1. Basic Paragraph Structure

2. Introduction Definition of ‘Paragraph’: Series: One Main Idea:
A paragraph is a series of sentences (not a list) that presents and develops one main idea (and only one!) about a topic.
Series:
The word ‘series’ tells us that the sentences in a paragraph are linked together logically, and that the paragraph is not merely a list of sentences.
One Main Idea:
All of the details in a paragraph must be directly related to the main idea. If you choose to develop a new idea, you must start a new paragraph.

3. Linear and Direct Topic Sentence: Supporting Details: Conclusion:
Clearly expresses the one main idea
Supporting Details:
Develop the main idea with appropriate information
Conclusion:
Lets the reader know that the paragraph is finished.

4. Comparing Structures
Mastering a language does not just involve pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, speaking, listening, and writing.
The pieces of conversations and compositions (the Structure) must be organized in ways that a native speaker will understand.

5. Comparing Structures Culture and Language are closely connected
“Logic is not universal”
“If one doesn’t know the discourse pattern one can’t read for comprehension.”
“If one doesn’t know the discourse pattern one can’t write for comprehension.”

6. In English
As we saw earlier, the basic (expository) structure in English is linear and direct. (p. 31)
In English you should follow three basic steps:
Tell the audience your topic, as clearly as possible.
Develop, explain, or support the topic (tell them about the topic), in a natural, logical way.
Tell them that the paragraph is finished (tell them that you are finished telling them about the topic).

7. Other Languages/Cultures
Semitic Laguages
The “links” between the pieces are not always clear.
The reader/listener makes the connections.

8. Other Languages/Cultures
Begin with the topic
Go off on a tangent
Refute the tangent with an opposing idea
Return to the topic
Formal, ‘fancy’ words and structures.
Romance Languages

9. Other Languages/Cultures
Using the linear/direct style of English-speaking cultures may seem rude or abrupt to a native speaker of a romance language.
Using the romance language structure to communicate in English may leave the native English speaking wondering:
What is the point?
When is he/she going to tell me what’s happeing?
Why is this taking so long?

10. The ‘Asian’ Discourse Pattern
Can you guess what it looks like?
Is it linear?
Is it direct?
Why or why not?

11. The ‘Asian’ Discourse Pattern p. 30
It looks (generally) like this:

12. The ‘Asian’ Discourse Pattern
In many Asian cultures it is considered rude to be too direct
The main idea is often arrived at only at the end of the paragraph …
After surrounding, gradually more specific ideas have been introduced.

13. Very different approaches

14. Once again: Topic Sentence: Supporting Details: Conclusion:
Clearly expresses the one main idea
Supporting Details:
Develop the main idea with appropriate information
Conclusion:
Lets the reader know that the paragraph is finished.

15. Very Simple Example Adapted from: http://www. slideshare
Topic Sentence:
Notice, it does not say topic sentences
We use one, and only one, sentence to tell the reader the main idea and the controlling idea
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world.

16. Very Simple Example Adapted from: http://www. slideshare
The Body:
Notice that there is no long introduction, no background information, nothing extra
All of the details relate directly to the one main idea
The details flow using:
Transitional markers
The known-new contract
(More about this later)
First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live.

17. Very Simple Example Adapted from: http://www. slideshare
Conclusion Sentence:
Notice, it does not say conclusion sentences
We use one, and only one, sentence to tell the reader that the paragraph is over.
Notice the transitional marker.
The whole paragraph looks like …
As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

18. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.
Note: this is a simplified version. You will be practicing a slightly more complex structure.

19. The Topic Sentence

20. The Topic Sentence
The topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
Every sentence in the paragraph must develop or support that topic sentence and the controlling idea it contains.
It introduces the main idea so that the reader knows what to expect.

21. The topic Sentence This is very useful for the readers:
they can scan quickly through a large text and find what they are looking for by looking at the topic sentences;
they don't have to read the entire paragraph to know what it is about.
The topic sentence also gets the reader's mind focused on what is to follow in the rest of the paragraph.
The topic sentence is usually very general, and does not usually contain specific information about the topic. We save the specifics for the body.

22. Generalizations Topic sentences are very general.
They do not contain information that is too specific.

23. Generalizations: From the book

24. Generalizations vs. specific details
The topic sentence must not contain specific details about the topic:
These are not good topic sentences, but they might be excellent body sentences:
“Dutch men are the tallest on the planet, with an average height of182.5cm (5'11").”
“A 12-ounce can of regular Coke contains 39 grams of total sugar, which is about 9 1/3 teaspoons of sugar.”

25. Generalizations vs. specific details
Good topic sentences might look like this:
“Dutch men and Latvian women are the tallest on the planet, a new study has discovered.”
“If you’re struggling to lose weight or if you see that number on the scale gradually going up, it may stem from those empty calories you’re getting from your favorite bubbly beverage.”

26. The Controlling Idea

27. The Controlling Idea Topic Sentence = Topic + Controlling Idea
The controlling idea controls the details in the paragraph.
It lets the reader know what you want to say about your topic.
It is your …
Opinion
Feelings
Attitude
Evaluation
Main impression
Etc
… of the topic

28. Controlling idea I went to Paris last summer.
Thousands and thousands of people went to Paris last summer!
Why do you want to tell me about your trip?

29. Controlling idea So what?! I live in the dormitory.
Thousands and thousands of students live in the dormitory.
What is interesting about your room/experience?
So what?!

30. What do you want to say about Cheongju?
The controlling Idea
The sentence
Cheongju is a city in South Korea.
does not contain a controlling idea.
What do you want to say about Cheongju?

31. The Controlling Idea Any of these would be better:
Cheongju is a beautiful city in South Korea.
Cheongju is a very friendly city.
Cheongju is the most conveniently located city in South Korea.
Etc.

32. Examples Some more examples:
Parents often try to make life difficult for their children.
Some salespeople lie to make more money on a sale.
Homework can be very easy.
Parts of The United States are colder than Europe.
Many women want to have large families.
Men are sometimes afraid of commitment.
The best way to make new friends is to just start talking to people.
Adapted from:

33. Examples: It’s easy to learn more about topic sentences:
Topic sentence examples

34. The Body of the Paragraph

35. The Body
The body of the paragraph holds the information – the supporting details – that the writer has collected (through research, brainstorming, cluster diagrams, free- writing, etc.)
Details are presented to the reader in a natural, logical order.
Remember: English and Korean compositions are organized very differently.
If you write your paragraph in your native language and then just translate the sentences into English, it will almost certainly be organized incorrectly!
Native English speakers expect paragraphs to be organized in certain ways, and, as we have seen, these ways are usually quite different from what we find in writing in Korea (and other cultures, of course).

36. The Body Common Logical Orders Chronological (Time) order
Spatial (location) order
Emphatic (emphasis) order

37. Cohesion

38. The Body
Cohesion:
In addition to being presented in a Logical/natural order, the details in a paragraph come together to form a series of sentences, which means that they are connected, joined together in some way, like a chain.

39. The Body: A simple example of cohesion
All As are Ds
All As are Bs
All Bs are Cs
All Cs are Ds
Therefore, all As are Ds

40. The Body
A paragraph is not merely a list of sentences put one after another like beads on a string.

41. The Known-new Contract

42. Introduction
One way to think about cohesion is to think about the pieces of information in the sentences.
Most sentences have at least two pieces of information.

43. Introduction
One of these pieces of information is already known to the reader, and the other piece is new.
A common, and very natural, way to make paragraphs cohesive is to use a sentence structure that uses known information first and introduces new information second.

44. Known-new contract Sentence 1 Sentence 2 Sentence 3 Sentence 4

45. Example: Which sentence should come next?
This morning I woke up at 7:00. After I woke up, I took a shower.
a) I made coffee.
b) I got out of the shower.
c) When I got out of the shower, I made coffee.
Sentence a) has no known information at all.
The reader cannot connect the new information to the previous sentence in any way.
Sentence b) contains no new information.
This sentence is, essentially, redundant and serves no real purpose in the series.
Sentence c) follows the known-new structure.
It takes the new detail from the second sentence and repeats it, making it the known detail in sentence 3:

46. Example: Sentence 1 Sentence 2 Sentence 3
This morning I woke up at 7:00.
After I woke up, I took a shower.
When I got out of the shower, I made coffee.

47. Note: We don’t always have to follow this structure;
This is just one way to look at the issue of cohesion,
It is usually impossible or confusing to follow this structure in all of your sentences.
Think of the ‘known-new’ structure as a very helpful guideline, rather than a strict rule that you must follow.

48. Put these sentences in the correct order to make a strong paragraph:
All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price.
Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed.
As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.
First, Canada has an excellent health care system.
Second, Canada has a high standard of education.
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world.
Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university.
Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live.

49. Answer:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world.
First, Canada has an excellent health care system.
All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price.
Second, Canada has a high standard of education.
Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university.
Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed.
Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live.
As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

50. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

51. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

52. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

53. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

54. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

55. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

56. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

57. Answer and explanation:
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

58. The Known-new contract
We can think of the ‘new’ information as:
A Clarification (making the detail clearer)
An Explanation (tell the reader what you mean exactly)
A more specific detail
Canada has a high standard of education.
The phrase “high standard” is very general.
The reader won’t know exactly what you mean.
So you have to tell them what you (the writer) mean by “high standard”.

59. See the book for three easy ways to use the known-new contract.

60. Transitional Markers

61. Transitional Markers We can’t always use the known-new contract.
Sometimes, even if we are using it, we need a little help from another method of maintaining cohesion.

62. Transitional Markers
Another very common way to maintain cohesion is through the use of specific words that help the reader to understand the logical/semantic connections between sentences.
These words and phrases are called Transitional Markers (sometimes called signal words, or clause connectors).
Notice the highlighted words in the paragraph:

63. Signal Words/Transitional Markers/Discourse Markers
There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

64. Signal Words / Transitional Markers
Signal words organize the discourse
They tell the reader (they signal) how the paragraph is changing, progressing, developing
They tell the reader how that change is happening
But notice, even though we progress from detail to detail, there is a common (known) piece of information that ties the whole paragraph together:

65. Transitional Markers
A transition is a change, or shift, a state of moving from one situation/detail to another.
A marker is a sign/signal.
Transitional Markers, then, are words that tell the reader how the ideas in the sentences connect logically.
The reader must be told, as simply and precisely as possible, how the two sentences connect and why they belong together.

66. Transitional Markers
For example, in the paragraph about “having lunch with a friend,” we saw the sentence:
“As soon as I got to the restaurant, I found my friend Susan, who was waiting patiently at a table.”
The transitional marker “as soon as,” tells the reader exactly how the ideas around it are related, and in this case, exactly when the event happened.

67. Transitional Markers Time Relationships Before As soon as After Since
During
While Earlier
Later
Immediately
As soon as
Since
When
Finally
First
Next
Then
Etc.

68. Transitional Markers Contrasting Ideas But However Nevertheless
On the other hand
On the contrary
In contrast
Although
Etc.

69. Transitional Markers Additional Information And, Also Besides
First/Second/Third/Etc
Furthermore
In addition
Moreover
Equally important
Etc.

70. Transitional Markers Comparison Similarly Likewise Also
In the same way
Like
..., too
Etc.

71. Transitional Markers pp 44~46
Cause and Effect So
Consequently
Therefore
Thus
Hence
Accordingly
Etc.

72. Transitional Markers Concession/Compromise After all Even though
At the same time
Naturally
Admittedly
Etc.

73. Transitional Markers Conclusions Therefore Finally In conclusion
As a result
Consequently
Finally
In summary
Hence

74. Coherence (see the book for explanation and exercises)
Conclusion sentence (see the book)

75. Summary: Comparison Read the following two paragraphs (see p. 57)
Which one is better?

76. Comparison: Paragraph One
I met my friend Susan for a quick lunch today. We usually meet at the same restaurant every day at 12:00, but I was a bit late today because I had an exam. When I got to the restaurant, I saw Susan waiting patiently at a table, and I rushed over to sit down with her. We were both very hungry so we called the waiter to our table right away. Susan ordered dumpling soup, and I had two rolls of kimbap. As soon as we finished eating, we walked back to school.

77. Comparison: Paragraph One
I had kimbap for lunch today. I usually meet my friend at the same restaurant every day at 12:00, but today I had an exam, so I was a bit late. As soon as I got to the restaurant, I ordered two rolls of kimbap. Kimbap is a Korean snack made of vegetables and rice rolled up in inside a piece of dried seaweed. My mother makes delicious Kimbap. Kimbap is my favourite food.

78. Visualization:
If we look at some of the connections between the pieces of information, we might be able to see which is the stronger paragraph.

79. Paragraph One:

81. Side by side