The Paragraph Writing Strategy
Parts of a BODY Paragraph
Topic Sentence
Detail Sentences
Clincher
3 Types of Topic Sentences
GENERAL
CLUEING
SPECIFIC
ALL THREE
STATE THE
MAIN IDEA
The Job of a TOPIC SENTENCE
States the Main Idea
of the paragraph
and
Gets the reader’s
attention
Cue Card #3
What does a Topic Sentence Do?
Have you ever watched the two
minute coming attractions of a movie?
Why do they show it?
How do they hope you will feel?
What do they hope you will do?
Why don’t they just show all of the
movie?
How is a Topic Sentence like the coming attractions?
General Topic Sentences
Describe the
foreshadowing in
“Charles” by
Shirley Jackson.
The literary element of foreshadowing plays an
important role in “Charles” by Shirley Jackson.
STATES THE MAIN IDEA
More General Topic Sentences
 Lynbrook Middle School is a Long Island
public school with state of the art technology.
 Sachem teams have a difficult time winning
their games, but Lynbrook teams do not.
A CLUEING Topic Sentence
States the Main Idea
and
Gives a clue.
Clue Words
Many
Several
A number of
Number (“Three”)
Kinds
Types
Parts
Elements
Pieces
Members
Divisions
Components
Different
Similar
Different
Various
Classes
Categories
Groups
Steps
Stages
Ways
Roles
Features
Examples
Characteristics
Functions
Assortment
Multitude
Differences
Similarities
Advantages
Disadvantages
Jobs
Uses
Causes
Effects
Reasons
Sources
Products
Variety
Clueing Topic Sentences
There are several examples of the
literary element of foreshadowing
which plays an important role in
“Charles” by Shirley Jackson.
STATES THE MAIN IDEA
&
GIVES A CLUE
More CLUEING Topic Sentences
 Lynbrook Middle School is a Long Island
public school with many examples of state of
the art technology.
 Sachem teams have a difficult time winning
their games, but Lynbrook teams, for several
reasons, do not.
A SPECIFIC Topic Sentence
States the Main Idea
and
Gives specific Details
Specific Topic Sentences
The literary element of foreshadowing,
illustrated through Laurie’s behavior at
home, his transparent lies, and his
obvious enjoyment in telling stories
about Charles, plays an important role
in “Charles” by Shirley Jackson.
STATES THE MAIN IDEA
&
GIVES SPECIFIC DETAILS
More SPECIFIC Topic Sentences
 Lynbrook Middle School is a Long Island public
school with state of the art technology in
computers, Starboards, and wireless Internet.
 Sachem teams have a difficult time winning
their games, but Lynbrook teams, because of
their unstoppable, talented athletes and
talented coaches, do not.
STATES THE MAIN IDEA
&
GIVES SPECIFIC DETAILS
Parts of a BODY Paragraph
Topic Sentence
Detail Sentences
Clincher
Detail Sentence
Discusses one of the details in
the paragraph…
Gives an answer
with supporting details.
2 Types of Detail Sentences
Lead-off
Follow-up
Cue Card #23
Lead-off Sentence
Introduces a new detail
(an answer)
• Follows a logical sequence
• Contains a transition
•
The Lead-Off
T
S
The literary element of foreshadowing, illustrated
through Laurie’s behavior at home, his transparent
lies, and his obvious enjoyment in telling stories
about Charles, plays an important role in
“Charles” by Shirley Jackson.
In particular, at home Laurie is
extremely rude to his parents and sister.
Detail Sentence Sequences
• Size Sequence
• Time Sequence
• Space Sequence
• Importance Sequence
• Chain-Link Sequence
Details
need to be
logically
SEQUENCED
and using
TRANSITIONS
Transitions Chart
Size Transitions
The largest
The next largest
The smallest
Larger than
Equal to
Smaller than
The smallest
The next smallest
The largest
The small-sized
The medium-sized
The large-sized
The tallest
The shortest
At the beginning of
In the middle of
At the end of
Meanwhile
Before
In the meantime
During
After
Afterwards
By this time
At the same time,
At that instant,
Soon thereafter,
Simultaneously,
Thereafter,
Presently
After a short time
Immediately,
First,
Second,
Third,
Finally,
In the morning,
Before noon,
In the afternoon,
In the evening,
Yesterday,
Today,
Tomorrow,
The day after tomorrow,
In the past,
In the present,
In the future,
The next day,This year,
Two weeks later,
Six months later,
Time Transitions
First,
Then,
Next,
At last,
Now
Soon
Then
Later
The first
A more recent
The most recent
The earliest
Next year,
In the next few years,
The next earliest
The most recent
Cue Card #30
Transitions Chart (cont.)
Space Transitions
Behind
On the edge of
Beside
In front
West of
High
Over
Toward
Around
Facing
East of
Against
Under
Throughout
Near
back of
North of
Alongside
Below
To the right of
Side by side
In the center
South of
Ahead of
Beneath
To the left of
Close to
Inside
At the
Here
Low down
On top of
Next to
Outside
In
There
On the bottom
At the top
Down
At the end of
On
Beyond
On the corner
By
Up
Between
Above
Farther on
Importance Transitions
The best
The most important
The first
The best
The next best
Equally important
More important than
The next best
The least best
The next most important
Most important
The worst
The least important
Cue Card #30
Transitions Chart (cont.)
Chain-Link Transitions
On the one hand,
On the other hand,
Again,
Besides,
Moreover,
The opposite of _ is_
On the contrary side
To the contrary,
In contrast,
In spite of
Despite the
One example of
For instance,
Another example,
A further example,
For example,
For another example,
Still another
In addition,
In the same way,
In fact,
Additionally,
Lastly,
Similar to _ is_
Another similar _ is_
Likewise,
Similarly,
A dissimilar _ is_
In the first place,
In the second place,
In the third place,
In other words
In fact,
Also,
The first
The second
The third
One
Another
A further
Further,
Furthermore,
Because
Since
As
Still,
While
Instead
First,
Second,
third,
Specifically,
More specifically,
In particular,
The last
Last
Indeed,
Although
Even though
Even if
As a result,
Consequently,
Naturally,
After all,
Nevertheless,
Nonetheless,
Concluding Transitions
To conclude,
In conclusion,
In summary,
To sum up,
In sum,
To summarize,
In brief,
Thus,
In short,
As you can see,
As a result,
Finally,
Therefore,
Cue Card #30
The Lead-Off
The literary element of foreshadowing, illustrated
through Laurie’s behavior at home, his transparent
lies, and his obvious enjoyment in telling stories
about Charles, plays an important role in
“Charles” by Shirley Jackson.
In particular, at home Laurie is
extremely rude to his parents and sister.
Follow-Up
Provides more
information
about the detail.
The literary element of foreshadowing,
illustrated through Laurie’s behavior at home, his
transparent lies, and his obvious enjoyment in
telling stories about Charles, plays an important
role in “Charles” by Shirley Jackson. In particular,
Laurie is extremely rude to his parents and sister.
F
After arriving home from his very first day of
school, he slams the door and shouts. He
continues being rude by calling his father “you
old dust mop,” and purposely spilling his
sister’s milk.
The Paragraph Express
Topic Sentence
L F F
L F
L
F
Cue Card #26
Which Point of View?
1
Pick it
and
stick
to
it.
3
2
Pronouns Referring to…
• First person – The writer
__________________ I, We
• Second person – The reader
________________________
You, (You)
• Third person- The others
________________________
He, She, They,
Things
Tenses
Pick
Pick itit
and
and
Stick
stick
To
to
it
it.
Cue Card #38
Tense Chart
Tense
Past
Verb
painted
was painting
had painted
Present
is painting
paints
Future
will paint
shall paint
Cue Card #38
Detail Sentence’s 5 Requirements
1. Must contain related Information
2. Must be in a logical sequence
3. Must include a transition when it introduces
a new detail
4. Must be written from the same (and
appropriate) point of view
5. Must be written in the same (and
appropriate ) verb tense
PLAN IT.
358
BODY
University of Kansas Center for Research on
Learning 2006
Multi-Paragraphs
Parts of a BODY Paragraph
Topic Sentence
Detail Sentences
Clincher
Types of Clincher
Sentences
General Clincher Sentence
Clueing Clincher Sentence
Specific Clincher Sentence
Cue Card #47
Concluding Transitions
Words that tell the reader
that the paragraph is finished.
Thus,
Therefore
Finally,
As a result,
General Clincher Sentence
Summarizes the main idea
of the paragraph.
•
• Makes the reader think more
about the topic
Cue Card #48
GENERAL CLINCHER SENTENCE
Makes your reader dive into deeper thinking on
the topic.
Therefore, isn’t it obvious to Laurie’s parents
that something is just not right, and do they
refuse to see the obvious?
CLUEING CLINCHER
Ties everything up neatly with a clueing word
In other words, there is a variety of hints in the
story which leads the reader to believe that
Laurie is really “Charles.”
SPECIFIC CLINCHER SENTENCE
Like a Quarterback, repeat the count on which the ball
will be snapped.
Thus, Laurie’s raucous behavior at home,
transparent lies, and glee in telling stories about
Charles foreshadows that Laurie is “Charles. “
Whole Paragraphs
SEQUENTIAL- describing details in a
story (a Narrative) or step-by-step
manner
DESCRIPTIVE
EXPOSITORY- Giving facts, reasons, or
examples
COMPARE and CONTRAST
Steps for Writing a Paragraph
Set up a diagram
Create the title
Reveal the topic
Iron out the details
Bind it together with a clincher
Edit your work