Introduction to Paragraphs
Goals: Understanding the parts of a
paragraph and how to write them well
What is a paragraph?
 A collection of sentences that describe, discuss, or
explain one central idea.
 1 topic sentence
 Supporting sentences that are
about the topic
 1 concluding sentence
Essays
Paragraphs
Sentences
Words
Let’s look a bit closer.
Topic Sentence, Part 1
•Two parts: main subject (topic) and controlling idea
Topic Sentence, Part 2
•the most important sentence
•usually the 1st sentence (in this class, your topic
sentence will always be the first sentence)
•what the whole paragraph is about – every
sentence in the paragraph is about the same topic as
the topic sentence!
Example:
Serita likes to spend her free time outdoors.
What’s the topic? (Serita)
 What will the paragraph tell us about this topic? (how
she likes to spend her free time)

Supporting Sentences
•details, examples and reasons to explain the topic
• All supporting sentences must be about the topic in the
topic sentence.
Example:
Her favorite outdoor activity is
gardening, and she loves to
plant new kinds of flowers in
her garden every year. She also
enjoys taking long walks in the
park. On sunny days, Serita
goes to the beach with her
friends.
Concluding Sentence
•Says the topic again, just in a different way
•Ways to start concluding sentences:
• All in all,
• As you can see,
• In conclusion,
• Finally,
• In sum,
• NOTE: Be sure you understand what each of these means before
you use it!
Example:
As you can see, Serita loves
being outside in her free time.
Full example…
Serita likes to spend her free time outdoors. Her
favorite outdoor activity is gardening, and she loves to
plant new kinds of flowers in her garden every year.
She also enjoys taking long walks in the park. On
sunny days, Serita goes to the beach with her friends.
As you can see, Serita loves being outside in her free
time.
Remember these things!
Topic Sentence Strategy
Guides (controls) the entire paragraph
Not a fact
Must be specific
(But not too specific or it’ll be a fact!)
Must have a controlling idea
Supporting Sentence Strategy
 Ask yourself Wh- questions about the topic to try to
think of supporting sentences.
 Choose the three best support
ideas/reasons/examples for your topic sentence.
 Write at least two sentences for each support idea
(name it, then explain it).
Concluding Sentence Strategy
Finally, conclude the paragraph and let readers know it
is finished.
You can do this in a few ways:
echo (restate) topic sentence
give opinion about topic
give a suggestion about topic
make a prediction about topic
Review this PPT when you need to write a good paragraph. You will remember
something new every time.
Good luck writing your paragraphs!