GENERAL OVERVIEW
At its lowest definition, a paragraph is a group of sentences. However, to understand the composition of what goes into a paragraph, you must know that all sentences in a paragraph must RELATE to one another as they develop a central idea.
A paragraph will contain only 1 main idea. This main idea will be asserted in the very first sentence of the paragraph so that the audience knows the focus of that block of information. I have been teaching English for over 20 years, and though there is no specific 'rule' written in stone anywhere that identifies the required length of a paragraph, there are some agreed-to principles. Therefore, as a good rule of thumb, your paragraph should be five to twenty sentences long to be adequately developed. While you can create a paragraph as stand-alone writing, a paragraph typically appears with other paragraphs in a longer piece of writing—an essay, a letter, or an article, for example.
A paragraph looks like this on the page:
Clearly indent the first word of every paragraph about 1 inch (or one tab on the computer).
Extend every line of a paragraph as close to the right-hand margin as possible.
When typing, you will indent the first word of the paragraph and simply keep typing until you come to the end of a sentence and place your end punctuation. The computer system will wrap your content to the next and subsequent lines. Do not hit Enter when you get to what visibly looks like the right margin. Simply keep typing and let your words wrap from one line to the next.
When handwriting, you will write on one line until you reach the end of the line and then continue the rest of the sentence on the next line.
If the last word of the paragraph comes before the end of the line, however, leave the rest of the line blank.
TOPIC SENTENCE AND BODY
Definitions
- Main Idea: The central thought or point of a paragraph or larger work.
- Topic Sentence: A sentence in a given paragraph that states the main idea of that paragraph. The topic sentence will be the very first sentence of the paragraph so that the audience knows exactly what the focus will be for that paragraph.
- Body of the paragraph: The middle of a paragraph; it provides information that supports or expands on the topic sentence.
- Closing Sentence: The very last sentence of a paragraph; it provides a feeling of wrap-up and finalization. It reflects back to the topic sentence of the paragraph but works to wrap-up all of the main points addressed in the paragraph when possible.
For most business writing, college writing, and personal writing, paragraphs contain one main idea to which all the sentences relate. The topic sentence states this main idea. The body of the paragraph supports this main idea with specific details, facts, and examples. The closing sentence works with the topic sentence to act as bookends for the overall main idea.
When I was growing up, I always wanted a dog to be my forever friend. Since I was in a military family, we moved a lot. My parents knew that taking on the responsibility of an animal was a big commitment, and if we got stationed overseas it would be very hard to take one with us. However, when I was in 5th grade I finally got a four-legged, wire-haired mixed-breed dog to be responsible for. Even though Peanut was given to me by a family friend, my sisters loved her as much as I did, and they took care of her as well. When the time came for my family to move to our next duty station, tragedy struck! We had been assigned to Naples, Italy, and so my parents said Peanut could not come. In the end, Peanut went to live with my grandparents for three years. When we returned to the States, though, I was so happy to be reunited with my little friend. Peanut was my first dog, and she was one of my best friends until the day she died.
The first sentence of this paragraph is the topic sentence. It states in a general way the main idea of the paragraph: that the writer wanted a dog when she was a child. Although there is not a 'written rule' for where the topic sentence must go, there is an 'understood rule' that it will be located in the very first sentence of the paragraph. Be sure to adhere to this 'understood rule' so that your audience can easily find it and know your focus.
The rest of the paragraph, the body, fully explains this statement with details about why she had not had a dog until 5th grade, who gave her the dog, who helped take care of the dog, and what happened to the dog when the family had to move overseas.
Note that the final sentence provides a brief conclusion so that the paragraph feels finished. It relates back to the topic sentence by identifying the dog that became her pet and a forever friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment