NOTES ON PARAGRAPH AND ACADEMIC WRITING

What is an essay?

• A piece of writing that focuses on a topic.

• Organized on a general idea or thesis.

Thesis: a debatable proposition presented to

be discussed in the supporting paragraphs.

Paragrahs develop the thesis. It is the body of

essay.

Begins with an introduction and ends with a

concluding paragraph.

Format of an essay

CONCLUSION HAS THREE FUNCTIONS: SUMMARIZE THE MAIN POINTS, RESTATING IT IN

A DIFFERENT WAY, STATE THE MAIN CONCLUSION, AND SATISFY THE READER ‘S

PURPOSE.

1ST.PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

2ND.PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

3RD PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Title-Represent the purpose of the essay. -Correspond with the thesis statement.

BODY

Writing stage

Look for information on the topic.

Remember the three main elements for an academic writing: The style, which must be formal, punctuation and paragraphing.

Brainstorm as many ideas as possible.

Plan and arrange your main ideas according to

genre.

Begin writing the paragraphs.

The numbers depends on the complexity of the topic.

A short essay contains 3 to 5 paragraphs plus an introduction and conclusion.

Use signal words to make smooth transitions between sentences and

paragraphs.

Support your ideas with evidence, factsand statistics.

Revise the overallorganization,addinformation,rearrange ideas.

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF AN INTRODUCTION?

• To let the readers know what the essay is about.

• To present background information, to explain whatthe issue is about.

• To let the readers know what your main conclusionwill be (state your thesis).

• To let the readers know what to expect in theremainder of the essay. You can give a road map of how the argument will proceed.

The introductory paragraph.

.Introduce the topic broadly. An opening statement or question that atracts the

reader’s attention , this is often called “ the hook”.

.Provide a quick definition of the problem.

.Announce your particular take.

.Declare your thesis statement that states the

purpose and plan of he whole essay.

1st. Paragraph 2nd. Paragraph 3rd. paragraph

TYPES OF ATTENTION GETTERS FOR INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

Ways to grab the reader’s attention.

.Use an anecdote.

. Proverb, Maxim, or Strong statement.

Description, grab readers' attention by engaging their imaginations.

A paradox.

A shocking statistic.

A question.

"I never believed people when they said words could hurt, but staring at the text message I'd just received made me realize its truth. The hurtful phrase seeped into me like venom from a snakebite.“

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is the biblical phrase we use to refer to capital punishment, the killing of criminals in order to punish them for their crimes.

"A boxcar packed with human cargo rumbles down a German railroad track. The air inside is hot and stale, and the passengers struggle to breathe, unaware of where they are headed. This is what millions of people experienced traveling to concentration camps during the Holocaust.“

With the explosion of the first atomic bomb came the advent of the greatest weapon of war the world has ever seen—soon, though, it was to be used to bring a new peace to a broken world.

About 26 percent of children growing up in America have only one parent.

What could be done to improve the lives of the elderly?

THESIS STATEMENT

It is expressed in the last sentence of the

first paragraph.

It should declare something that is

interesting and debatable. It controls and

structures the entire argument.

Example of an introductory paragraph

“ The importance of money in life”

Money is certainly somethingwhich is often discussed in today’sworld.Less than a third of human beings believe that money is not important in life, while the majority of people holds the opinion that money is really necessary in every day life.

I assert that money is important as means of obtaining a lot of things, such as health services, a good education, a prosperous standard of living and it helps happiness.

ControllingAnnounce the topic broadly.

Introduction of the problem

Narrowing and makingsmooth transition.

The thesis tells the reader what to expect from the rest

of the paper.

BODY OF AN ESSAY-The paragraphs develop the idea expressed in the thesis statement.

-Each paragraph has a topic sentence which states the main idea and it is placed at thebeginning to call reader’s attention.

-The topic sentence consist of two parts: the topic and the controlling idea (the specificcomments about the main idea. It is explained through supporting sentences and illustrated with examples, facts and statistics.

-To identify controlling ideas we can ask wh-questions: what – how – why.

-Support the thesis statement.

-Each main idea becomes the main idea sentence for the body paragraph. Support it withexplanation, details and evidence.

-Put the main idea in order: time, place, importance.

-Each body paragraph ends with a concluding sentence.

-Use transition words

PARAGRAPHS

TOPIC SENTENCE

CONTOLLING IDEA

EXAMPLE FACTS

EXPLAIN

EVIDENCE

Provide the contentof the essay.

What you are goingto write about.

Specific commentsabout the topic.

Narratives, persuasive, explanatory and

descriptive

It should be interesting

Use transitionwords

Transition wordsTo list things.

To add points.

To make contrast.

To give example.

To show similarities.

To emphasise a point.

To express cause.

To express effect.

To summarize.

To introduce points for and against.

To explain/clarify.

Firstly, First of all, In the first place, to begin with, Secondly, Thirdly, Finally.

In addition to this, Furthermore, Moreover, Besides, Apart from , What ismore, also.

On the other hand, However, Although, But.

For instance, for example, This is illustrated/shown, By the fact that, A clear/typical example of this.

Similarly, Likewise.

Above all, Clearly, Obviously, Naturally, indeed, Of course, Needless to say.

Owing to the fact, Due to, On account of.

Therefore, Thus, As a result of this, Consequently, For this reason.

To sum up, In conclusion, For this reasons.

One point/argument in favour…of/against, A further common criticism of.

In other words, That is to say, This means that, In essence.

Concluding paragraph:

This paragraph should include the following:• an allusion to the pattern used in the introductory

paragraph.• a restatement of the thesis statement, using some of

the original language. • a summary of the three main points from the body of

the paper.• a final statement that gives the reader signals that the

discussion has come to an end. (This final statement may be a "call to action" in an persuasive paper.)

• An advice or a question.

THE REVISION AND EDITING PROCESS

• Read, revise and rearrange the material.

• Keep in mind:

# The style.

# Your purpose for writing.

# Your audience.

• Revise: grammar, punctuation and spelling.

• Rearrange in order to improve the organization of ideas.

• Final draft should be neat and without errors.

Brainstorm: Comparing tea and coffee. • Tea • CoffeeFamous: China,

India, Turkey, The United Kingdom

and Ireland.

A ritual: visitors, friends, family

gatherings

Example: 80% the English

have afternoon tea.

Statistics: the U.N. Food and Agriculture

Organization suggests six billion cups of teaare drunk a day .

Served: hot, iced, lemon, milk, anise.

Consumed: Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

and European countries .

Ancient custom : used in the Western and

Eastern world.

Example: “ristretto”, “café au lait” long black American or

Turkish coffee

Statistics: the International Coffee Organization (ICO), 1.4 billion cups are poured a day worldwide.

Served: hot, iced, cream, whisky, cognac

COMPARISON PARAGRAPH SKELETON by Rosmary Ribera Ferrier, for students of secondary school.

Tea and coffee have several things in common. First, tea is a beverage that is drunk all over the world. To illustrate, it is so famous in China, India and Turkey as in The United Kingdom and Ireland. At the same time, coffee is also a well known drink consumed in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and in all European countries . To continue, tea is offered to visitors, friends or served in family gatherings. For instance, more than 80% of the English have afternoon tea. In the same way, coffee is widely used in the Western and the Eastern world. Indeed, if you think of coffee you will probably think of an Italian “ristretto”, a French “café au lait” , a long black in America or a Turkish coffee in Turkey. Last, these two drinks are quite popular everywhere. According to the latest coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organization (ICO), 1.4 billion cups of coffee are poured a day worldwide. Similarly, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization suggests that the world drinks about six billion cups of tea a day. Actually, You can drink both beverages hot or iced, served with milk or cream, or with anise or cognac. As you can see, these two drinks are significantly similar.

REFERENCES

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