Writing Effective Paragraphs

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Writing Effective Paragraphs

• A Learning Enhancement Center Workshop

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• This workshop is designed to give students a
  better understanding of the basic structure of
  the paragraph.
• We will cover the structure of a paragraph
  including the topic sentence, support sentences,
  and strategies for developing the main idea of a
  paragraph. 

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• Knowledge of the paragraph's structure and
  form will help you learn to write more coherent,
  unified, and well-developed paragraphs.

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 Paragraph Checklist

• 1. Make sure every paragraph has a main idea.
• 2. Relate each sentence to the main idea of the
  paragraph.
• 3. Arrange ideas in a clearly understandable
  order.
• 4. Link sentences by using pronouns, and by
  relating words, phrases, or ideas.
• 5. Support ideas with examples.
• 6. Describe to make a point.
• 7. Compare and contrast to develop an idea.
• Harbrace College Handbook, 12th Edition

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Sentences in a Paragraph

• 1. Topic Sentence
• The topic sentence
• a. announces the subject or topic
• b. makes a statement about that topic that all
  other sentences in the paragraph prove or support
• c. limits what the author can say in the
  paragraph about the subject - the controlling
  idea
• d. establishes a contract with the reader that
  the author must honor
• e. of all the paragraph's sentences, makes the
  most general statement about the subject

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Sentences in a Paragraph contd

• 2. Detail or Support Sentences
•  Detail or support sentences answer the following
  questions about the subject
•   WHY? - reason
• WHEN? - time
• WHERE? - place
• HOW? - condition, circumstance, or situation
•  or they may
• EXPLAIN
• DEFINE
• PROVIDE an EXAMPLE

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Sample of Topic Sentence (1) and supporting
sentences (2-6)

• (1) The old horror movies attempted to create an
  atmosphere of terror modern movies ignore
  atmosphere and focus on blood and gore. (2) In
  the early films starring Boris Karloff and Bela
  Lugosi, the right atmosphere was created by the
  sound of wild screams in the background. (3)
  Open windows revealed a pair of shadowed eyes or
  the weird smile of a madman. (4) Modern films
  concentrate on filling the screen with buckets of
  blood, and the audience doesn't hear screams
  anymore instead, it witnesses brutal murders.
  (5) The old shots of wild eyes and crazy smiles
  are gone. (6) Now there are long close-ups of
  someone being stabbed to death.
• Flemming. Reading For Results 3rd ed.

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 Writing a Topic Sentence

• The following exercises are samples of supporting
  sentences. Please use the information given above
  to create an appropriate topic sentence to
  complete a paragraph.
• Exercise 1
• a. Some fires are caused by careless people
  tossing matches out of car windows.
• b. A few are started when lightning strikes a
  tree.
• c. Some result from campers who fail to douse
  cooking fires.
• d. The majority of forest fires are
  deliberately set by arsonists.
• Topic Sentence

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 Writing a Topic Sentence contd

• Exercise 2
• a. We had to wait a half hour even though we
  had reserved a table.
• b. Our appetizers and main courses all arrived
  at the same time.
• c. The busboy ignored our requests for more
  water.
• d. The wrong desserts were delivered to us.
• Topic Sentence

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Writing a Topic Sentence contd

• Exercise 3
• a. My phone goes dead at certain times of the
  day.
• b. When I talk long distance, I hear
  conversations in the background.
• c. The line to the phone service center is
  busy for hours.
• d. My telephone bill includes three calls I
  never made.
• Topic Sentence
• Langam. English Skills 4th ed.

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15 Guides for Creating a Paragraph

•  1. Think of a topic.
•  2. Think about the topic.
•  3. Think more about the topic.
•  4. Pre-write about the topic.
•  5. Let pre-writing rest then read pre-writing.

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15 Guides for Creating a Paragraph

•  6. Throw our anything that does not relate
  directly to the topic.
•  7. Create a general statement or point of view
  you want to express to your audience about the
  topic.
• 8. Determine whether the items in your
  pre-writing support your point of view. Discard
  those that don't.
•  9. Arrange or group pre-writing in an order.
•  10. Construct sentences using the ideas from
  your pre-writing that will support a general
  statement about your topic.

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15 Guides for Creating a Paragraph

•  11. Arrange the sentences in paragraph form.
•  12. Determine whether the sentences are in
  logical order. If they are not, then rearrange
  them.
•  13. Read paragraph aloud, then let it rest.
•  14. Read paragraph again.
•  15. Make changes in word choice and word order
  if necessary.

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• After all this work, youll probably have a
  good paragraph. Congratulations!

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Resources Available

• Harbrace College Handbook, 12th ed.
• Tangan, English Skills with Readings, 2nd ed.
• Fitzpatrick, Rusica The Complete Paragraph
  Workout Book
• Foresman, Handbook for Writers, 4th ed.

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• The Learning Enhancement Center is designed to
  serve the students of CCC. We are eager to be a
  facilitator of successful learning. Please let us
  know what your needs are, and we will design ways
  to meet them. Thank you for attending this
  workshop.