The Confident Writer Chapter 3: Improving Your Paragraph Skills

A paragraph is a part, or division, or an essay that develops a main idea that is relevant to the whole essay. Parts of a paragraph: ◦Topic sentence ◦Main idea

State Your Main Idea Main idea=what the whole paragraph is about Main idea is often stated in a topic sentence. Topic sentence has 2 parts: ◦Topic ◦Focus Now, let’s look at exercises 1 and 2 on pp. 64 & 65.

State Your Main Idea Implied main ideas are not directly stated! Now, let’s do exercise 3 on pp in groups.

Support Your Main Idea To support a main idea=explain or prove it with evidence Evidence=facts, reasons, examples, etc.

Support Your Main Idea Facts=anything that can be proven right or wrong through research, direct observation, or questioning ◦Statistics or numerical data ◦Info gathered through the senses ◦Info from books, research, or testimony ◦Observation accepted as truth

Support Your Main Idea Reason=help explain why something happens or why something is the way it is ◦Key words include:  Because  Since  The causes are  The purpose is

Support Your Main Idea Example=an illustration that clarifies a general statements ◦Appeal to one or more of the senses ◦Create clear and vivid pictures

Organize Your Ideas A fully-developed, well-organized paragraph has three qualities: ◦Three levels of development ◦Unity ◦Coherence

Organize Your Ideas Three levels of development Level 3: Secondary evidence Minor Details Level 2: Primary evidence Major Details Level 1: The general statement Topic Sentence

Organize Your Ideas Write unified paragraphs. ◦Unity=oneness or wholeness ◦State your main idea clearly and STAY ON TOPIC

Organize Your Ideas Check your paragraphs for coherence. ◦Cohere=to stick together ◦Paragraphs have coherence when they are so well organized that the evidence flows smoothly and “sticks” together. ◦Common patterns for organizing paragraphs:  Time order (chronological order)  Emphatic order  Spatial order

Organize Your Ideas When you check your paragraphs for coherence, determine the pattern used to organize the paragraph:  Time order (chronological order) ◦ First ◦ Next ◦ Finally  Emphatic order ◦ The most important ◦ Major/minor ◦ Of primary concern  Spatial order ◦ In front ◦ Behind ◦ Near

Write an Effective Summary A summary=condensed version of a piece of writing or oral account that presents just the central idea and a few major supporting points. Characteristics of an effective summary: ◦Objectivity ◦Brevity ◦Conciseness Follow the 5 steps on pp. 82 to write an effective summary!