What is a paragraph?

A paragraph is a collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic.

A paragraph can identify an idea, develop it with illustrations and details and reinforce with a conclusion.

 Different types of writing use different types of paragraphs.

 5 types of writing that college students encounter frequently:
o Journalism
o Business writing
o Popular fiction and nonfiction
o Personal writing
o Academic writing

Why you write? You write for a reason or a purpose.

3 levels of purpose Type of paragraph

o General Purpose: to communicate information or idea
Journalism
 Inform
Business Writing
 Educate
Popular fiction/nonfiction
 Entertain
Personal Writing
 Inspire
 Persuade Academic Writing
 IEEIP = I Eat Eggs In Pajamas
o Specific Purpose: after identifying general purpose you
decide on Specific
 A specific purpose answers the question: What specific information or ideas do I want to
communicate to my audience?
 Understanding Your Audience
o Identify: Who is the main person or persons who will read my work?
o To understand needs and expectationsdevelop an audience profile
o Use language that is appropriate

Effective paragraphs

To be as effective as possible, a paragraph should contain each of the following:

Unity

a Topic Sentence,

and Adequate Development.

Unity

The entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus.

If it begins with one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas.

The Topic Sentence

A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with.

It comes at the beginning of the paragraph.

The Topic Sentence…

 Needs to be:
 Clear
 Specific
 Well focused
o THERE ARE 6 TYPES

A topic sentence = a limited topic + a specific feeling or thought or assertion about that topic

Example:

The fear that Americans feel (limited topic) comes partly from the uncertainty related to this attack (a specific thought
about the topic)

Gathering Support for Your Topic

 The ideas and info gathers are called support

 Process of gathering support is called brainstorming

Recording Support

 Using the 5 Ws and role-playing should ignite your brainstorm. Once ideas flow—record them
o 3 methods for recoding support Clustering and listing effective when you must work quickly

 1. Clustering: method involves series of bubbles (circle) and connection lines to record ideas.
 Clustering with the Five Ws
 2. Listing: Listing is used when students do not like using bubbles and lines to reccor or connect
their ideas, they prefer a list on a piece of paper or computer screen.
 3. Freewriting: requires more time, not an efficient way to record your ideas during an in’class
writing assignment. Use this when you have plenty of time to record idea.
  like recording your thoughts in a diary. Don’t worry about grammer, spelling,
organization. Continued stream of thought

Apply organization skills

1. Ordering: arranging ideas that you developed through brainstorming in a logical way. Order single-word
items, phrases, or whole sentences
2. Grouping: putting related ideas together. Group single word items, phrases, or whole sentences
3. Eliminating: removing ideas not related to your topic. Elimate items, phrases, or whole sentences
General ideas vs. Specific
 General ideas come first in order and are followed by specific

OUTLINING: 3 main features

1. Main Idea
2. Support Points
3. Specific Examples
*add transitional words and phrases to outline