Paragraphing: A Writer’s Tool!

Pilcrow It originally comes from the Greek paragraphos ( para, “beside” and graphein, “to write”), which led to the Old French paragraph, which evolved into pelagraphe and then pelagreffe. Somehow, the word transformed into the Middle English pylcrafte and eventually became the “pilcrow.”

Why Do We Skip a little Space to Show that a New Paragraph is Starting? Or…why do we INDENT? Books before the printing press were handwritten and decorated by talented scribes who spent a lot of time and effort on each text. So, to keep those decorative touches in the texts when the first printers began using the printing press, early printers left empty spaces in the texts where special artists called rubricators could later go in and draw elaborate, colored pilcrows. Red was the most popular color.

Bye Bye, Pilcrow; Hello, Indent As demand for printed books increased, printers and rubricators couldn’t keep up with the hand-drawn decorative pilcrows, but the space was still in there where they were supposed to go. So, the space (aka. indent) came to be recognized as the indicator of a new paragraph instead of the bygone pilcrow.

Paragraphs as a Writer’s Tool Three Types of Paragraphs Topical - paragraph is all about one specific topic Functional - paragraph is doing a function, or job Example : Dialogue is paragraphed so that it stays clear for the reader which speaker is speaking. Paragraph Bloc- group of paragraphs that are about the same topic

What is Your Paragraph Style? Writers choose how to break up their writing to make their message clear for their reader. They use the indent to show the reader where the new paragraph is starting. How a writer uses paragraphs is a part of that writer’s style. Some writers write many short paragraphs, and some writers are famous for very long paragraphs.

Paragraph Investigation! Look at the provided example of writing. It has had all indents removed. Read it carefully and decide where you think the paragraphs should go. Draw a pilcrow (think backwards P ) where you think a paragraph should go. We will discuss how everyone paragraphed this piece and then look at how the original author did.

Why Should You Paragraph? How did the reading of the text change for you from the first non-indented version to the indented version? Think about what this means for your writing. How can you use paragraphs and indenting to help your reader understand your ideas better? How can paragraphs organize the ideas in your writing?

Paragraphs in the Short Essay STAAR essays are short one-page essays. You have 26 lines to communicate your story or thesis to your reader. Even if you write small, this isn’t much space. So, how many paragraphs do you think would work for this type of writing? Think about how you have been organizing your short essays this year. How many paragraphs do you usually use?

WARNING!!! The last slide is pretty random. It is an example of how one person played around with the idea of the pilcrow and created a character who is called Pilcrow. The details about his character all relate to the how the pilcrow works. Clever ! (Okay…and a little random.)