What are the basics to write an academic paragraph

What are the basics to write an academic paragraph?

1. What is a paragraph?

Defining the term Paragraph

A paragraph is a group of unified and coherent sentences that develop a given topic.
The topic of a composition may be developed by choosing a pattern of organization,
which is a specific way of presenting information; for example, a process paragraph
includes several ideas on how to follow a series of steps (e.g., how to prepare for a job
interview). In this lesson, keep in mind that you need to write an opinion or description
paragraph.

2. Parts of a Paragraph

Although a paragraph may contain several sentences, in this part of the course, you
will be required to write at least 8 sentences. This depends on the type of composition;
for example, your opinion paragraph may have a topic sentence, three supporting ideas,
three explanatory ideas (one sentence for each supporting idea), and a concluding
sentence. Overall, your composition will have eight complete and meaningful sentences.
You will find a sample paragraph later in this virtual lesson.

Keep in mind that a paragraph should include an original title. You need to capitalize its
content words (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs). Do not underlie or boldface
your title.

3. Writing an effective topic sentence

Your first task is to choose an academic topic to base your ideas. Then, you need to
write an effective topic sentence. This is a very important part of the process.

The topic sentence is the most general sentence of your composition as it summarizes
its content. A good topic sentence has two elements: (1) the topic itself and (2) the
controlling idea. Let me illustrate these concepts with a clear example. To do so, take a
good look at a painting by the American artist John Singleton Copley. Click here. Let's
suppose that you are required to write a descriptive paragraph based on this painting.
Before writing the topic sentence, you need to think about the topic and controlling
idea.

(1) The topic: in this case the topic refers to the title of the painting to be described.

(2) The Controlling idea: this is a word or phrase (adjectives) that indicates the writer’s
opinions about the topic (for example, boring, ugly, beautiful, mysterious, interesting or
amazing, and so on).

Remember! Your controlling idea leads the content of your description.

4. Weak versus strong topic sentences

A careful writer knows how to differentiate weak from strong topic sentences. A weak
topic sentence is sometimes too general or too specific. Read this example:

"Watson and the Shark" is a nice painting.

A good topic sentence, on the other hand, contains an effective controlling Idea. What
do you think about this example?

"Watson and the Shark" is a wonderful painting that shows a dramatic scene.

(Notice: the quotation marks enclose the title of the painting)

In this case the topic itself is the title of the masterpiece while the controlling idea
includes the words "wonderful" and "dramatic."

5. Brainstorming

Once you have chosen a topic, you need to do a brainstorm to generate possible ideas
(words, phrases, causes, effects, reasons, problems, solutions, and the like). There are
many ways to come up with possible ideas. This video will give you some tips to do so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=yAidvTKX6xM

6. Outlining

The next step is to prepare a preliminary plan for your composition. This is called
outlining. An outline is a sketch in which you write words or phrases to guide your
supporting ideas and examples. Let's explain this with a clear example. Suppose that
you need to write a paragraph on the negative effects of pollution. You already have
your topic sentence, but you have NOT written all your composition yet. A sample
outline will look like this:

Title:

I. Topic sentence:

II. Supporting idea 1

III. Supporting idea 2

IV. Supporting idea 3

V. Concluding sentence:

7. Sample Outline
Your sample outline will now look like this:

The Perils of Air Contamination
I. Topic sentence: Air pollution can have a serious heath impact on humans.
II. Air pollutants
III. Health problems
IV. People at higher risks
V. Concluding sentence: If people and industries do not do anything to minimize the
amount of air pollution, the effects on people's health will worsen.
Remember! Besides phrases, outlines could also have sentences or words for each
section. Only the topic sentence and the concluding sentence must be sentences.

8. Sample Composition
Your sample composition will have 8 sentences and look like this text below:

The Perils of Air Contamination
Air pollution can have a serious heath impact on humans. If people are exposed to
very high levels of air pollutants such as smog, chemicals, or industrial particles, they
may experience irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, wheezing, or coughing. In
addition, they will suffer from breathing problems and have a greater risk of heart
attacks. Also, air pollution can also exacerbate existing lung and heart conditions, like
asthma. Smog can irritate the eyes and throat and also damage the lungs. Furthermore,
air pollution affects everyone, especially children, senior citizens, and people who work
or exercise outside are at a greater risk. Those most at risk are people with asthma or
allergies because pollutants can make their symptoms worse and trigger asthma attacks.
If people and industries do not do anything to minimize the amount of air pollution, the
effects on people's health will worsen.

This composition was taken and adapted from https://sciencing.com

9. Final tips to write a composition

Finally, take into account these guidelines:

1. Avoid the use of the pronouns "I," "we," and "you."

2. Write an original title (your topic sentence is NOT a title). When you write a title,
you must capitalize the content words (nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives), but do
not do so with function words (articles or prepositions).

3. Write meaningful and complete sentences with a higher level of construction.

4. Use the language that you know. Try not to depend on your teacher.

5. Your topic sentence will be the first sentence of your paragraph. Indent it; this means
you need to leave 5 spaces.

6. Do not separate your sentences. You need to write one single block of text (not a list
of separate sentence). Do not write an essay.
7. Do not use the word “thing(s)” as it is a vague word; instead, try to find an
appropriate word. Also, avoid the phrases “kind of” and “sort of.”

8. Revise your composition before preparing your final draft.

9. Write a concluding sentence. Read the conclusion of the sample composition. Notice
that the writer did not exactly repeat the content of the topic sentence; instead, he
finished with a comment to highlight the perils of air pollution.

10. The assignment

Later on, I will give you a topic to develop your composition. The topic will be related
to Unit 9.