Paragraph writing

A paragraph is a group of sentences dealing with a similar idea. As soon as you

move on to a new set of ideas, you move on to a new paragraph. When you create
an essay outline, you will probably list ideas that need to be included in your essay.
If you’re thinking clearly, each of these ideas would have a paragraph to itself.

Types of paragraphs

There are four types of paragraphs that you need to know about: descriptive,
narrative, expository, and persuasive.

The descriptive paragraph: This type of paragraph describes something and

shows the reader what a thing or a person is like. The words chosen in the
description often appeal to the five senses of touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste

The narrative paragraph: This type of paragraph tells a story. There’s a sequence
of action or there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end to the paragraph.

The expository paragraph: This type of paragraph explains something or

provides instruction. It could also describe a process and move the reader step by
step through a method. This type of paragraph often requires research, but it’s
possible that the writer is able to rely on his or her own knowledge and expertise.

The persuasive paragraph: This type of paragraph tries to get the reader to accept
a particular point of view or understand the writer’s position. This is the type of
paragraph that many teachers focus on because it’s useful when building an
argument. It often requires the collection of facts and research.

Crafting a Paragraph

In a way, you could see each paragraph as a mini-essay.

 You introduce the topic

 You provide the contributing information
 You draw a conclusion

But how do you know if you have crafted a good paragraph? It will have four
characteristics:
  Unity
 Order
 Coherence
 Completeness

You achieve these four characteristics through using the three parts of your
paragraph wisely and with forethought.

First Sentence

The first sentence in a paragraph is important, and it’s called the “topic sentence.”
It should represent the overall idea that governs the rest of the paragraph’s content.
It’s the same as your essay introduction leads into your essay. All the sentences
that follow will contribute to this topic sentence.

Contributing Sentences

Your contributing sentences must lead logically to the concluding one. This means
you need to present it in some kind of order. Will you choose chronological order,
order of importance, or relate each successive sentence to the other using logic?
That depends on what you are writing about, but your aim is to make your
paragraph easy to follow from point A to point B to point C. Finally, you want to
tie all your points together to underline the point you are trying to get across. Order
helps to convey the sense of what you are saying. If you confuse your reader, you
have not written a clever paragraph.

Order Should Bring Coherence

Have you ever listened to someone talking, and it sounds like they’re just babbling
and not making any sense? They are speaking incoherently. When a person speaks
coherently, each thought follows neatly from the previous one and it is easy to
understand what they are saying. Although it’s not a must, using transition
words helps to show how one thought relates to another. There are many such
words and phrases which include:

 Because
 In addition
  By contrast
 Next
 Afterward
 Accordingly
 No doubt
 Of course
 On the other hand
 Naturally
 Also
 After
 Before

Another important trick to remember is to keep all your sentences in the same verb
tense. It just makes it so much easier for your reader to follow your thoughts.

Your Concluding Sentence

Don’t leave your reader wondering “So… what?” at the end of your paragraph.
Pull your threads together into a concluding sentence. It should support your
introductory sentence while acknowledging what you have discussed in the
supporting sentences. This helps your reader to see how the supporting information
relates to the topic. You may think it is obvious, but your reader may not!

Examples:

A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE:

(1) As I was growing up in the 60’s, television was the only entertainment my
family knew of the electronic sort. (2) The 7 o’clock nightly news was such an
important part of our family that my dad knocked a wall down and built a huge
cabinet in its place just to accommodate our 19-inch black and white. (3) No one
was allowed to talk or make a sound when the television was on; all eyes were
glued to the moving and flickering image. The box commanded absolute
respect.(4) In the daytime, “the television needs its rest” my mother would say, as
she patted its pseudo-wooden top and covered it with a doilie she had made herself.
(5)There is no doubt that TV was as central to our lives as it was to the lives of all
our friends during that period.

AN EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE:

"When students have completed the assignment, they simply click the Mark As
Done button to let the teacher know they have finished. Note: The teacher does
NOT receive an alert or email notification when work has been turned in, or
marked as done. If a student is turning in late work, it is recommended that they
leave a private comment to notify the teacher of late work or special
circumstances."

A NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE:

Theo’s day began with a shock. As soon as he arrived at the office that morning, he
learned that his best friend was dead. Wasn’t it just twelve hours ago that they
were eating chicken wings and tipping back beer in front of a baseball game at the
Cooper’s Bar and Grill? After a long day of crunching numbers at the office, they
stopped at a bar for a Thursday afternoon happy hour. They saw a few coworkers
there, and before they knew it, it was closing time. Bill got in a car with someone
he met just that evening and that was the last time Theo saw him.

A PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE:

"If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of
those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but
with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of
those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud
families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose
reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we
carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to
imagine better."