PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

LECTURE TWO
 WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH?

• “A subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or

more sentences, deals with one point or provides the words of one
speaker.”
(Merriam Webster Dictionary)
• “A group of sentences that focuses on one main point or example”
(Hacker & Sommers, 2017)
• Hacker & Sommers excludes special purpose paragraphs e.g.:
Introductions, and Conclusions.
• A paragraph generally elaborates and supports an essay’s main
point.
• A paragraph should be “well developed, organized, coherent,
and neither too long nor too short for easy reading.” (p. 42).
 PARAGRAPH’S MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

1. Sticks to one point

• A paragraph should be unified and revolves around one Central Point.
• It discusses only a single topic which should not be unclear to readers,
and all the following sentences in the paragraph should relate to it.
• Sentences that do not relate to the topic sentence disrupt the unity of a
paragraph.
2. Putting the main point into a Topic Sentence
• As readers read along a paragraph, they need to know where they
are in relation to the whole essay and what to aspire in the coming
sentences.
• An accurate topic sentence, usually one-sentence, summarizes the
paragraph’s main idea or topic, “it acts as a signpost pointing in
two directions: backward toward the thesis of the essay and forward
toward the body of the paragraph.”
PARAGRAPHS = HAMBURGER

Topic Sentence

Supporting Details

Concluding Sentence
3. Coherence
• Paragraphs have to be coherent. That is there must be a logical
and smooth order of ideas .This is why in academic writing we
notice the use of transitional expressions between the ideas in
paragraphs.
• Transitions act like a thread joining the paragraphs together, in
cases where a paragraph shares a similar idea to a previous
paragraph are used, for example: also, therefore, likewise, in the
same way, similarly...
• However, to indicate differing ideas to the next paragraph
different transitions are usually employed, for example:
although, in contrast, however, nevertheless, regardless…

• By indicating the relationship with a transitional expression, a

reader can more easily understand the flow of ideas along the
paragraphs.
4. A paragraph should be Well-Developed
UNDERDEVELOPED PARAGRAPH:
• When you think about it, it’s impossible to lose — as many
diets suggest — 10 pounds of fat in ten days, even on a total
fast. Even a moderately active person cannot lose so much
weight so fast. A less active person hasn’t a prayer.
WELL-DEVELOPED PARAGRAPH:
• When you think about it, it’s impossible to lose — as many . . diets suggest
— 10 pounds of fat in ten days, even on a total fast. A pound of body fat
represents 3,500 calories. To lose 1 pound of fat, you must expend 3,500
more calories than you consume. Let’s say you weigh 170 pounds and, as a
moderately active person, you burn 2,500 calories a day. If your diet
contains only 1,500 calories, you’d have an energy deficit of 1,000 calories
a day. In a week’s time that would add up to a 7,000-calorie deficit, or 2
pounds of real fat. In ten days, the accumulated deficit would represent
nearly 3 pounds of lost body fat. Even if you ate nothing at all for ten days
and maintained your usual level of activity, your caloric.
 THE PURPOSE OF A PARAGRAPH

Paragraphs should show a purposeful pattern of development.

Effective patterns include:
 Narration: recounts a story from beginning to end.
 Description: proffering a detailed description using a variety of
sensory details.
 Explanation: to sketch an idea, event, object, etc. and explain
its prominence.
 Evaluation: examine the merit of an idea, action, device, etc.
 Comparison and contrast.
 Cause and effect analysis.
 Process description: present the steps in a process
 REFERENCE

Hacker, D. & Sommers, N. (2017). A Writer’s Reference. (9th ed.).