Wait. What is TIFEIFE?
TIFEIFE is a body paragraph structure for use in essays and research papers in which each body paragraph in an essay makes a point and then offers more than one piece of evidence
for that point. This format works for any essay purpose and permits
creativity while focusing the writer’s attention on evidence.
If you have two quotes from the Beaumont version of “Beauty and the Beast” and two quotes from Carter’s “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon”,
you have everything you need to write your first TIFEIFE body
paragraph–which will be a body paragraph for the essay at the end of
this unit. I will be using an example here of two stories we are not reading for class, so you will not be able to use my example in your essay (obviously).
Let’s say I have two quotes from the Jacobs version of “Beauty and the Beast” and two quotes from the Villeneuve version.
The two Jacobs quote sentences will be:
The Beast asked Belle’s father, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” (Jacobs).
Jacobs writes Belle, “soon got tired of the solitude” (Jacobs).
The two Villenueve quote sentences will be:
The Beast tells Belle’s father, “I will pardon thee, but on condition
that thou wilt give me one of thy daughters” (Villeneuve 234).
Belle tells her father, “I will risk my life . . . to release my father from his fatal engagement” (Villenueve 239).
Now What Do I Do?
You use one quote from each source to write a TIFEIFE body paragraph.
TIFEIFE stands for
Topic
Introduce
Fact
Explain
Introduce
Fact
Explain
Here’s how you write a TIFEIFE paragraph (easy as a. b. c.):
Begin with the facts in pairs across sources: The first step of writing a TIFEIFE paragraph is pairing facts from two difference sources.
If I use two quotes from the same source in a paragraph, nine times out
of ten I’ll just end up summarizing that source. If you write
paragraph after paragraph summarizing source after source, the result
will not be a college essay. It will just be a series of book reports.
For this reason, we want to start practicing pairing facts across sources.
If I look at the four quotes above and think about the prompt (How
does the story reinforce negative relationship patterns?) I see that the
Jacobs quote, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” and the Villenueve
quote, “I will pardon thee, but on condition that thou wilt give me one
of thy daughters” both address one negative aspect of the relationship between Belle and the Beast, namely consent, the degree to which Belle’s choice to stay with the Beast is not really a choice.
This means my TIFEIFE can look like this:
T
I
F: The Beast asked Belle’s father, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” (Jacobs).
E
I
F: The Beast tells Belle’s father, “I will pardon thee, but
on condition that thou wilt give me one of thy daughters” (Villeneuve
234).
E
Write a topic sentence. Each topic sentence of each body paragraph should identify a way the story reflects negative relationship patterns (since each body paragraph should be one part of answering the essay prompt). In this case, I might add the following topic sentence to my TIFEIFE:
T: One negative aspect of the relationship in “Beauty and the Beast” is the lack of consent on Belle’s part.
I
F: The Beast asked Belle’s father, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” (Jacobs).
E
I
F: The Beast tells Belle’s father, “I will pardon thee, but on
condition that thou wilt give me one of thy daughters” (Villeneuve 234).
E
Introduce and explain each quote. To introduce a quote is to give the necessary background so that the quote will make sense in the context of the essay. To explain
it is to let the reader know how you see the quoted material and how it
fits into the point you are trying to make in your essay.
Here is a model TIFEIFE paragraph outline including Introduce and Explain for each quote:
T: One negative aspect of the relationship in “Beauty and the Beast” is the lack of consent on Belle’s part.
I: The earliest version of the story as compiled by Jacobs
makes it look like Belle is being asked to live with the Beast of her
own free will.
F: The Beast asked Belle’s father, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” (Jacobs).
E: He wants the father to say Belle is “willing,” but the
only alternative he has given Belle is the death of her father, which
makes this consent with a loved one at gunpoint, which is not truly
consent.
I: The Villenueve version gives another example of the
problem of consent in the story, the fact that the relationship is
transactional between Belle’s father and the Beast.
F: The Beast tells Belle’s father, “I will pardon thee, but on
condition that thou wilt give me one of thy daughters” (Villeneuve 234).
E: Here, Belle’s consent is irrelevant because she is both a gift from her father to the Beast and the price of his freedom.
When it’s all put together, a TIFEIFE body paragraph looks like this:
One negative aspect of the relationship in “Beauty and the
Beast” is the lack of consent on Belle’s part. The earliest version of
the story as compiled by Jacobs makes it look like Belle is being asked
to live with the Beast of her own free will. The Beast asked Belle’s
father, “Is she willing to stop here with me?” (Jacobs). He wants the
father to say Belle is “willing,” but the only alternative he has given
Belle is the death of her father, which makes this consent with a loved
one at gunpoint, which is not truly consent. The Villenueve version
gives another example of the problem of consent in the story, the fact
that the relationship is transactional between Belle’s father and the
Beast. The Beast tells Belle’s father, “I will pardon thee, but on
condition that thou wilt give me one of thy daughters” (Villeneuve 234).
Here, Belle’s consent is irrelevant because she is both a gift from her
father to the Beast and the price of his freedom.
So, once I’ve written my paragraph am I done?
Almost. Once you have written your own paragraph using TIFEIFE, you need to put it in MLA format. (Time to get back to the steps of your assignment.)
Turn in the paragraph using the appropriate attached template file below for an MLA format essay.
This template file is for students who are holding a physical copy of the book The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter in their hands to get quotes: Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Book Sources.docx
Download Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Book Sources.docx (or as a .pdf Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Book Sources.pdf
Download Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Book Sources.pdf)
This template file is for students who are using the websites linked in the assignment modules to get quotes: Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Website Sources-1.docx
Download Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Website Sources-1.docx (or as a .pdf: Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Website Sources.pdf
Download Beauty and the Beast in MLA Format with Website Sources.pdf)
Please make the following adjustments to whichever template file you use:
Change the words “My Name” to your first and last name on the upper left corner.
Change the word “Last” to your last name on the upper right corner.
Delete the Works Cited entry for the film you did not watch, as you will not be citing a film you did not see.
When you have written your paragraph, copy and paste the paragraph into the template. This will keep everything in MLA format, and MLA format is always part of your grade. Do not attempt to copy and paste the template onto a file or GoogleDoc containing your paragraph. It will not work.
When you have finished writing your essay, you will need to change the words “Working Title” near the top of page 1 to a title of your invention.
