The Four Aims Purposes of Writing

To Inform Some writers want to give facts and other kinds of information or explain something to their readers. This information may be based on research, personal knowledge, or something you witnessed or heard. It can also explain a process or tell about a series of events. Examples: Newspaper Articles, Research Papers, How-To’s

To Persuade Sometimes writers want to persuade other people to change their minds about something or to act in a certain way, such as purchasing an item or voting for a certain candidate. Examples: Advertisements, Persuasive Essays

To Express Sometimes writers simply want to express their own feelings and thoughts. This type of writing places greater emphasis on opinion than on fact. Examples: Journals, Newspaper Editorials

To Be Creative Some writers present their writing in nontraditional ways for the purpose of entertaining their reader or leading their reader to look at an idea from a different perspective. The purpose of this writing is often to create a mood, emotion, or image. Examples: poems, songs, plays

The Parts of a Paragraph

The purpose or focus of gathered thoughts in a paragraph Main Idea The purpose or focus of gathered thoughts in a paragraph

A statement that specifically expresses the main idea of the paragraph Topic Sentence A statement that specifically expresses the main idea of the paragraph

Supporting Sentences Gives details, examples or information to support or elaborate the main idea

Clincher Restates the main idea of the paragraph in a different way than the topic sentence; pulls all the details together and signals the end of the paragraph

Traits of a Good Paragraph

Unity All the parts of the paragraph work together as a unit to express and support one main idea

Coherence The ideas in a paragraph are arranged and connected in a way that will make sense to the readers

Order of Ideas Chronological Order- used to relate events in the order they happen(ed) Spatial Order- used to describe objects or places according to where they are located Order of Importance- used to show importance of details in relation to one another Logical Order- used to group related ideas

Elaboration Development or expansion of the paragraph’s main idea using plenty of supporting details

Methods of Elaboration Sensory Details- precise bits of information collected using the five senses Fact- statements that can be proven true (Statistics are facts involving numbers.) Examples- specific instances, or illustrations, or an idea