Following the Meal Plan, Essay Example

The MEAL plan allows academic writers to produce coherent and supported arguments throughout their papers. This plan serves a guide for each point that is presented. In each paragraph, the writer should take care to include the main idea, supporting evidence, analysis, and a lead out. By doing so, authors clearly inform the audience about their beliefs, provide paraphrased evidence to support these beliefs, identify why this evidence is relevant to the topic, and identify how this discussion is linked to the next main idea. These essay elements will allow the writer to produce a lengthy argument that ultimately proves a thesis.

Although following the MEAL plan is an important process, it is also essential to remember to cite sources correctly throughout the writing. Often, the evidence presented in each paragraph stems from a variety of sources. It is effective to use this method to ensure that sufficient evidence is presented to defend the main idea. Thus, it is essential to make sure that the in-text citations that follow each statement is reported in proper APA format and that this information matches up with what is presented in the references section. It is essential to do so in order for readers to gain an enhanced background on the topic in addition to verifying the legitimacy of the facts used in the work.

Ultimately, the peer-review process is used before academic work is published to ensure that both the MEAL plan and proper citation format has been followed. If an argument does not make sense due to interpretation or the evidence presented, the author will either be asked to fix the work or it will be rejected from publication. Furthermore, when writers fails to cite sources properly, they are plagiarizing, which can damage their legitimacy in the field. Thus, it is important to review work to ensure that these requirements are met before submission.