1. Writing Effective Paragraphs

2. Paragraph Shape Indent ½”

3. Paragraph Focus The topic sentence presents your main idea in a complete sentence. It introduces your topic + your position on the topic. TOPIC Your position on topic

4. Paragraph Unity Be careful! Don’t lose sight of your main idea. TOPIC Unrelated details

5. Topic sentence Conclusion Paragraph Development Topic sentence 1 or 2 general ideas Conclusion Put lots of “meat” in your paragraph sandwich!

6. Finding Ideas To Write About Freewriting Brainstorming Clustering Journal writing Other?

7. Arranging Your Ideas Time Space Importance

8. Paragraph Importance The paragraph is the building block of any document. Think carefully about what you put into each paragraph and where you break up your text. Too short: feels choppy and disconnected. Too long: loses the main point.