Paragraph Structure

Academic Writing

• Academic writing is a type of writing done in college classes, aiming to explain or provide information about something.
• Its purpose is to explain or give information, and its audience is the teacher and classmates.

Skills Required for Academic Writing

• Sentence structure (arranging words in a sentence)
• Organization (arranging ideas in a paragraph)
• Grammar and punctuation

Choosing a Writing Idea

• A student should choose a specific idea to focus on throughout their writing piece.
• This idea should be inserted in a specific format, often in the initial position of the writing.

Paragraph Organization

What is a Paragraph?

• A paragraph is a group of related sentences about a single topic, with one main idea.
• A paragraph has three main parts: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence.

Topic Sentence

• The first sentence in a paragraph, which names the topic and tells what the paragraph will explain about it.
• The topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph will be about.

Supporting Sentences

• The middle sentences in a paragraph, which give examples or details about the topic.
• Supporting sentences should be presented in a systematic way, with two types: major and minor details.

Major and Minor Details

• Major details: primary points that support the main idea, forming the basic framework of paragraphs.
• Minor details: developing the major supporting details.

Concluding Sentence

• The last sentence in a paragraph, which summarizes the main point or repeats the topic sentence in different words.
• Not all paragraphs have a concluding sentence.

Title

• A title tells the topic of the paragraph in a few words, and is short and not a complete sentence.
• Examples of titles: "My Classmate Friendship" and "A Famous Soccer Player".

Inferences

• An inference is a discovered idea in writing that is not stated directly.
• Inferences can be made every day, and in a text, the correct inference will always be supported by the text.
• The main idea is implied when it is only suggested by the supporting details and not clearly stated in one sentence.