This document provides information about paragraphs, including their structure and components. It defines a paragraph and explains that paragraphs have a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. The topic sentence introduces the main idea, while supporting sentences contain details and evidence about the topic. The concluding sentence summarizes the key points. Effective paragraphs demonstrate unity, coherence, and emphasis through clear organization around a central idea.

1. The ParagraphGroup III AB English II-A
Balingbing, G. Shawn Kelly
Beltran, Yasmin
Borlagdan, Roselle
Fermento, Bealyn
Orias, Grace
Parabuac, Ayrah Krizel
Sandoval, Salvacion

2.  The Paragraph
 The Topic Sentence
 The Support Sentence
 The Concluding Sentence
 The Qualities of a Good Paragraph
 Paragraph Development
 Expository

3. THE PARAGRAPH
 A paragraph ( from the Ancient Greek
paragraphos, “to write beside” or “written
beside” ) is a self-contained unit of a
discourse in writing dealing with a
particular point or idea.
 It consists of one or more sentences.
 Are the building blocks of papers

4.  Defined as “a group of sentences or a single
sentence that forms a unit” (Lunsford and
Connors 116).
 A part of a piece of writing that usually deals
with one subject, that begins on a new line, and
that is made up of one or more sentences.
 A subdivision of a written composition that
consists of one or more sentences, deals with one
point or gives the words of one speaker, and
begins on a new usually indented line.

5.  Paragraphs can contain many different kinds of
information.
- A paragraph could contain a series of brief examples
or a single long illustration of a general point.
- It might describe a place, character, or process;
- Narrate a series of events;
- Compare or contrast two or more things;
- Classify items into categories;
- Describe causes and effects.
* Regardless of the kind of information they contain, all paragraphs share certain characteristics.
One of the most important of these is a topic sentence.

6. PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
Most paragraphs in an essay have a three-part structure—
introduction, body, and conclusion.
 INTRODUCTION: the first section of a paragraph; should include
the topic sentence and any other sentences at the beginning of the
paragraph that give background information or provide a
transition.
 BODY: follows the introduction; discusses the controlling idea,
using facts, arguments, analysis, examples, and other information.
 CONCLUSION: the final section; summarizes the connections
between the information discussed in the body of the paragraph
and the paragraph’s controlling idea.

7. AN EXAMPLE OF
A PARAGRAPH
 The following paragraph illustrates this pattern of organization. In this
paragraph the topic sentence and concluding sentence (CAPITALIZED) both
help the reader keep the paragraph’s main point in mind.
George Harrison, “Faith and the Scientist”
SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED TO SUPPLEMENT THE SENSE OF
SIGHT IN NUMEROUS WAYS. In front of the tiny pupil of the eye they put, on
Mount Palomar, a great monocle 200 inches in diameter, and with it see 2000
times farther into the depths of space. Or they look through a small pair of lenses
arranged as a microscope into a drop of water or blood, and magnify by as much
as 2000 diameters the living creatures there, many of which are among man’s most
dangerous enemies.

8. Or, if we want to see distant happenings on earth, they use some of the
previously wasted electromagnetic waves to carry television images which they
re-create as light by whipping tiny crystals on a screen with electrons in a vacuum.
Or they can bring happenings of long ago and far away as colored motion pictures,
by arranging silver atoms and color-absorbing molecules to force light waves into
the patterns of original reality. Or if we want to see into the center of a steel
casting or the chest of an injured child, they send the information on a beam of
penetrating short-wave X rays, and then convert it back into images we can see on
a screen or photograph. THUS ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION YET DISCOVERED HAS BEEN USED
TO EXTEND OUR SENSE OF SIGHT IN SOME WAY.

9. THE TOPIC SENTENCE
 A topic sentence is the most important sentence
in a paragraph.
 Sometimes referred to as a focus sentence.
 Helps to organize the paragraph by summarizing
the information in the paragraph.
 In formal writing, the topic sentence is usually
the first sentence in a paragraph (although it
doesn't always have to be).

10.  Presents and develops a point or thought within
the paragraph, defines or limits the reader's
thoughts, and provides the reader with a feeling
of completeness.
 A group of related sentences that are connected
one to the other to cause the reader to know some
particular point the writer is making;
 The smallest unit of writing that a writer can use
to get a developed message over to the reader.

11. The Topic Sentence can go in any one of three (3) places
in a paragraph:
 At the beginning (a form of Deductive Order, that is,
going from the General or Main Idea to the Specific
Support Sentences of that Main Idea in your organizing
the paragraph);
 At the end (a form of Inductive Order , that is, going
from Specific Supporting Sentences that provides
examples, details, illustrations, statistics, and other
forms of information to the General or Main Idea); or

12.  Nowhere -- it's just "understood" (this is only done
when you believe that the reader will know the main
idea in the paragraph without being told and doing so
renders your paragraph artificial and stiff. But please
understand the difference between a paragraph with an
implied or understood topic sentence and a paragraph
that is simply a collection of unconnected, unrelated
sentences!).

13. TOPIC SENTENCES AND
CONTROLLING IDEAS
 Every topic sentence will have a topic and a controlling
idea. The controlling idea shows the direction the
paragraph will take.
Here are some examples:
 Topic Sentence: There are many reasons why pollution
in ABC Town is the worst in the world.
The topic is “pollution in ABC Town is the worst in the
world” and the controlling idea is “many reasons.”

14.  Topic Sentence: To be an effective CEO requires
certain characteristics.
The topic is “To be an effective CEO” and the
controlling idea is certain characteristics.
 Topic Sentence: There are many possible
contributing factors to global warming.
The topic is "contributing factors to global
warming" and the controlling factor is "many
reasons."

15. THE SUPPORTING
SENTENCE
 They come after the topic sentence, making up the body
of a paragraph.
 They give details to develop and support the main idea
of the paragraph.
 The sentences in the body of the paragraph provide
details to support the topic.

16.  Supporting details provide the information
that supports the topic sentence. You can
create supporting details with descriptions,
examples, reasons, explanations and
comparisons.
 The details you use to support your topic
sentences depends somewhat on the
development strategy (persuasive,
compare/contrast, narrative, expository,
etc.)

17.  Description & Examples
Descriptive details will expand on the main idea
in your topic sentence. Describe the colors, smells,
textures and size of things.
 Compare/Contrast
If your topic sentence states that they're similar
in many ways, show the many ways and not just
one or two.
 Reasons & Explanations
Use reasons to support your opinions.

18. THE CONCLUDING
SENTENCE
 The closing sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph.
 It restates the main idea of your paragraph.
 A concluding sentence indicates that you are bringing
closure to a paragraph.

19.  Examples of concluding sentence starters include:
 In conclusion
 Therefore
 As expressed
 Overall
 As a result
 Thus
 Finally
 Lastly
 For this reason
 In general

20. CHARACTERISTICS OF
EFFECTIVE CONCLUDING
SENTENCES
It is important for your students to know how to write
effective concluding sentences in order to drive home the
final point. Some characteristics include:
 Reviewing main points mentioned in a paragraph
 Restating the topic sentence
 Are found at the end of a paragraph
 Do not introduce new ideas or topics

21. QUALITIES OF A
GOOD PARAGRAPH
 A good paragraph has the characteristics of unity, coherence and
emphasis.
UNITY
A paragraph is a unit of composition that established oneness
because it develops a central and main idea on its structure. The
entire paragraph must be unified on its structure and all the
sentences within the paragraph should focus on the topic sentence.

22. COHERENCE
Coherence is considered as the continuity between as well as
within the paragraph. It is very important to arrange and link the
sentences between the paragraphs to be able to make the readers
follow the thought or the idea that want to be implied.
EMPHASIS
Emphasis is the principle of the paragraph composition in which
the important ideas are made to stand. In here it is very important
that the main points of the writer should be evident inside the
paragraph.

23. PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
Support and evidence provided by the writer can be explained in
different ways, These details can be provided by giving or using:
 a. narration – telling a story
 b. description – painting something or someone by
use of words
 c. comparison – showing how two subjects are
similar
 d. contrast – pointing out how two subjects are
different from each other

24.  e. example – providing illustrations or
representatives of an idea or topic
 f. classification – organizing or grouping together
subjects with the same qualities or characteristics
 g. division – taking out a part from the whole to fully
discuss or emphasize how the part is integral to the
whole
 h. definition – giving the meaning of a term, idea, or
concept

25.  i. process analysis – telling how something is achieved or
came to be; or telling how to do something
 j. cause and effect – showing reasons/results of a
phenomena/process

26. EXPOSITORY
 An expository paragraph informs the reader on a
subject.
 It provides information.
 Expository paragraphs are found in the books that you
read for school or the instructions that you read when
trying to repair something on your house.
 Their purpose it to give information to readers in an
organized format.

27.  Writers give reasons, facts, or details to support a
main idea.
 There are many different kinds of paragraphs that
provide information. The three main types of
expository paragraphs that we will explore here
are...
 informative
 cause and effect
 comparison / contrast

28. INFORMATIVE
This type of a paragraph might explain a process,
describe a category, or provide a long definition of
something that is complicated.
COMPARISON-CONTRAST
A comparison-contrast paragraph compares two things.
The differences can be large or small, depending on the
goals of the writer.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
A cause and effect paragraph explains why the action of
one thing (the cause) produces a result (the effect).

29. NARRATIVE
 A narrative is a story that tells about people (or animals)
doing something at some time and place.
 A narrative paragraph ‘tells a story’, that is, it tells about
a series of events that happened to the writer.
 It is usually told in time sequence with a definite
beginning, middle and end.

30. There are three basic types of narrative:
 Personal
 Biographical
 Fictional

31. PERSONAL
A personal narrative tells about a real
experience that happened to the writer. When you
write a personal narrative, do the following:
 Use the first-person voice (I, me, my, we, our).
 Focus on one important experience or time.
 Show the reader why the experience was
important

32. BIOGRAPHICAL
A biographical narrative tells about a real event
that happened to a person other than the writer. When
you write a biographical narrative, do the following:
 Use the third-person voice (he, she, him, her,
they).
 Study the experience and, if possible,
interview the person.
 Show the reader why the experience was
important

33. FICTIONAL
A fictional narrative tells a made-up story.
When you write a fictional narrative, do the following:
 Make up interesting characters.
 Create a conflict, a problem the characters
must overcome or solve.
 Tell whether the characters succeed or fail.

34. DESCRIPTIVE
 The writer uses sensory details such as sights, sounds,
smells, tastes, feelings, and textures to create vivid
images in the reader’s mind.
 An experienced writer relies on sense memories of a
specific experience to call to mind these details.
 In addition, the writer often uses spatial order to create
a clear visual image of a person, place, object, or scene.

35. PERSUASIVE
 Persuasive writing presents the writer's opinion and
tries to convince the reader to agree.
 Persuasive writing often includes the following parts:
 An opinion statement
 Main reasons for the opinion
 Answers to objections
 A call to action

36.  An opinion statement is a sentence that gives the
writer's opinion. Here is a formula for writing a strong
opinion statement.
 The main reasons support the opinion statement. Each
main reason will appear as the topic sentence of a body
paragraph.
the topic +
the writer’s
feelings =
a strong
opinion
statement

37.  A powerful way to support an opinion is to
answer objections against it. An effective
answer to an objection does the following:
 States an opposing view
 Gives arguments against the opposing view
 A call to action asks the reader to think or act in
a certain way. It usually appears in the closing
paragraph. An effective call to action uses a
command verb and requests a specific action.

38. fin.