A paragraph is a group of sentences that develops one main
idea. The sentence that states that main idea we call the topic
sentence. The remaining sentences in the paragraph develop the
main idea by giving details.
Topic Sentence
______________|______________
| | |
| | |
------------ ------------- ------------
|A detail | |A detail | |A detail |
|supporting| |supporting | |supporting|
|the main | |the main | |the main |
|idea | |idea | |idea |
The topic sentence must limit and control what follows. If
it is too general, the paragraph might go off in many directions
at once.
Poor topic sentence (too general)
John F. Kennedy was a great individual.
Better topic sentence (limits and controls)
One of the things that made President John F. Kennedy
great was his concern for the poor people of the world.
Underline the topic sentence in the following paragraph.
Many animals are capable of omitting meaningful sounds.
Hens, for instance, warn their chicks of impending danger;
similarly, dogs growl at strangers to express distrust of
hostility. Most pets, in fact, have a "vocabulary" of
differentiated sounds to express hunger, pain, or satisfaction.
Remember, as a miniature essay, the paragraph
. should have a beginning, middle and end.
. should be coherent: everything in the paragraph must be
covered by the topic sentence.
Topic sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph:
As the first sentence (deductive paragraphs)
Topic sentence first
Supporting details last
(Most instructors prefer deductive paragraphs.)
As the last sentence (inductive paragraphs)
A lead-in question or statement
Supporting details
Topic sentence last
Somewhere in the middle (inductive-deductive paragraphs)
A lead-in question or statement
Supporting details
Topic sentence -- in the middle
More details to reinforce the topic sentence
Identify the following paragraphs:
. What about the thirteen percent of the residents of
liberalized dormitories who were unable to set goals, establish
priorities, and govern themselves? When interviewed, the
students who could not cope with the responsibilities which must
be assumed in a liberalized environment revealed that they had
come from homes with very possessive parents. Therefore, they
had no previous experience with the responsibilities that freedom
entails. So, the failure of these students to adapt to a
liberalized atmosphere resulted from the lack of experience, not
from the difficulty of the responsibilities.
. Let's face the telephone problem squarely. If you have the
telephone tied up for an hour and a half while you discuss your
problems with your closest friend, no one else can put through
calls and no one else can receive them. Your mother cannot phone
in her grocery order, and your father cannot call home from the
office if he needs to. Other people have as much right to the
phone as you do, and if you monopolize it, that's inconsiderate.
If you time-limit your conversations, you can avoid this problem.
Keep an eye on the clock and give someone else a break. You
might use only five minutes to arrange a meeting with your friend
to discuss the matters you would have discussed on the phone.
Or, if you haven't finished the conversation, you can always call
back in an hour or so. In any case, in your telephone
conversation you should always consider the rights and needs of
other people.
Tactics of Development
. Description (spatial organization)
Describe a scene from left to right, top to bottom,
front to back, east to west.
Transitional words and phrases: on the right, above,
next, across, on the other side, in the front.
. Narration (time sequence)
Take your reader along the natural sequence of what
happens.
Begin the paragraph with a sentence that gets the action
started.
Signals: at the same time, now, when, then, before, all
the time, during.
. Process (how something is made, how a game is played, or how a
system is developed)
. Cause and effect
Signals: in order to, as a result, hence, so that. . .
. Problem and solution
. Facts (numbers, statistics)
. Comparison-contrast
In the first half of the paragraph deal with one subject
or aspect, and in the second half, take up the second
subject or aspect of subject to be compared.
Signals: in comparison, on the other hand, on the
contrary, but, conversely, in spite of.
. Examples or illustrations
Signals: for example, another, besides, in addition,
furthermore, likewise.
. Definition
. Classification (division)
Remember! An essay may have paragraphs written in different
patterns, but within the paragraphs themselves the
patterns usually are not mixed.
By what methods are the following paragraphs developed? Can you
find the topic sentence? What are the transitional words?
1. There are usually three kinds of members in any volunteer
organization. About one-third of the membership leads the
way by making plans and executing them. The second third
goes along for the ride, being neither activist nor
obstructionist. The third group usually drags its feet,
either by opposing any idea that may cost money or by simply
being apathetic.
2. Reverence and respect are alike in that they both involve the
feeling of admiration for something. However, reverence
pushes this feeling further than does respect, into the realm
of worshipful awe. Respect is barren compared with
reverence. One respects what he fully understands, but one
reverses what remains partially mysterious. Thus acts of
respect tend to be plain and direct whereas, acts of
reverence tend to be ritualistic and ceremonial.
3. The different physical characteristics of each race of people
in this world have developed over thousands of years usually
as a result of adaptation to climate. The Eskimos, for
example, have a thick, fatty, upper eyelid to prevent the
eyeball from freezing in the extremely frigid weather of
Alaska. The Arabs have no special eye characteristics, but
many have long-high-arched noses suited to desert living.
Before the dry desert air gets to the delicate tissue of the
lung, the air is humidified in the Arabs' long nasal
characteristics. Finally, the East African Massais tend to
be tall and thin so that more sweat evaporation is possible
to cool the skin in the tremendous heat.
4. When we speak of the born teacher, we do not mean the boring
intellectual who is interested only in displaying vast
knowledge. No, the born teacher does not have to be a world
authority on Shakespearean tragedy or governmental tyranny.
Rather he or she must have the conscious desire to awaken the
curiosity and imagination of students. Minds must be
encouraged to formulate personal opinions and to create new
concepts. But most of all, the born teacher gives students
the desire to touch and taste all that life has to offer,
for that is the road to a true education.
Adapted, revised, and updated from one used in the
Purdue University Writing Lab, W. Lafayette, IN, in 1982.