1. W RITING F UNDAMENTALS : T HE P ARAGRAPH

2. W HAT IS IT ? T HE EASY ANSWER. A paragraph is a group of sentences. The first line is indented ½ inch. Punctuation comes at the end of a line, never at the beginning. It looks like this: Xlakgjf oiawj rgl’ivh a/erligh. Tlkjashd gf;iawhrg;olakgns ;lalwrng alirhb. Mlaiohr g;ihr glkzrn glizrn gilnzlr/bknmz/ldkbfnzldifbn mx.kfv n.x,ckvn. Noairhjg ;iaern g;aiznrbliznrb l/inarl knc,vjhl kfnlvzk. Blawhejf;gliahrnvlzndfvindfibn. Rloanrlbin.jl nzd.f nzdafio jn/ldzfigbj. Qhwrguh a;reihnzdfblizndfb. Bliwjg;lisehrng lizesrb loa ern.

3. W HAT IS IT ? T HE HARDER ANSWER, P ART 1 Most paragraphs in this class will begin with a topic sentence. A topic sentence gives the subject ( topic ) of the paragraph and it tells readers what you will say about the topic ( controlling idea ). This sounds simple, but you will find it requires quite a bit of thought and effort, especially as college classes require your writing to become deeper and more sophisticated.

4. W HAT IS IT ? T HE HARDER ANSWER, P ART 2 The other sentences are called supporting sentences. They must all be about the topic and relate to the controlling idea. This is called unity – the sentences are unified. Supporting sentences might give examples of the topic and then explain them. We will work on this a lot in class. One of your hardest jobs in this class will be coming up with strong, appropriate, and sufficient supporting sentences.

5. M ORE ABOUT THE CONTROLLING IDEA A controlling idea is like a fence. It focuses the paragraph on the topic and on what you’re saying about that topic. Anything else is called “off topic”, and is not allowed in the paragraph. You will need to read your paragraphs for unity, to be sure all sentences are about the same thing. You must cut any sentences that are off topic.

6. T HE FINAL SENTENCE ( S ) Your paragraph will end with some kind of a concluding sentence, or it might have a concluding sentence and a transition to the next paragraph. The concluding sentence might be an echo of the topic sentence, it might sum up the paragraph, or it might offer a final comment on the topic. We will study transitions in this class – they prepare for and connect one paragraph to the following paragraph. I’ll show you examples once we’re into essays.