How to write a TEEL paragraph (to Band 6)
What TEEL stands for
Four parts, in order. If a paragraph has all four and the Explanation does real work, you have the shape of a Band 6 paragraph.
Topic sentence
Open with the idea this paragraph proves, in the question's terms. Not 'In Act One', but a claim you are about to argue.
Evidence
Embed a short, well-chosen quote in your own sentence, and name the technique the composer uses.
Explanation
The part that decides your band. Explain how the technique works and what it means, not just that it is there.
Link
Return to the question: say what this paragraph shows about the idea you were asked to explore.
The E that decides your band
Naming a technique is not analysis, it is spotting. The difference between a middle band and a Band 6 is almost always how far you take the Explanation. Watch the same quote treated both ways.
“Miller uses a simile to show Proctor feels guilty.”
“Miller's simile of a ‘secret arrow’ turns Proctor's guilt into a physical wound, so we feel his shame strike before he can confess it, which is why his later confession feels less like a choice than a reckoning.”
To get there, push each quote through four moves inside the Explanation. You do not need a sentence for each, but a Band 6 Explanation visibly reaches all four, especially the middle two that weaker essays leave out.
- 1
Technique
Name the specific device, precisely.
Miller uses a simile, describing Proctor's guilt as 'a secret arrow'.
- 2
Effect
Say what it does to the responder. This is the step most essays skip.
The simile gives the guilt a point and a target, so we feel it strike Proctor before he can speak.
- 3
Meaning
Lift the effect into an idea about human experience.
It presents guilt as a wound we carry in secret, acting on us before we can name it.
- 4
Composer's purpose
Ask why the composer built it this way, tying in context where it helps.
Miller wants us to see how conscience works even when no one is watching, so Proctor's later confession feels inevitable.
The Link: answer the question again
The final L is where a lot of marks quietly leak away. A strong Link does not just restate the topic sentence: it says what this paragraph has shown about the exact idea the question asked you to explore, in the question's own words. Done at the end of every paragraph, it is what makes a marker feel your argument is sustained rather than drifting.
A full TEEL paragraph
Here are the four parts working together, labelled, so you can see how they flow into one another rather than sitting in separate boxes.
(T) Miller presents guilt as an experience that governs us before we can confess it. (E) When Proctor calls his guilt ‘a secret arrow’, the simile (E) gives a private feeling a point and a target, so the audience feels his shame strike as a physical wound and understands conscience as something that acts on us unseen, which is exactly why Miller, writing under the accusations of McCarthyism, makes Proctor's reckoning feel inevitable rather than chosen. (L) In this, the play asks us to reconsider the comfortable idea that we control what we feel guilty for.
Take one paragraph from your essay. Check it has all four parts, then look only at the Explanation: does it move past naming the technique to its effect, its meaning, and the composer's purpose? Add whichever of those is missing, then make sure your Link names the question's idea in its own words. That is usually the fastest single lift available.
Keep learning
See it in your own essay
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Mark my essay — free →Band estimates are a study guide, not an official NESA mark. Aligned to the 2017 English Advanced syllabus (2019–2026 prescriptions).