How to Write A Paragraph
How to Structure a Paragraph using the Academic Principle |
Step 1: Decide the Topic of Your Paragraph Your paragraph should make one main point or have one complete controlling idea. Step 2: Develop a Topic Sentence A strong topic sentence begins and focuses the paragraph. Good topic sentences should always contain both a topic and a controlling idea. Step 3: Demonstrate Your Point with Evidence Add to your paragraph and strengthen it with the following: • Facts, details, reasons, examples • Information from the readings or class discussions • Paraphrases or short quotations • Statistics, polls, percentages, data from research studies • Personal experience, stories, anecdotes, examples from your life Step 4: Give Your Paragraph Meaning Why is this information is relevant, meaningful, or interesting? Step 5: Conclusion Summarize or restate the main point of your paragraph, draw conclusions about your point, and use linking words to connect your paragraphs together. |
Parsed Paragraphs
Sample Parsed Paragraph: Tasha Tudor's Authentic Life
"Tasha Tudor lived authentically, true to her own values and beliefs that a simple life was best. She did without modern clothing and conveniences, heated her house with wood, and grew her own vegetables. Her bread was baked at home in a wood-fired oven, and her Christmas gifts were hand-made, not purchased. She raised goats for milk, spun her own flax for clothing, and insisted on one of her houses being built only with hand tools. In fact, she felt so strongly about living close to nature that she even alienated family members, who could not tolerate the hard physical work and constant commitment. Yet she found her farm-based lifestyle rewarding and satisfying, staying happy, healthy, and active well into her eighties."
Topic : Tasha Tudor's authentic life
Topic Sentence: ""Tasha Tudor lived authentically, true to her own values and beliefs that a simple life was best."
Evidence: no modern clothing, wood-heated house, grew own vegetables, homemade bread, handmade gifts, raised goats, spun flax, hand tools
Meaning: Simple living involves living close to nature and making rather than buying things.
Conclusion: Living authentically is satisfying.
"Tasha Tudor lived authentically, true to her own values and beliefs that a simple life was best. She did without modern clothing and conveniences, heated her house with wood, and grew her own vegetables. Her bread was baked at home in a wood-fired oven, and her Christmas gifts were hand-made, not purchased. She raised goats for milk, spun her own flax for clothing, and insisted on one of her houses being built only with hand tools. In fact, she felt so strongly about living close to nature that she even alienated family members, who could not tolerate the hard physical work and constant commitment. Yet she found her farm-based lifestyle rewarding and satisfying, staying happy, healthy, and active well into her eighties."
Topic : Tasha Tudor's authentic life
Topic Sentence: ""Tasha Tudor lived authentically, true to her own values and beliefs that a simple life was best."
Evidence: no modern clothing, wood-heated house, grew own vegetables, homemade bread, handmade gifts, raised goats, spun flax, hand tools
Meaning: Simple living involves living close to nature and making rather than buying things.
Conclusion: Living authentically is satisfying.
Sample Parsed Paragraph: Abraham's Faith In God
"I believe an excellent example of faith in God in the Old Testament is the story of Abraham being tested by God.
It starts in Genesis 22:1-19 and provides a resounding story of faith in God. After asking Abraham and Sarah to wait all those years and then miraculously giving them a son, God here asks Abraham to give Isaac back as a sacrifice. God had already shown Abraham that when his human reason disagreed with God’s reason, he could always trust God to be correct – and that’s a tough lesson for many people to understand. It would seem Abraham, if he cared to, could have argued from many positions that God had no logical reason to sacrifice Isaac. First, Isaac was the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promise! Second, God had clearly stated through Noah that shedding a man’s blood was prohibited (Gen 9:5-6). Even so, the text makes no reference to Abraham hesitating or debating. It simply accounts that he obeyed God. (v. 3). I look back on the beginning of the chapter once more and I can’t help but reflect, why did God want to test Abraham? Abraham earnestly answered when God called, “Here I am.” (v. 1) While God knew he would not require Abraham to kill Isaac; Abraham didn’t know that. This ultimately leads me to think that this was God’s test of Abraham’s faith, of his ability to trust God when his reason ran out of reasons."
Topic : Abraham's Faith in God
Topic Sentence: "I believe an excellent example of faith in God in the Old Testament is the story of Abraham being tested by God."
Evidence: quotes from the Biblical text of Abraham's actions and speech, counterarguments, opinions
Meaning: Although Abraham has no logical reason to obey, he does so, and his faith is commended.
Conclusion: Faith involves trust & belief, rather than reason or logic.
"I believe an excellent example of faith in God in the Old Testament is the story of Abraham being tested by God.
It starts in Genesis 22:1-19 and provides a resounding story of faith in God. After asking Abraham and Sarah to wait all those years and then miraculously giving them a son, God here asks Abraham to give Isaac back as a sacrifice. God had already shown Abraham that when his human reason disagreed with God’s reason, he could always trust God to be correct – and that’s a tough lesson for many people to understand. It would seem Abraham, if he cared to, could have argued from many positions that God had no logical reason to sacrifice Isaac. First, Isaac was the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promise! Second, God had clearly stated through Noah that shedding a man’s blood was prohibited (Gen 9:5-6). Even so, the text makes no reference to Abraham hesitating or debating. It simply accounts that he obeyed God. (v. 3). I look back on the beginning of the chapter once more and I can’t help but reflect, why did God want to test Abraham? Abraham earnestly answered when God called, “Here I am.” (v. 1) While God knew he would not require Abraham to kill Isaac; Abraham didn’t know that. This ultimately leads me to think that this was God’s test of Abraham’s faith, of his ability to trust God when his reason ran out of reasons."
Topic : Abraham's Faith in God
Topic Sentence: "I believe an excellent example of faith in God in the Old Testament is the story of Abraham being tested by God."
Evidence: quotes from the Biblical text of Abraham's actions and speech, counterarguments, opinions
Meaning: Although Abraham has no logical reason to obey, he does so, and his faith is commended.
Conclusion: Faith involves trust & belief, rather than reason or logic.
Sample Paragraphs
Sample Paragraph: World Englishes
English could split into many separate languages. This will not happen soon, but it is not unlikely. English is already different in different places. People in different countries change English to make it work in their cultures. They add words from their own language and they use grammar in new ways. English in the U.K. is similar to English in the U.S., but it is not the same. English in Singapore is even more different. in fact, in Singapore, many people use a language that is a form of English with Chinese and Malay influences. They call it Singlish. Singlish is an example of a world English. It uses some words that are not English, and its grammar is often different from the grammar of most other Englishes. If people in different countries continue to talk to each other, English will not split, but they may also all use slightly different variations of English in their own countries or regions.
Can you fill in all of the areas below?
Topic :
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
Meaning:
Conclusion:
English could split into many separate languages. This will not happen soon, but it is not unlikely. English is already different in different places. People in different countries change English to make it work in their cultures. They add words from their own language and they use grammar in new ways. English in the U.K. is similar to English in the U.S., but it is not the same. English in Singapore is even more different. in fact, in Singapore, many people use a language that is a form of English with Chinese and Malay influences. They call it Singlish. Singlish is an example of a world English. It uses some words that are not English, and its grammar is often different from the grammar of most other Englishes. If people in different countries continue to talk to each other, English will not split, but they may also all use slightly different variations of English in their own countries or regions.
Can you fill in all of the areas below?
Topic :
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
Meaning:
Conclusion:
Sample Paragraph: A Definition of Market Economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of the products and services are chosen in a free price system that is decided by supply and demand. It began around the late 18th century, after the Industrial Revolution. A key work was Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, 1776. Market economics has been widely used because of its efficiency (ability to work well). However, it has also been criticized for its selfishness and the difference between the rich and poor. In the real world, market economies are not purely market economies, as societies and governments control them in some ways instead of market forces. The expression free-market economy is sometimes used as the same as market economy. The Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Ludwig von Mises, said that a market economy is still a market economy even if the government joins in pricing. In a market economy, the factors of production are privately owned, and production occurs from an initiative of the owners. The only way to get revenue is through services, or through the profits of private companies. There is no planned economy or regulatory economics: market participants are free to choose the products they buy, the profession they exercise, and whether to save or invest their money.
Can you fill in all of the areas below?
Topic :
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
Meaning:
Conclusion:
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of the products and services are chosen in a free price system that is decided by supply and demand. It began around the late 18th century, after the Industrial Revolution. A key work was Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, 1776. Market economics has been widely used because of its efficiency (ability to work well). However, it has also been criticized for its selfishness and the difference between the rich and poor. In the real world, market economies are not purely market economies, as societies and governments control them in some ways instead of market forces. The expression free-market economy is sometimes used as the same as market economy. The Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Ludwig von Mises, said that a market economy is still a market economy even if the government joins in pricing. In a market economy, the factors of production are privately owned, and production occurs from an initiative of the owners. The only way to get revenue is through services, or through the profits of private companies. There is no planned economy or regulatory economics: market participants are free to choose the products they buy, the profession they exercise, and whether to save or invest their money.
Can you fill in all of the areas below?
Topic :
Topic Sentence:
Evidence:
Meaning:
Conclusion:
You can find more sample paragraphs under the Reading tab. Practice finding the topic sentence and other parts of the paragraph for each of the examples.
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