THE PE

RFECT PARAGRAPH

S O M E BA S I C

CO N C E P T S Y

O U NE E D T

O MA S T E R

SOME BASIC CONCEPTS

Unity: All ideas relate to the main idea

Unity in writing= strong writing!

COHERENCE

Coherence: All ideas relate to eachother for a clear message

USE TRANSITIONS TO CREATE UNITY AND COHERENCE

Transitions move your writing from one idea to the next

FOR EXAMPLE . . .FIRST . . .CONSEQUENTLY . . .HOWEVER . . .

CHOOSE THE BEST ORDER

Chronological: In the order that it happened. This is good for narratives.

CHOOSE THE BEST ORDERRelationships: How do the ideas relate to each other? This is good for

descriptive or expository writing

(you don’t want this ) (you want this! )

CHOOSE THE BEST ORDEROrder of importance: From good to best. This is good

for persuasive writing.

TYPES OF TOPIC SENTENCESONE-PART: My favorite hobby is working on my

computers

TWO-PART: My favorite hobby is working on my computers because it is relaxing, challenging, and rewarding.

MIXED: My favorite hobby is working on my computers for a few powerful reasons.

THE BASIC PERFECT PARAGRAPHSentence 1: TOPIC SENTENCE: What your paragraph is

aboutSentence 2: Support 1Sentence 3: Specific example/detail/incident for support 1Sentence 4: Support 2Sentence 5: Specific example/detail/incident for support 2Sentence 6: Support 3 Sentence 7: Specific example/detail/incident for support 3Sentence 8: Concluding/Clincher sentence

ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR WRITING Topic sentence: DO NOT come right out and

announce your plans:“This paragraph will be about . . .” or “I am going to tell

you . . .”

Closing: DO NOT come right out and say “These are the reasons that . . .” or “Now you know . . .”

Be creative and original!