Some thoughts on body paragraphs

Here are two approaches to writing topic sentences for body paragraphs. In Approach 1, you don't reference the book in the topic sentence (reference the book in the examples). In the second approach, you reference the book, but you don't use a specific example in the topic sentence.

Let's start with this thesis statement that we worked on in class:
Thesis Statement: Love is often corrupted by the power of money.

Approach 1: (Break down the thesis statement method)
Paragraph 1: Money often corrupts people. (Followed by examples in the book of money corrupting)
Paragraph 2: People sometimes say they love someone, but they're really interested in their own gain. (Followed by example)

Approach 2: (the novel method -- explain how the novel
discusses the main ideas in the thesis statement):
Paragraph 1: In the novel, money plays a huge role. In case after case, characters who don't have money are driven to commit immoral acts to get it.
Second body paragraph: The novel draws a picture of what love can become when people use other people for gain. Characters in this novel frequently say they love someone, but in fact they are really interested in their own gain. Often this gain is monetary. (Follow this with examples)