FINE TUNING YOUR

PARAGRAPH
From Chapter 4 of Foundations First
WRITING UNIFIED PARAGRAPHS

– Definition of a unified paragraph: when all of

its sentences support the main idea stated in
the topic sentence.

– Stays on topic, and the details seem to relate to

the main idea.

– Paragraphs that are not unified wander from

the main idea.
WRITING UNIFIED PARAGRAPHS

• LET’S LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF A

PARAGRAPH THAT IS NOT UNIFIED
ON PAGE 72

– Why is this paragraph not unified?

WRITING UNIFIED PARAGRAPHS

• LET’S LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF A

UNIFIED PARAGRAPH ON PAGE 72

– What makes this paragraph unified?

 GROUP ACTIVITY!!!

• GET IN GROUPS OF 4-5 PEOPLE

• COMPLETE EXERCISE 4.6 (PAGE 77)

• MAKE SURE ONE PERSON WRITES

YOUR PARAGRAPH DOWN!
WRITING WELL-DEVELOPED
PARAGRAPHS

– Definition of a well-developed
paragraph: when it includes the details
and examples needed to support the
topic sentence.

– You need to answer the questions:

• What do you mean?
• What support do you have for this
statement?
 WRITING WELL-DEVELOPED
PARAGRAPHS

• LET’S LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF NOT

WELL-DEVELOPED ON PAGE 78-79

– Why is this paragraph not well-developed?

 WRITING WELL-DEVELOPED
PARAGRAPHS

• LET’S LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE OF

WELL-DEVELOPED ON PAGE 79

– What makes this paragraph well-developed?

WRITING COHERENT PARAGRAPHS

• Definition of a coherent paragraph: when all its

sentences are arranged in a definite order.
WRITING COHERENT PARAGRAPHS

Time order: the order in which they occurred.

• LET’S READ EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK: PAGE

81

• TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES THAT

SIGNAL TIME ORDER: LOOK AT BOX ON PAGE
82

• LOOK AT 4.10 ON PAGE 82

WRITING COHERENT PARAGRAPHS

Spatial order: presenting details in relation to one

another—from top to bottom, left to right, far to
near, and so on.
• This is used most often in paragraphs that describe
something.

• LET’S READ EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK: PAGE 84

• TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES THAT
SIGNAL TIME ORDER: LOOK AT BOX ON PAGE 84
• LOOK AT 4.13 ON PAGE 85
• LOOK AT 4.14 ON PAGE 85
 WRITING COHERENT PARAGRAPHS

Logical order: this is used to indicate why one idea

logically follows another.
• For example, a paragraph may mover from general to
specific or specific to general.
• Or most important idea to least important idea.

• LET’S READ EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK: PAGE 87

• TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES THAT SIGNAL
LOGICAL ORDER: PAGE 87
• LOOK AT 4.16 ON PAGE 87