“An Introduction to EAP –

Academic Skills in English”

Lesson 3

Writing: Paragraph
Structure
Writing in paragraphs

 Academic writing is divided into

paragraphs. If your writing is one
continuous piece of text, it will be very
difficult for any reader to follow your
argument. Therefore your written work
needs paragraphs.
What is a paragraph?

 A group of related sentences usually dealing with

one main idea or topic.
 The topic of one paragraph should follow logically
from the topic of the last paragraph and should
lead on to the topic of the next paragraph.
 The paragraphs have different functions, but all
develop an idea - that is, they add information,
explanation, examples and illustrations to the
central theme or idea until the theme is fully
developed.
The parts of a paragraph

 Three Parts:
- Topic Sentence
- Supporting Sentences
- Concluding Sentence
The Topic Sentence

 It states the main idea or topic of the sentence.

 It limits the topic to one specific area: this part
of the sentence is called the controlling idea.
 It is a complete sentence with a subject, a verb
and a controlling idea.
 It is neither too general nor too specific.
 It is generally the first sentence in the
paragraph.
The Topic Sentence: examples
The Topic Sentence:
Not Too General/Not Too Specific
The Two Parts of a Topic Sentence
Writing Topic Sentences
Supporting Sentences

 They support the topic sentence: they

explain or give proof of the idea contained in
the topic sentence providing specific details
and facts.
 There are different types of supporting
details: examples, statistics and quotations.
The Concluding Sentence

 It marks the end of the paragraph.

 It often sums up the main points made in the
paragraph or repeats the topic sentence
using different words (paraphrasing).
 It generally uses end of paragraph signals.
 A concluding sentence is not necessary in
every paragraph in a multiparagraph text.