Writing: Paragraph Structure

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An Introduction to EAP Academic Skills in
EnglishLesson 3

• Writing Paragraph Structure

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Writing in paragraphs

• Academic writing is divided into paragraphs. If
  your writing is one continuous piece of text, it
  will be very difficult for any reader to follow
  your argument. Therefore your written work needs
  paragraphs.

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What is a paragraph?

• A group of related sentences usually dealing
  with one main idea or topic.
• The topic of one paragraph should follow
  logically from the topic of the last paragraph
  and should lead on to the topic of the next
  paragraph.
• The paragraphs have different functions, but all
  develop an idea - that is, they add information,
  explanation, examples and illustrations to the
  central theme or idea until the theme is fully
  developed.

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The parts of a paragraph

• Three Parts
• - Topic Sentence
• - Supporting Sentences
• - Concluding Sentence

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The Topic Sentence

• It states the main idea or topic of the sentence.
• It limits the topic to one specific area this
  part of the sentence is called the controlling
  idea.
• It is a complete sentence with a subject, a verb
  and a controlling idea.
• It is neither too general nor too specific.
• It is generally the first sentence in the
  paragraph.

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The Topic Sentence examples
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The Topic Sentence Not Too General/Not Too
Specific
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The Two Parts of a Topic Sentence
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Writing Topic Sentences
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Supporting Sentences

• They support the topic sentence they explain or
  give proof of the idea contained in the topic
  sentence providing specific details and facts.
• There are different types of supporting details
  examples, statistics and quotations.

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The Concluding Sentence

• It marks the end of the paragraph.
• It often sums up the main points made in the
  paragraph or repeats the topic sentence using
  different words (paraphrasing).
• It generally uses end of paragraph signals.
• A concluding sentence is not necessary in every
  paragraph in a multiparagraph text.

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