THE PROCESS OF

WRITING PARAGRAPHS
 DEFINING AND LOOKING AT THE
PARAGRAPH
◦ A paragraph is a group of related sentences that develop one main idea.
◦ It´s often from 5-12 sentences long, but this length can vary.
◦ When a paragraph is together with other paragraphs, it becomes an essay or an article.
◦ A paragraph has to be indented. The first word of every paragraph should be indented one inch
(three to five spaces in the computer)
◦ Keep one inch margins for the top, bottom and sides of the page
PARAGRAPH SAMPLE. DO
INDENT!

Esta foto de Autor desconocido está bajo licencia CC BY-SA

TOPIC SENTENCE AND BODY
◦ A topic sentence states a main idea in a paragraph. It is usually the first sentence, but it can appear even
at the end of the paragraph.
◦ It is more general than the other sentences in the paragraph.
◦ Some paragraphs can even have an implied topic sentence.
◦ What is the topic sentence in the following paragraph?
The tragic hero is typically on top of the wheel of fortune, half-way between human society on the
ground and the something greater in the sky. Prometheus, Adam, and Christ hang between heaven and
earth, between a world of paradisal freedom and a world of bondage. Tragic heroes are so much the highest
points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great
trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments
as well as victims of the divine lightning: Milton’s Samson destroys the Philistine temple with himself, and
Hamlet nearly exterminates the Danish court in his own fall.
BODY SENTENCES
◦ The rest of the sentences in the paragraph are the body or supporting sentences.
◦ They are generally the ones that explain the topic sentence.
◦ Body sentences can be examples, reasons, facts, illustrations, etc.
◦ All the sentences in the body sentences must support the main idea of the topic sentence. Notice how the
topic sentence below is supported by the body sentences.
◦ From Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech:
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the
magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory
note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well
as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are
concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a
check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."