Paragraph
Development
Introduction
• A paragraph is a group of sentences or a single
sentence that forms a unit.
• It is a group of related sentences which
express an idea.
• It may express an opinion, provide information
through the use of facts and details, tell a story
or simply describe a person, a place, an object
or a feeling.
Main Idea
• Before you begin to determine the
composition of your paragraphs, you must first
understand what the controlling idea is in your
specific piece of writing..
• What is the main point that you are trying to
convey to your reader?
• Choose information that will help to support
and perpetuate the central idea through out the
entire paper.
Generating Ideas
• Who is my targeted audience?
• What do I want to say?
• Why am I writing it?
• The whole process is an organic one.
Components of a Paragraph
• Topic Sentence: expresses main idea-may
appear at beginning, middle or end.
• Coherence: properly connected sentences-
move easily from one thought to another
• -take care of pronoun references
• -repetition of key words
• -Transitional tags like conjunctions: and, but,
however, moreover etc.
Components of a Paragraph
• Unity
• Adequate development
• Formulation of controlling idea
• Explanation of idea
• Example
• Completion of paragraph or transition into
next paragraph
• Length
Techniques for Paragraph
Development
• Illustration
• Comparison & Contrast
• Classification
• Problem & Solution
Conclusion
• Mark the paragraph divisions based on unity
• Put each idea into a separate paragraph
• Construct short paragraphs for memos, letters,
circulars and notices
• Do not have too much variation in length of
your paragraphs in a text.
T h a n k y o u…
