This document discusses the key components of a well-written paragraph: a topic sentence, major idea, minor idea, and concluding statement. It explains that a paragraph should contain a minimum of 4 sentences to cover these elements - one sentence for the topic sentence introducing the main idea, one or two sentences for the major idea explaining the topic sentence, one or more sentences for a minor idea giving examples or further explanation, and one sentence for a concluding statement that wraps up the paragraph. Identifying these components in paragraphs can help improve writing skills.

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• Dear User, this course is prepared on the
reguest of the University Senate and may or
may not reflect what I do in the actual
classroom. Classroom dynamics and online
course dynamics have nothing to do with each
other.
• Hereby you will see learn some practical hints
on writing.

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• The smallest unit of writing is sentence but we
will skip it and continue with paragraph.
Please try to define what a paragraph is. Write
your definition in a notebook or whatever
medium you use. Then check the dictionaries.

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• A paragraph is a group of sentences.
• It is minimum 4 sentences and max 8-10.
• It is easy to define the minimum but difficult
to define the maximum number.
• The minimum number: One for topic
sentence, one for major idea, one for minor
idea and one for the conclusive statement.

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• Topic Sentence is the sentence that states your
purpose in writing this paragraph. That sentence
is the ultimate reason of existence of the
paragraph. If you do not state your purpose in a
sentence, then the audience will have difficulty
understanding the paragraph.
• It is generally the first or the second sentence of
the paragraph.
• The first sentence might be sentence that leads
to your purpose. In this case, topic sentence ,is
the second in the paragraph.

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• Major Idea is an idea that directly explains the
topic sentence. In that respect, sentences that
explain the topic sentence are of secondary
importance in the paragraph.
• It is rarely difficult to explain an idea in a
sentence so major idea might be of two or
three sentences depending on the complexity
of the topic sentence.

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• Sentences that further explain, exemplify or
illustrate the major idea is called Minor idea. This
is the third component of the paragraph.
• Minor idea can exemplify or further explain.
Because the minor ideas may change (you can
pick one or the other), they are less important
than major ideas.
• You can spare one or more sentences for the
minor idea.
• They indirectly support the topic sentence.

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• The last component of the paragraph is the
Concusive Statement. It is the sentence at the
end of the paragraph which summarizes the
paragraph or makes a deduction about the topic
of the paragraph.
• If the last sentence does not carry out one of
those functions, its only a sentence, not a
conclusive statement.
• Conclusive statement should be just one
sentence in a reasonable paragraph.

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• Structurally Topic sentence, major idea, minor
idea and conclusive statement are the
components of the paragraph. They are
indispensable to a good paragraph. It is very,
very, very difficult to write a good paragraph
when one of them is missing.

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• So the magic of “minimum four sentences”
rule is made clear. How about max limit?
• It is next week’s topic. Now find paragraphs
from the media available to you and try to
distinguish between the elements of the
paragraph.

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