A Paragraph Jane Schaeffer style Notes for the Writing Concepts section Of your notebook Page 53

Body Paragraph Terms Topic Sentence: (TS) – Concrete Details: (CD) – Commentary: (CM) – Concluding Sentence: (CS) –

Topic sentence  tells the reader the subject of the paragraph.  Example: “Matilde’s husband was very understanding of his wife.”

Lead-in (LI)  Background information from the story that leads the reader into the concrete detail.  Starts with a dependent clause  When….  After….  As…  Must include “________ says,” if it is something someone said in the story. Example: When Mr. Loisel sees that his wife is so unhappy all day, he

Concrete Details: (CD) –  these are “direct” quotes or very specific references to the story. In a research paper, they would be facts.  Example: “Mr. Loisel found a way to get invitations to a very exclusive party for Matilde and himself.”

Commentary: (CM) –  this is your analysis/explanation of the CD. HOW does the CD help prove the TS?  Example: Mr. Loisel knew that his wife was unhappy with her every day life so he went out of his way to help her get to do something special.

Concluding Sentence: (CS) –  this is your final analysis of the whole paragraph.  Example: Although he could not completely change his wife’s life, Mr. Loisel did small things to try to make her life better.

 Matilde’s husband was very understanding of his wife. For example, When Mr. Loisel saw that his wife was so unhappy all day, he found a way to get invitations to a very exclusive party for Matilde and himself. Mr. Loisel knew that his wife was unhappy with her every day life so he went out of his way to help her get to do something special.  To finish this paragraph, it still needs another commentary for this chunk plus another full chunk (CD CM CM) and a CS.

Body paragraph Format  This is how a body paragraph is set up  TS  CD  CM  CD  CM  CS