English II 1st year S.T.

2022/2023

Faculty of Sciences and Technology

Department of Fundamental Learning

Module: English

Writing a Paragraph
A paragraph is a group of related sentences that discuss one (and usually only one)
main idea.

A paragraph has three parts which are the topic sentence, the supporting sentences,
and the concluding sentence. (Not all paragraphs have a concluding sentence.)

1. The topic sentence tells what topic the paragraph is going to discuss.
2. The supporting sentences give details about the topic.
3. The concluding sentence summarizes the main points and perhaps makes a
final comment.

A paragraph is like a sandwich. A diagram of a paragraph looks like this

Topic Sentence

Supporting

Sentences

Concluding Sentence

1. Topic Sentence

a) The topic sentence states the topic + controlling idea.

The topic sentence announces the main idea of a paragraph. The topic sentence names
the topic and also tells what the paragraph will say about the topic, it is usually the
first sentence in a paragraph and it ends with a period.

Topic: who or what you are writing about.

Controlling idea ( Main point): What you are saying about the topic.

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Example: Alice is an excellent student. She is intelligent, she is responsible. Alice

always does her home work and she is never late for class as a result of her hard work.
Alice is one of the best students is school.

Topic: “Alice”

Controlling idea: “is an excellent student”

b) The topic sentence is neither too general nor too specific.

A topic sentence such as I have a roommate is too general because there is no

controlling idea. A topic sentence such as My roommate always leaves his dirty socks
in the bathroom is too specific because it gives a detail-in this case, an example. A
good topic sentence gives the reader a hint about the contents of the paragraph but
none of the details: My roommate is a messy person.

Here are some examples of topic sentences.

c) The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of a paragraph.

Experienced writers sometimes put topic sentences in other locations such as at the
end, but the best spot is usually right at the beginning of a paragraph.

Readers who are used to English writing want to know what they will read about as
they begin. Knowing in advance what you will read about helps you understand it
better.

2. Supporting sentences

Supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence by giving one or more
examples.

To write good supporting sentences you have to:

a) Use facts, not opinions, for support.

Facts are objective statements of truth. Opinions are subjective statements based on a
person's beliefs or feelings.

Facts - One inch equals 2.54 centimeters.

- Young male drivers have more fatal automobile accidents than any
other group.
Opinions - The metric system of measurement is easier to use than the English
system.
- Men are better drivers than women.

It is certainly acceptable to express opinions in academic and business writing.

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Teachers usually want you to express your own ideas. However, you must support
your opinions with facts. In academic and business writing, even statements that most
people consider to be facts need further support. They need specific supporting details
such as examples, statistics, or quotations to be convincing.

Unsupported "fact" - Young male drivers have more fatal automobile

accidents than any other group.

Specific supporting details - Car crashes are the leading cause of death for

Algerian teenagers.

Unsupported "fact" - Young people ages 15 20 make up 6.7% of the

total driving population in Algeria but are
involved in 14% of all fatal crashes.

- Two out of three teenagers killed in car crashes

are male.

Unsupported “fact” - The English system of measurement has an

interesting history.

Specific supporting details - An acre was traditionally an area of farmland

that a team of oxen could plow in one morning
without getting tired.
- A pound was originally the weight of 7,000
grain of barley.
- An inch was originally the width of a man's
thumb, and a foot was the length of a man's
foot.
- A yard was the distance between King Henry I
(1068-1135) nose and the tip of his outstretched
arm.

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b) Use examples, statistics, and quotations as specific supporting details.

Keep in mind that supporting sentences are the "meat" of a paragraph. Make your
supporting sentences as specific and detailed as possible; they make your paragraph
rich and interesting.

Notice the difference between paragraphs 1 and 2 that follow. Both paragraphs begin
with the same topic sentence, but the supporting sentences in paragraph 2 are more
specific than those in paragraph 1. They give statistics, specific names, a specific
example, and a quotation from an authority. As a result, paragraph 2 is not just longer;
it is also livelier and more convincing.

Paragraph I : Giant Pandas

Giant pandas are an endangered species. There are not many pandas still
living in the wild. The area in China where they live is quite small, and they do not
reproduce in zoos easily. There has been only one panda baby born in a zoo in the
United States. Experts say that pandas in zoos don't reproduce well enough to
maintain the species.

Paragraph 2: Giant Pandas

Statistics Giant pandas are an endangered species. Only about

1,000 giant pandas still live in the wild, occupying six
small forest fragments totaling 5,400 square miles in the
Specific names provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi in southwestern
China. Not only is their natural habitat limited, but they
Example also do not reproduce easily in zoos. In 1999, Bai Yun and
Shi Shi, two pandas in the San Diego zoo, produced the
first zoo-born baby panda outside China in ten years.
According to the San Diego Zoo's Center for Reproduction
Quotation of Endangered Species, "Captive pandas are not
reproducing well enough to maintain the species."

c) Use support that is both appropriate and relevant.

Make sure that your support is appropriate. For instance, if you want to prove that
men are better automobile drivers than women, don’t use famous race car drivers as
examples.

Use supporting quotations from appropriate sources. A quotation about global

warming from a tabloid newspaper (the kind of newspaper sold at supermarket
checkout stands) is not appropriate for an academic paper. On the other hand, a
college classmate is an appropriate source for a quotation about the cost of textbooks.

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Second, make sure that your support is relevant. If you want to prove that smoking is
harmful to health, don’t use the fact that many airlines now ban in-flight smoking as
support. The airline ban may be indirectly related to health issues, but there is no
direct connection. You cannot say, (Airlines don't allow smoking. This proves that
smoking is harmful to health.)

Concluding sentence

A concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and reminds the reader of the
main idea. Not all paragraphs need a concluding sentence. When a paragraph is very
long or when it stands alone as a piece of writing, it is helpful to your reader to add a
concluding sentence. Paragraphs that are part of longer pieces of writing don't always
need concluding sentences.
When you write a concluding sentence, here are some hints to help you write a
good one.

Start with a transition signal.

I. You can use a «conclusion,, transition signal, followed by a comma.

All in all, In summary,
In brief, It is clear that ... (without a comma)
In conclusion, To conclude,
Indeed, To summarize,
In short, To sum up,

2. However, if the paragraph gives reasons, you may choose one of these
«reason" or "result" transition signals.
As a result, For these reasons,
Consequently, Therefore,

Do not copy the topic sentence.

I. You can repeat the idea in the topic sentence, but use different words.

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Topic sentence: Japan is a nation of workaholics .

- It is clear that workers in Japan are dedicated employees-perhaps too
dedicated for their own health and happiness.
II. You can also summarize the main point or points of the paragraph.
- In short, peer pressure and training during the school years have combined
to produce a nation of extremely dedicated workers .
- To summarize, the Japanese worked long hours as children at school, and
group pressure in the workplace causes them to continue this practice as
adults.

Do not introduce a new idea.

Never end a paragraph by introducing a new idea

In conclusion, Japanese employees spend so much time working that family
life suffers as a result.

Reference:

- Hogue, Ann; The Essentials of English : a writer’s handbook; Pearson education: 2003