PhD Writing on Saturday 12March 11, 2011

Paragraph Writing

A paragraph consists of several sentences that are grouped together.  This group of sentences
together discuss one main subject.   Paragraphs have three principal parts.  These three parts
are the topic sentence, body sentences, and the concluding sentence.  

The Topic Sentence

A topic sentence usually comes at the beginning of a paragraph; that is, it is usually the first
sentence in a formal academic paragraph. 

For example, suppose that you want to write a paragraph about the natural landmarks of your
hometown.   The first part of your paragraph might look like this: 
 

       My hometown is famous for several amazing

natural features.  First, it is noted for the Wheaton
River, which is very wide and beautiful. Also, on the
other side of the town is Wheaton Hill, which is unusual
because it is very steep.

Note how the first sentence, My hometown, Wheaton, is famous for several amazing
geographical features, is the most general statement. This sentence is different from the two
sentences that follow it, since the second and third sentences mention specific details about
the town's geography, and are not general statements.

Here are some examples of sentences that cannot be used as topic sentences. Can you figure
out why they are inappropriate?  
 

1. My hometown is famous because it is located by

Wheaton River, which is very wide, and because
it is built near an unusually steep hill called
Wheaton Hill.
2. There are two reasons why some people like to
buy cars with automatic transmission and two
reasons why others like cars with manual
transmission.
3. Clouds are white.

The problem with sentence #1 is that it contains too many details. Topic sentences are
general, and details should appear later in the paragraph. A better topic sentence would be
like the one mentioned above, My hometown is famous for several amazing geographical
features.

Sentence #2 is not appropriate as a topic sentence because it mentions two topics, not just
one. Paragraphs are usually about one main thing and so their topic sentences should also be
about only one main thing.

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The problem with sentence #3 is that it is too general. It is also very boring! Would you like
to read a paragraph with this topic sentence? Most people would not.

We can rewrite sentences #2 and #3 in the following ways to make it better: 

 

 There are two reasons why some people like to

buy cars with automatic transmission. 

OR (in a different paragraph):

 There are two reasons why some people like

cars with manual transmission.
 The shapes of clouds are determined by various
factors.

Supporting Sentences

Consider again the above-mentioned, short paragraph: 

 

       My hometown, Wheaton, is famous for several

amazing natural features.  First, it is noted for the
Wheaton River, which is very wide and beautiful. Also,
on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill, which is
unusual because it is very steep.

(Again, note how this paragraph is indented on the first line, about five or seven spaces in
from the left-hand edge of the paragraph. Always remember to indent your paragraphs!)

When a reader reads a topic sentence, such as My hometown, Wheaton, is famous for several
amazing natural features, a question should usually appear in the reader's mind.  In this case,
the question should be like, "What are the natural features that make Wheaton famous?"   The
reader should then expect that the rest of the paragraph will give an answer to this question. 

Now look at the sentences after the topic sentence.  We can see that the second sentence in
the paragraph,  First, it is noted for the Wheaton River, which is very wide and beautiful,
indeed gives an answer to this question. That is, the second sentence gives
some explanation for the fact that Wheaton is a famous town. Similarly, we can see that the
third sentence also gives some explanation for the fact that Wheaton is famous by giving
another example of an "amazing natural feature," in this case, Wheaton Hill.

The second and third sentences are called supporting sentences.  They are called
"supporting" because they "support," or explain, the idea expressed in the topic sentence.  Of
course, paragraphs in English often have more than two supporting ideas.   The paragraph
above is actually a very short paragraph.  At minimum, you should have at
least five to seven sentences in your paragraph.  Here we can see our paragraph about
Wheaton with a few more supporting sentences in bold font: 

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       My hometown is famous for several amazing

natural features.  First, it is noted for the Wheaton
River, which is very wide and beautiful. Also, on the
other side of the town is Wheaton Hill, which is unusual
because it is very steep. The third amazing feature is
the Big Old Tree. This tree stands two hundred feet
tall and is probably about six hundred years old.

The Concluding Sentence

In formal paragraphs you will sometimes see a sentence at the end of the paragraph which
summarizes the information that has been presented.  This is the concluding sentence.  You
can think of a concluding sentence as a sort of topic sentence in reverse.

You can understand concluding sentences with this example.  Consider a hamburger that you
can buy at a fast-food restaurant.*  A hamburger has a top bun (a kind of bread), meat,
cheese, lettuce, and other elements in the middle of the hamburger, and a bottom bun. Note
how the top bun and the bottom bun are very similar.  The top bun, in a way, is like a topic
sentence, and the bottom bun is like the concluding sentence.  Both buns "hold" the meat,
onions, and so on.  Similarly, the topic sentence and concluding sentence "hold" the
supporting sentences in the paragraph.  Let's see how a concluding sentence (in bold font)
might look in our sample paragraph about Wheaton: 
 

       My hometown is famous for several amazing

natural features.  First, it is noted for the Wheaton
River, which is very wide and beautiful. Also, on the
other side of the town is Wheaton Hill, which is unusual
because it is very steep. The third amazing feature is the
Big Old Tree. This tree stands two hundred feet tall and
is probably about six hundred years old. These three
landmarks are truly amazing and make my
hometown a famous place.

Notice how the concluding sentence, These three landmarks are truly amazing and make my
hometown a famous place, summarizes the information in the paragraph.  Notice also how the
concluding sentence is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the topic sentence. 

Not all academic paragraphs contain concluding sentences, especially if the paragraph is very
short.  However, if your paragraph is very long, it is a good idea to use a concluding
sentence. 
 

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Details in Paragraphs

The short paragraph in this lesson is a fairly complete paragraph, but it lacks details. 
Whenever possible, you should include enough details in your paragraphs to help your reader
understand exactly what you are writing about.  In the paragraph about Wheaton, three
natural landmarks are mentioned, but we do not know very much about them.  For example,
we could add a sentence or two about Wheaton river concerning HOW wide it is or WHY it
is beautiful.  Consider this revision (and note the additional details in bold): 
  
 

       My hometown is famous for several amazing

natural features.  First, it is noted for the Wheaton
River, which is very wide and beautiful. On either side
of this river, which is 175 feet wide, are many willow
trees which have long branches that can move
gracefully in the wind.  In autumn the leaves of these
trees fall and cover the riverbanks like golden
snow.  Also, on the other side of the town is Wheaton
Hill, which is unusual because it is very steep.  Even
though it is steep, climbing this hill is not dangerous,
because there are some firm rocks along the sides
that can be used as stairs.  There are no trees around
this hill, so it stands clearly against the sky and can
be seen from many miles away.  The third amazing
feature is the Big Old Tree. This tree stands two
hundred feet tall and is probably about six hundred
years old.  These three landmarks are truly amazing and
make my hometown a famous place.

If we wished, we could also add more details to the paragraph to describe the third natural
feature of the area, the Big Old Tree.

TOO INFORMAL
ACCEPTABLE
(Do not use)
don't do not
doesn't does not
aren't are not
weren't were not
can't cannot
couldn't could not
won't will not