General to specific development:

 General to specific development:

General details are used to explain how an opinion in a topic sentence is true.  They often answer questions a reader may have about your topic sentence.  A general explanation is also a small opinion.  It usually needs to be explained further to help lead to a specific detail.  

After two or three general explanations of your topic sentence, your reader is ready for a specific detail.  A specific detail can be an example, a real personal experience, a proven fact or statistic, or a cited work from an article such as a paraphrase or direct quote.  

Usually a general explanation is also used to explain the connection of the specific detail to the topic sentence.  If further development of your topic sentence is required, you can use a second series of general explanations and specific details.

Here’s what an outline of a paragraph will look like in general:

Topic Sentence:  has a clear opinion about a specific topic.

General Explanation 1:  tells how the opinion in the topic sentence is true.

    General Explanation 2/3: develops the idea in Explanation 1 more       specifically and leads to a specific detail.

Specific Detail:  Gives proof to the reader that the opinion in the topic sentence and the general explanations are true.  Be sure to keep these ideas focused on the ideas in the topic sentence and the general explanations.  Use a paraphrase or a real experience/fact.

General Explanation 4:  Reconnects meaning of the specific detail to your topic sentence.

(Repeat pattern of explanations and specific details if necessary)

*This is the organization I will be looking for you to practice in your paragraphs.