Writing 4:

Basic Paragraph Parts

A paragraph is a group of sentences that has one main idea. In English, there are three parts
to a good paragraph. These parts are written in a special way. If a paragraph is missing one
part, it is not complete.

All good paragraphs have three basic parts:

1. Topic sentence
- shows the main idea
- is indented (Use the ‘Tab’ key!)

2. Supporting sentences
- explain the topic sentence
- main supporting sentences
- details that help explain the
main supporting sentences

3. Closing sentence
- restates the topic sentence
in different words

Example Paragraph: Topic

Main supporting sentences sentence

1. C o l l e g e s t u d e n t s c a n f i n d m a n y b e n e f i t s t o s t u d y i n g i n
2. The
f i r s t b e n e f i t i s t h a t i t i s t h e b e s t e n v i r o n
3.Students
can have contact with the language they are studying anywhere they go in the country.
For example, media such as television, advertisements, music,
Supporting sentences

use
the language students want to study. 4. Because of the environment, they can naturally
absorb more language. 5. Another benefit is that it gives students a different perspective
of the world. 6.Since there are usually many students from different countries studying
o n e l a n g u a g e , t h e y c a n l e a r n m o r e t h a n j u s t t h e
7.They can
learn about the cultures of other students. For example, if a Korean student, Costa
Rican student, and Israeli student are in a Chinese class together, the Korean student
will learn Chinese, but also learn about Costa Rican and Is
8. Finally,

42
s t u d e n t s w h o s t u d y i n a n o t h e r c o u n t r y u s u a l l
9. After a
year of hard study together, many students have learned a lot about their classmates’
c u l t u 1r 0e U
.s s. u a l l y t h e y h a v e a v e r y s t r o n g c o n n e c
11. For these
reasons, college students should think about spending some of their college time
studying in another country. Closing sentence

42