Writing Effective

Paragraphs
 “A mind that is
stretched to a new
idea
never returns to its
original dimension”.

-John Dewey
“Writing is a form of therapy;
sometimes I wonder how all
those who do not write,
compose or paint can manage
to escape the madness,
the melancholia, the panic fear
which is inherent in the human
situation.”
Graham Greene (1904 – 1991)
“A great writer creates a
world of his own and his
readers are proud to live in
it. A lesser writer may
entice them in for a
moment, but soon he will
watch them filing out.”

Cyril Connolly (1903 – 1974)

Parts of an Essay
1.Introduction
2.Body
3.Conclusion
 Stages of Writing

1. Pre-writing
2. Drafting/ Writing
3. Editing
4. Rewriting
5. Proofreading
 Paragraphs
• A paragraph is a group of
sentences that relate to the
same main idea.
• Paragraphs are the building
blocks of all documents.
• Creating coherent and well
developed paragraphs,
therefore, is one of the most
important skills for any writer
to learn.
 The Purpose of Paragraphs
• It aims to aid in communicating
ideas by setting off the single
topic which is developed or by
providing clear distinctions
between separate parts of a
longer composition.
• Good paraphrasing is essential
for clarity and effectiveness.
Characteristics of a Paragraph
1. It contains a topic sentence,
expressed or implied.
2. contains a body of thought
3. Unified
4. Organized
5. Well proportion
6. Suitable length
7. contains transitional aid
8. mechanically correct
1. UNITY
• Oneness
• Each idea in the
paragraph
should clearly support the
“one main point” – the
topic sentence.
Sample 1
My most frustrating job was cooking for
a local fast food restaurant during my
junior year in high school. No matter how
hard I tried, I never could cook what the
menu said because the food company
always delivered the wrong food or
brought it late. I also was frustrated
because I had trouble estimating how
much food to cook. Many times we ran
short of hamburgers or had to throw
away pounds and pounds of French fries.
Sometimes we ate the extra French fries,
though, and we’d sit around, joking and
having a good time. The worst thing,
however, was the condition of my clothes
after the meal was over. Even if I hadn’t
spilled anything (and I usually had spilled
some kind of sauce), my clothes smelled
awful. I’d want to go home to change
before going any place else. Some of the
managers also spilled food and wanted to
change, too. No wonder, then, I thought
cooking in a fast food restaurant was
frustrating.
 Revised
My most frustrating job was cooking
for a local fast food restaurant
during my junior year in high school.
No matter how hard I tried, I never
could cook what the menu said
because the food company always
delivered the wrong food or brought
it late. I also was frustrated because I
had trouble estimating how much
food to cook. Many times we ran
short of hamburgers or had to throw
away pounds and pounds of French
fries. The worst thing, however, was the
condition of my clothes after the meal
was over. Even if I hadn’t spilled
anything (and I usually had spilled
some kind of sauce), my clothes smelled
awful. I’d want to go home to change
before going any place else. No
wonder, then, I thought cooking in a
fast food restaurant was frustrating.
• Topic Sentence:
My job as cook was frustrating.
• Support:
Wrong food was delivered.
• Support
I had trouble estimating amounts.
• Support:
My clothes were messy.
• Conclusion:
Therefore, my job as cook was
frustrating.
Order: Method of Development
A. General to Particular (Deductive)
• moving from a generalization to
specific ideas that support it
• generalizations should be
supported with examples with
illustrations and examples.
I assume that man is a religious animal in
an anthropological sense. That is, just as
men do not exist except in a social setting,
so also men do not exist with out religion.
To describe the phenomenon of man
requires describing the phenomenon of
religion. Even though this assumption
cannot be completely verified,
archeological evidence is quite eloquent.
All known cultures have contained
religious institutions. Most of them have
placed religion at the heart of all other
institutions.
Moreover, the further we dig back
through time, the closer we come to
the dividing line between true man
and man-like predecessors. One of
true man distinguishing marks is that
he buries, or otherwise provides for
his dead, evincing a concern for the
mysteries of life and death. I find it
ultimately impossible to account for
the care of the dead without
hypothesizing the presence of at
least rudimentary religious beliefs.
• Note:

– The author inferred his

assumption that “man is a
religious animal” by citing
evidences from anthropological
findings which are verifiable.
 b. Development by details
• Provide details to support the
topic sentence

• Your main purpose in providing

details is to make your
generalization
specific and concrete
Between roughly 1590 and 1690, a
host of geniuses, attracted by the
scientific method, produced
a flowering of research scarcely
equaled in any 100 – year period.
Among them, in addition to
Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, were
such giants as Bacon, Boylem
Van Leeuwenhok, Huygens,
Descartes, Harvey, Halley,
and Hooke.
The key nature of their role in
laying the foundation of science
may be judge from a partial list
of basic scientific tools associated
with their names: the horse-shoe
magnet, the thermometer, the
chronometer, the diverging lens, the
reflecting telescope, the micro
caliper, the spring balance and the
graph.
• Note how the accumulation of
details made the general idea
more specific by enumerating
the “host of geniuses” and by
showing how the “produced a
flowering research.”
c. Whole to parts
• Beginning with a holistic view
then divide the whole into
meaningful groups
• looking at the big picture then
to the individual pieces
 d. Questions to Answers
• Asking questions can be an
effective way of generating
ideas.
• questions are given for a more
organized way of supporting
the topic sentence
 e. Effect/Cause
• Shows the reader the
relationship
between something that happens
and its consequences, or between
actions and results.
• Can be informative and
insightful
 e. Effect/Cause
• You can state that the effect is
true and examine the cause in
detail.
• You can state that the cause is
true and examine the effect in
detail.
• You can show that the entire
cause effect statement is true.
The life sciences concern the study of plants
and animals. The study of living things began
because of early man’s concern for his health.
He studied, herbs for their medicinal value and
as a consequence learned certain things about
his body from his primitive attempts at
therapy. The Greeks took this simple body of
knowledge and vastly enlarged on it.
Aristotle’s speculation about natural things let
him pioneer in botany, zoology, and
embryology . Then, the development of the
microscope led to microbiology, which later
gave rise to histology, the study of tissues, and
cytology, the study of cells.
• Note:
The cause “early man’s
concern for his health” had
led to the development of the
life sciences.
From the cause given, there
was a reaction of results.
f. Definition

• aims to answer the

questions “What is it? Or
What do you mean?”
Mathematics is the study of
numbers and shapes. All
mathematics has branched from
two main trucks: arithmetic and
geometry, or the art of computing
and the science of shapes and size.
The first was used by the ancient
peoples in record keeping; the
second was utilized in construction,
surveying and mapping the
stars.
The Greeks developed these two
trunks, merged them and fashioned
from the number theory, analysis,
trigonometry, and algebra. They also
invented a method of thought logic and
applied it to geometry to calculate the
way a falling body accelerates.
Newton and Leibnitz later separately
invented calculus, another branch of
mathematics. In present century,
information theory has helped to
program electronic computers.
presenting a sequence of events in
chronological order
describing the spatial relationship
between items in the same place