seemingly insatiable demand in
Europe for cheap calico, chintz, silks, fine china and tea. During the first half
of the eighteenth century its dividends never fell below 6 per cent. Its yearly
sales of £2 million made up a fifth of Britain’s total annual imports, and so
profitable did it become that, in 1744, it was able to lend the British
government £1 million. Pre-eminent on the London stock exchange, it
occupied a position in the City comparable only to that of the Bank of
England.
David, Saul. The Indian Mutiny: 1857. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Note how every sentence relates to the topic sentence

Ordering a PEEL Paragraph
It could be because he is in a rush to get food
because he hasn’t eaten for a long time, or
perhaps he is not used to people watching him
eat. Skellig has no table manners and is a messy
eater. “The red sauce trickled down from his
lips, down from his chin onto his black jacket.”
This shows that he eats in a disgusting way and
gets food all over himself.
The Paragraph Ordered
• Skellig has no table manners and is a messy eater.
(Point)
• “The red sauce trickled down from his lips, down from
his chin onto his black jacket.” (Almond 27) (Evidence)
• This shows that he eats in a disgusting way and gets
food all over himself. It could be because he is in a
rush to get food because he hasn’t eaten for a long
time, or perhaps he is not used to people watching
him eat. (Explanation)
Almond, David. Skellig. London: Hodder Headline, 1998. Print.
What Kind of Evidence?
• Short & Precise
Don’t waffle. Be succinct.
Don’t be a weasel – pick le mot juste.
• Verifiable rather than Inferential
Wherever possible, deal in fact, not opinion.
• Generative
Don’t use evidence that gives no room for explanation
• Contextualised (sometimes)
What’s the Best Way to Present It?
• There are several orders you
can choose for your evidence, Best supporting
such as deductive, inductive
and so on. One of the most
evidence
common deductive forms is
the inverted pyramid often
2nd best
found in journalism. This is 3 r
evidence
supposed to strengthen your d
argument by presenting your
most compelling evidence b
first. What matters most is not
the order you choose,
e
however, but that you think st
about it in the first place. &
c
Links
• Finally you may decide to include a link.
• This can be back to the topic sentnce (and
hence the thesis statement), to the following
paragraph, or indeed to both.
• The link is a good way of checking that you
have stayed on target – if you can’t make one,
you have probably not done so.
Top Tips 1
• Never use the same lexis in topic sentence and
your evidence.
Point: I write really boring essays.
Evidence: I know this because everyone tells me how boring my
essays are.
• Instead rewrite the point, paraphrase or quote

rather than repeat.
Evidence: I know this because my friend once told me my essays were,
“as dull as ditchwater.”
Top Tips 2
• Make sure that your evidence and explanation
are connected and relevant to your topic
sentence.
Evidence: I know this because my friend once told me my essays were,
“as dull as ditchwater.”
Explanation: Use of such a phrase indicates that it is a chore to read my
essays and that people switch off when reading them. Not only that, the word
“dull” suggests that my paragraphs are repetitive and that people would go
out of their way to avoid reading my essays, such as jumping out of tall
buildings or under moving trams. This could result in serious injury, or worse.

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PEE, PEEL & PESOL

The FILLING is your evidence.

The BOTTOM BUN is your explanation.

Note how every sentence relates to the topic sentence

• Instead rewrite the point, paraphrase or quote

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