How To Write an Evidence in an Essay Body Paragraphs | CSS and PMS Essay Guide | How To Write an Evidence in the CSS and PMS Essay Body Paragraphs | How to Write CSS Essays? | How to Write PMS Essays? | CSS and PMS Essay Guide by Sir Syed Kazim Ali
As a lawyer in a jury trial persuades the judge to agree with his claims, the CSS and PMS aspirants must have to convince their examiners of the validity of their arguments. And this can only be done by writing relevant evidence that supports your arguments. Since the examiner has started asking for argumentative essays, easy yet tricky to crack, it is undoubtedly of great importance to learn how to write evidence to qualify for the essay paper, especially in the CSS examination. What is a piece of evidence and how and where to write it is a question hundreds of aspirants ask me through messages and emails. Unfortunately, I hardly have time to write the lectures here because it takes me around five lectures, 3 to 4 hours a class, to clear my students on the concept of evidence and how to write it effectively. Yet I have given the glimpse and crux of my lectures related to evidence. All my students must read this article to revise the concept briefly again and get almost 20 to 30 body paragraphs evaluated by me within the next five days.
In the CSS and PMS essays, you can write evidence in a number of ways. It could be data from a relevant subject, quotes from a book, saying from an expert, or even testimony from a historical book. No matter what form you use in your essays, the only thing you need to focus on is they must support your thesis statement in the essay’s introductory paragraph or arguments in the essay’s body paragraphs.
Why is evidence necessary in the CSS and PMS essays?
In the CSS and PMS essays’ papers, relevant, clear, and well-supported arguments are the key to success. To do this, you have to use evidence to support and back up your claims (known as arguments) to persuade the examiner to agree with your point of view. If you effectively make the essay checker agree with your viewpoints, you can easily crack the essay paper.
Types of evidence
Many different types of evidence can be used in essays. Some common examples include:
1- Analogy-Based Evidence
Analogy-based evidence is a comparison you write to support your arguments in an essay. You need to be sure about the relevancy of the analogy whether there exist similarities between the two things you are comparing or not.
Example
✓ Like a car’s engine, a state’s institutes require regular reforms to function effectively.
✓ Like cancer, corruption can gobble up all kinds of development a country makes.
Important Points
- ✓ It is the weakest way to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments coming after the hook and context.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you avoid using this type of evidence.
2- Anecdotal Evidence
Anecdotal evidence is your personal story or experience, research, or example that you use to try to illustrate your point of view. Remember, it is often considered less reliable than other types of evidence, so I recommend my students avoid using it, especially in essays’ body paragraphs. However, an anecdote as a hook can only be used in narrative essays, which are hardly asked in the CSS and PMS examinations. Therefore, if you use this hook to start your descriptive, expository, or fact-based essay, you hardly qualify for the essay paper, especially the CSS essay paper. Sadly, most high-school teachers and B.S.-level English lecturers and professors in Pakistan make their students use an anecdote to start essays. As a result, they hardly score above 20 and fail their essay paper.
Example
“I know an aspirant who didn’t qualify for the CSS essay paper three times because he always used anecdotal evidence in his essay’s body paragraphs or anecdotes to start his essays.”
Important Points
- ✓ Less reliable and doesn’t support your argument effectively.
- ✓ This type of evidence can only be used in narrative essays.
- ✓ Never use anecdotes as a hook to start an argumentative essay.
- ✓ Never write this type of evidence in argumentative essays’ body paragraphs.
- ✓ I recommend you avoid using this type of evidence.
3- Hypothetical Evidence
Hypothetical evidence is a situation that your write to support your argument. To persuade your examiner about your point of view, you can use this type of evidence. However, you have to make sure that the hypothetical situation is realistic. Otherwise, it will undermine your argument.
Example
“If the world’s leaders do not take immediate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth’s surface average temperature will continue to rise.”
Important Point
- ✓ It is not much strong, but good enough to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments while suggesting ideas.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you use it.
4- Logical or Analytical Evidence
Logical or analytical evidence is your reasoning and logic that you use to support your arguments.
Example
“The capital punishment, the death penalty, is a deterrent to immoral crimes because it removes the possibility of rehabilitation.”
Important Point
- ✓ It is not much strong, but good enough to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments while suggesting ideas.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you use it.
5- Statistical Evidence
Statistical evidence is data from research papers or surveys that you use to support your arguments. This type of evidence is the most persuasive because it is based on factual data. However, it is important to make sure that the data is from a reliable source.
Example
“According to a study by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), corruption, if not tackled timely, can rob millions of people of a bright future.”
Important Point
- ✓ It is strong enough to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you use it frequently.
6- Testimonial Evidence
Testimonial evidence is a quote from an expert or someone you use to support your argument. This type of evidence is the most persuasive because it uses the authority of an expert to support your argument. However, it is important to make sure that the expert is credible and that their opinion is relevant to your argument.
Example
“According to Dr. Nimra Fawad, a leading expert on the health effects of smoking, “Smoking is injurious to health and a major contributor to heart disease and lung cancer.”
Important Point
- ✓ It is strong enough to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you use it.
7- Textual Evidence
Textual evidence is a quote or sentence from a literary work or historical document that you use to support your argument. This type of evidence is also the most persuasive. However, it is important to make sure that the source is credible and relevant to your argument.
Example
“In his book ‘Corruption and Accountability,’ Dr. Hafiz Pasha says, ‘You never really understand what corruption can cause to the state unless you understand how much accountability is important for economic sustainability.’”
Important Point
- ✓ It is strong enough to support your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ introductory paragraphs to support any of your arguments.
- ✓ It can be written in the essays’ body paragraphs to support your arguments, usually known as topic sentences.
- ✓ I recommend you use it.
How to introduce evidence in the essays’ body paragraphs?
Along with knowing what type of evidence you can use; it is also crucial to know and practice how to use it in the most effective way while writing an essay’s body paragraph. I have written some steps that you can take to incorporate evidence in your CSS and PMS English essay paper.
Essay’s Body Paragraph Structure
My students, you are advised to revise the essay lectures in which we learn and practice outlines, introductory paragraphs, and body paragraphs in detail. So, you know how to write argumentative, descriptive, expository, and fact-based essay body paragraphs. I have written the essay’s body paragraph structure again for your convenience.
- ✓ Argument/Thesis statement/Topic Sentence/Claim
- ✓ Support the topic sentence
- ✓ Write your evidence
- ✓ Explain or comment on your evidence
- ✓ Add another evidence and explain (if required)
- ✓ Link back to your topic sentence
Essays’ Body Paragraphs Examples
Here are examples of full essays’ body paragraphs with all steps applied. The topic sentence is bold; the supporting sentence is underlined; the evidence is bold and underlined; the explanation or comment on the evidence has no formatting.
Example-1
Social media also negatively impacts the preparation of thousands of competitive aspirants. Maximum failure in the CSS and PMS examinations has been a glaring example. According to Miss Nirmal Hassni, Deputy Director NAB, “Aspirants who are over-exposed to social media are more likely to display credulous behaviour and hardly prepare themselves for the exams than those who do not believe in social networks websites.” Moreover, as every fresh qualifier and officer has started providing essay and precis coaching by displaying their videos, DMCs, and tips and tricks on social media, thousands of new CSS and PMS aspirants become easy prey to their coaching. That results in further complexities among those fresh aspirants because tips and tricks never let them know the nature of the English essay paper and how to outline their arguments and start and end essays. As a result, the failure ratio has increased by leaps and bounds each year. Thus, social media, without any doubt, has psychologically impacted CSS and PMS aspirants and negatively affected their preparation.
Example-2
The span between equality and its actuality in Pakistan has become even more expansive. Over the years, the country has shown its commitment to reaffirming the dream of equality for its citizens. However, it is one of the countries with the highest levels of inequality today. Various studies have dismissed the myth of Pakistan as “the land of pure and opportunity”. In contrast, many of its citizens may disagree on how to implement equality. In fact, inequality experienced all over is undesirable. Years back, Pakistan may have been true in claiming that the country offers equality to all, but many of those promising stories about the country today are a hoax. Dr Hafeez Pasha’s argument is well-supported by evidence that a deficiency of opportunity and poverty are highly associated with inequality. And undoubtedly, these two factors are the determinants of economic inequality in many countries. Consequently, the few people who have had the chance to access resources are more likely to tend to grab more wealth than those who remain without it. This situation leads to the economic gap between people and, therefore, economic inequality.
Example-3
One of the main hurdles to reaching a global consensus on countering global warming is the debate over which countries should accept the responsibilities. Since developed economies have historically been responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, it has been argued that they should prioritize technological development to counter environmental concerns. Article 3.1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC – 1992) explicitly states that the developed country parties should take the lead in combating climate change and its adverse effects. Nevertheless, because UNFCCC outlines merely a principle, not an actionable plan, it has remained problematic to decide to what extent developed and developing countries can be allowed emissions. Moreover, it has also not formulated any straightforward financial and technological plan for developed nations to combat the impacts of global warming. As a result, fighting global warming and climate change impacts has been a point of contention among the international comity. In summary, equal responsibility should be pursued in reaching a global agreement on global warming; however, developing an actionable strategy will be problematic unless the world’s leaders show seriousness regarding this environmental issue.
Example-4
University, for sure, is a place where students become leaders and employers who lead the world politically and economically in the bigger picture of their lives. But along with the focus on learning skills, the most significant benefit of going to universities is not necessarily what students learn but the other students they meet and the connections they create there. Sir Syed Kazim Ali’s argument beautifully explains the abovementioned fact: “Whenever students are asked to give reasons for joining the university, they always write down discipline-oriented motives. Practically, a significant number of grads go on to professions unrelated to their degrees.” So, not knowledge alone but skills and students’ connections at university always help students have a useful professional contact for their bright future. Hence, knowledge, connections and skills are highly important elements for a university grad to have a successful future.
Example-5
Bad governance has made Pakistan fail to produce equal employment opportunities. The crisis has made it almost impossible to equip the country’s youth with equal employment opportunities. That results in 8% of unemployed youth, and consequently, poverty has started causing more social, economic, and political chaos across the country. According to the Asian Development Bank’s Poverty Report on Pakistan, nearly 23% of the country’s graduates have to live below the poverty line because they barely earn $1.15 a day. Moreover, it has been an undeniable fact that poverty-ridden citizens and unemployed youth can quickly become prey to terrorist organizations, thus, becoming a threat to the country’s peace, prosperity, and stability. Although bad governance has jolted Pakistan’s social, political, and economic fabric, through good governance, the malice of unemployment and poverty could easily be countered.
Example-6
Without proper check and balance mechanisms and good governance, corruption has become the norm in Pakistan, impacting everyone’s life equally. For example, a person who has never been to any police station and has never done any wrongdoing can still be found in a police station because his opponent has greased the palms of a police officer. Moreover, according to the World Bank’s latest report, corruption has been the leading cause of low Foreign Direct Investment and doing business in Pakistan. A country experiencing corruption of nearly 14 billion a day can never incite the international community to invest. Unfortunately, Pakistan has become a country where none can get his legitimate work done without bribing government officials. Ironically, this situation impacted government machinery and jolted the general public’s faith in the state.
Example-7
Today’s Pakistani society has sadly become adversely unequal. Citizens are different for various factors and reasons: cities, education, and culture. Even this inequality has started affecting children psychologically. For example, a child from a low-income family hardly gets a quality education and, therefore, always ends up in the same income level class. In contrast, children from wealthy families always have the chance to acquire quality education and end up in the middle or upper middle class. This sad situation promotes an environment of discrimination, resulting in frustration and antagonism among the various classes of society. Therefore, the prospects of children’s future in Pakistan greatly depend upon what class and family they belong to rather than what qualities and skills they possess.
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