A GUIDE TO WRITING WITH READINGS Chapter 3 The Process of Writing Paragraphs

PART A Defining and Looking at the Paragraph PART B Narrowing the Topic and Writing the Topic Sentence PART C Generating Ideas for the Body PART D Selecting and Dropping Ideas PART E Arranging Ideas in a Plan or an Outline PART F Writing and Revising the Paragraph Chapter 3 The Process of Writing Paragraphs

 A paragraph is a group of related sentences that develops one main idea.  It is often from five to twelve sentences long. Part A Defining and Looking at the Paragraph

 A paragraph looks like this on the page:  Clearly indent the first word of every paragraph about 1 inch (five spaces on the computer)  Extend every line of a paragraph as close to the right-hand margin as possible.  However, if the last word of the paragraph comes before the end of the line, leave the rest of the line blank. Part A Defining and Looking at the Paragraph First word indented 1” margin Blank after last word

 Most paragraphs contain one main idea to which all the sentences relate.  The topic sentence states this main idea.  The body of the paragraph develops and supports this main idea with particular facts, details, and examples. Part A Topic Sentence and Body

 The topic sentence is more general than the other sentences in the paragraph.  Topic sentence is usually the first sentence.  Sometimes the topic sentence occurs elsewhere in the paragraph as the sentence after an introduction or as the last sentence.  Some paragraphs contain only an implied topic sentence but no stated topic sentence at all. Part A Topic Sentence and Body

Before writing a paragraph, most writers go through a process that includes these important steps:  Narrowing the topic  Writing the topic sentence  Generating ideas for the body  Selecting and dropping ideas  Arranging ideas in a plan or an outline Part B Narrowing the Topic and Writing the Topic Sentence

 Choose one aspect of the topic that interests you.  Thinking about your audience and purpose may help you narrow the topic.  State your topic clearly in sentence form.  Writing a good topic sentence is an important step toward an effective paragraph because the topic sentence controls the direction and scope of the body.  You can think of the topic sentence as having two parts, a topic and a controlling idea (main idea.) Part B Narrowing the Topic and Writing the Topic Sentence

 Brainstorming is one good way to generate ideas for the body of a paragraph.  It takes only a few minutes but is one of the most important elements of the writing process. Later you can choose from these ideas as you compose your paragraph. Part C Generating Ideas for the Body

 Selecting those ideas that relate to and support the topic sentence and dropping those that do not.  That is keep the facts, examples, or little stories that provide specific information about your topic sentence.  Drop ideas that just repeat the topic sentence but that add nothing new to the paragraph.  If you are not sure which ideas to select or drop, underline the key Part D Selecting and Dropping Ideas

Part E Arranging Ideas in a Plan or Outline  A plan briefly lists and arranges the ideas you wish to present in your paragraph.  An outline does the same thing a bit more formally, but in an outline, letters or numbers indicate the main grouping of ideas  Group together ideas  Order your ideas

Part F Writing and Revising the Paragraph  Writing the First Draft The first draft should contain all the ideas you have decides to use in the order you have chosen in your plan Start with your topic sentence Once you have included all the ideas from your plan, think about adding a concluding sentence that summarizes your main point or adds a final idea

Part F Writing and Revising the Paragraph  Revising for Support Make sure your paragraph contains excellent support Don ’ t simply repeated ideas-especially the topic sentence  Revising for Unity Make sure the topic sentence, every sentence in the body, and the concluding sentence all relate to one main idea

Part F Writing and Revising the Paragraph  Revising with Peer Feedback  Writing the Final Draft  Proofreading Pointing to each word as you read it will help you catch errors or words you might have left out Make neat corrections in pen or print a corrected copy of your paper