How to Write PEEL Paragraphs: Point, Evidence, Explain, Link (With a Worked Example)

Read marker feedback across a few cohorts and the same paragraph complaints repeat: the point arrives halfway down the page, a quotation sits in the middle saying nothing, or the paragraph simply stops. None of these is a knowledge problem — they are structure problems, and structure can be templated. PEEL is the template most Australian and UK schools and universities teach, because it reserves a fixed place for the one thing markers reward most: your own analysis.

PEEL works at paragraph level. The essay-level version — question, outline, sections — is covered in our guide to writing an assignment step by step, and each body paragraph exists to prove one reason from your thesis statement. One point per paragraph, one paragraph per reason.

The four parts, in order

P — Point

One sentence, and it comes first. The point is a mini-claim the rest of the paragraph must prove — not a topic announcement. “This paragraph will discuss internships” announces; “Compulsory internships would raise graduate employment because they supply the experience employers screen for” claims. If a reasonable reader could disagree with your first sentence, it is a point. If nobody could, it is a label.

E — Evidence

The support: a cited finding, a short quotation, data, or a concrete example. Introduce it — say whose it is and what kind of thing it is — rather than dropping it in cold. Keep quotations short and exact; anything longer than a line usually works better as a paraphrase with the citation kept, using the method in our guide to paraphrasing without plagiarising. Evidence is borrowed authority. It earns the right to make your point; it does not make the point for you.

E — Explain

Two to four sentences of your own analysis: what the evidence shows, why it shows it, and what it means for your point. This is where the marks live, because this is the only part of the paragraph that is unmistakably yours. Useful starters: “This suggests that…”, “The reason this matters is…”, “In other words…”. If your explanation could be deleted and the paragraph would lose nothing but length, it was repetition, not explanation.

L — Link

One closing sentence that ties the point back to the essay question and hands over to the next paragraph. A link is not the point restated — it names the consequence: “Experience of this kind is exactly what the thesis requires, but it raises the separate question of cost.” The next paragraph then has somewhere to start.

Watch one being built

Essay question: Should internships be compulsory in undergraduate degrees? Thesis: yes — because they supply screened-for experience, build professional networks, and let students test a career before committing to it. Here is a first attempt at the experience paragraph:

Everything is roughly true and almost nothing is marked: the point is a shrug (“good”), the evidence has no source, there is no explanation at all, and the paragraph ends where it started. The same material, rebuilt:

Read as one paragraph, the four parts run together invisibly — which is the goal. Notice the ratio: the Explain block is the longest part. In strong paragraphs, explanation outweighs evidence roughly two to one; in weak ones, the ratio flips.

PEEL across disciplines

The skeleton never changes, but what counts as evidence — and what the explanation must do — shifts with the subject:

The five mistakes that cost marks

• The announcement. “This paragraph will discuss…” promises a point instead of making one. Delete the announcement and write the claim.
• The evidence dump. A long quotation or a string of statistics with no comment. Markers cannot award analysis marks for words you did not write.
• Explanation as echo. Restating the point in different words (“So internships are really beneficial for employment”). If you can swap the Point and Explain sentences without changing the meaning, there is no explanation yet.
• The missing Link. The paragraph ends on a citation and the next one starts cold. The argument resets every paragraph, and the essay reads as a list.
• Three points, one paragraph. PEEL is one point per paragraph. A second point is not a development — it is the next paragraph asking to be let out.

When PEEL is the wrong tool

PEEL is for body paragraphs that carry an argument. Introductions and conclusions summarise and position rather than prove, so they follow their own shapes. In a very short answer — 200 words, say — a full PEEL paragraph would swallow the whole response; compress to a point, one piece of evidence, and one line of explanation. And in descriptive or methods sections, where the job is to report accurately rather than argue, the Explain step gives way to clear sequencing. Knowing where the template stops is part of using it well.

The two-minute PEEL check

• Underline the first sentence of each body paragraph. Read in sequence, do they chain into your argument?
• Is every quotation and statistic cited — and introduced?
• Is the Explain block the longest part of the paragraph? If the evidence is longer, cut the evidence, not the analysis.
• Does the last sentence point back to the question, or forward to the next paragraph — ideally both?

This paragraph check plugs straight into Pass 2 of the final proofreading checklist, which reads topic sentences in sequence for exactly this chain. Practise PEEL on one paragraph of your next assignment and the habit transfers to the rest. If you want a second pair of eyes on a draft, our assignment support service reviews structure, outlines and drafts — and can mark up where each part of PEEL is missing.