Paragraphs
What do we need to know?
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Identify the purpose for writing (i.e., to inform, to describe, to explain, to
persuade).
Identify the audience for which a text is written.
Select an appropriate thesis statement for a writing sample.
Rearrange multi-paragraphed work in a logical and coherent order.
Select illustrations, descriptions, and/or facts to support key ideas.
Choose the supporting sentence that best fits the context flow of ideas in a
paragraph.
Identify sentences irrelevant to a paragraph’s theme or flow.
Select appropriate time-order or transitional words/phrases to enhance the
flow of a writing sample.
Select an appropriate concluding sentence for a well-developed paragraph.
Select an appropriate title that reflects the topic of a written selection.
Complete a graphic organizer (e.g., clustering, listing, mapping, webbing)
with information from notes for a writing selection.
Select the most appropriate format for writing a specific work-related text
(i.e., instructions, directions, letters, memos, e-mails, reports).
What is a paragraph?
 A paragraph is a group of related sentences
 Is usually a piece of a longer piece of writing
 For example, in a paper about a visit to a wildlife park, one
paragraph might focus on the apes and monkeys. Other
paragraphs in the paper could each focus on another type of
animal. In this way, the paragraphs would give readers a
clear idea of what they might experience at the wildlife park.
Why use paragraphs?
 Provides a map for the reader
 Guides the reader through a piece of writing by showing
where one idea ends and the next begins
 Makes it easier for the reader to understand the main point of
a piece of writing
Parts of a paragraph
 Main idea
 A topic sentence
 Supporting sentences
 Concluding sentence
The main idea and topic sentence
 The sentences in a paragraph usually point to a single main
idea
 The main idea is the main point, or central message
 Sometimes the author states the main idea in a topic sentence
Example: What is the topic (or thesis)
sentence?
 He thought he had failed in his life’s work. Others agreed
with him. He died poor and bitterly disliked. To us today,
this rejection seems strange. He had helped to free five
South American countries from Spanish rule. He had won
major victories on the battlefield. He was anything but a
failure. Over time, people began to accept the truth.
Monuments were built to honor him. People started to
celebrate his birthday. Today Simon Bolivar is regarded as
one of Latin America’s greatest heroes.
Example: What is the main idea?
 Unlike domestic cattle today, the wild buffalo on the plains
were very hardy animals. They lived and thrived when other
animals, especially cattle, might have died. When winter
blizzards hit the plains and prairies, the buffalo did not drift
with the storm like cattle. Instead, they faced into the storm,
either standing still waiting for the storm to pass or slowly
heading into it. In this way the storm passed faster for the
buffalo than it did for cattle, who would drift with the storm
and frequently die from the elements.
Supporting Sentences
 Have details that support, explain, or prove the main idea.
Supporting sentences may be facts, examples, or other kinds
of details such as sensory details
 Facts are statements that can be tested and proven true
 Examples are specific instances of an idea
 Sensory details are details that you see, hear, taste, touch, or
smell. They make descriptions come alive for the reader.
Example: Which sentences are the
supporting sentences?
 Your bones resist breaks in two ways. Not only are they as
strong as steel, but they also have the ability to stretch like a
rubber band. Bone is made of hard mineral crystals. These
crystals give bone enough strength to withstand thousands of
pounds of weight without breaking. Also in bone is a stretchy
material, called fiber, which prevents bone from easily
snapping when bent.
Concluding sentence
 Gives the paragraph a strong finish
 Sometimes called a clincher sentence
 Ties together the information in your supporting sentences
and reminds your readers of the importance of your main
idea
 Ties the whole paragraph together
 Makes the main idea stick in the reader’s mind
Example: Which is the concluding
sentence? Is it effective?
 The shark’s survival, which goes back 400 million years, is
threatened by only one serious predator---humans.
Commercial and sport fishers take more than one million
sharks a year from the Gulf of Mexico alone. Each year
fewer than seventy-five shark attacks on people are reported,
most of which are not deadly. Clearly, we are much more
dangerous to sharks than they are to us.
What Makes a Good Paragraph?
 Coherence – details are arranged and connected in a way
that makes sense to the reader
 Organized ideas – ideas arranged in a sensible way
spatial order (location), chronological order (time)
 Transitional words – connectors that tie one idea or
another
 Elaboration – explains or illustrates
Types of Paragraphs
 Narrative – used to tell a story or recount an event
 Descriptive – used to describe a person, animal, scene, or
object
 Expository – used to provide information, including facts,
instructions, and definitions
 Persuasive – used to share opinions and convince others to
agree with hose opinions and sometimes take action
Purpose for Writing
 The type of paragraph you write depends on your purpose
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for writing
To entertain
To inform
To persuade
To share feelings
Narrative Paragraphs
 Tell a story or describe an event or sequence of events
 Details usually arranged in chronological order
 Short stories
 Newspaper articles
 History books
 Writer recounts events from beginning to end
Narrative Paragraph - example
 Joseph J. Gebhardt started reading for the blind around 1967.
For years he had been playing guitar with a local band and
had bought a reel-to-reel recorder with the idea of
immortalizing them. One night he heard an ad seeking
readers for the blind and decided he’d had enough of being
drowned out by trombones. For a while he read Science
magazine, but later he concentrated on Smithsonian, which
he’s been reading ever since.
Descriptive Paragraphs
 Create a mental picture of a person, animal, scene, or object
by describing the details
Descriptive paragraphs - example
 Atop the monument will be a bald eagle with its thirty-foot
wings outstretched, as if ready to take flight. At the base of
the monuments will be a nine-foot-tall, black granite
monolith dedicated to all volunteers who have died during a
volunteer activity. Extending outward from the monument
will be The Walls of Tribute. These walls, along with other
Walls of Tribute located throughout the complex, will
contain the names of volunteers who have given one
thousand hours or five years of volunteer service.
Expository paragraphs
 Used to explain subjects or ideas
 Can list facts or explain a process
 Some follow a cause and effect pattern
Expository paragraph - example
 In 2004, approximately 158,000 volunteers picked up nearly
four million pounds of garbage along the coasts of the United
States. As a result, both people and sea animals can enjoy
cleaner and safer environments. Glass bottles, lumber, and
syringes are less of a threat to barefooted beachgoers. Fewer
seabirds, fish, and crabs will die entangled in plastic can
holders, fishing nets, and fishing line. People put trash in the
oceans, but by volunteering their time to help clean up after
themselves, people are also the solution to the problem.
Persuasive paragraphs
 Express an opinion about an issue
 an issue is a topic about which people might disagree
 a writer uses supporting details, or reasons, in a persuasive
paragraph to convince readers to agree with his or her
opinion
 Sometimes a writer encourages people to take action on a
certain issue
Persuasive paragraph - example
 Your community is really one of your best friends. It’s only
natural that you give something back as a way to say thanks.
That could include raising money for a local charity,
volunteering to clean up your neighborhood, visiting nursing
home residents on a regular basis, or collecting food for a
local shelter. The possibilities are endless and whatever you
do, your community will be grateful.