Paragraph organizaiton

 Paragraph organization: 

 

When you are writing a paragraph, be sure to include the following in the following order.  

 

     1.  Topic sentence: It should directly respond to the prompt and have a clear  

          focus for the controlling idea.  

 

 

2. Explanation:  You need to generally tell the reader howyour topic sentence is true.  Think of what questions the reader may have (why, what, how…..)

 

 

3. Example:  This should help to prove the opinion in the topic sentence.  It should be a real experience or a fact and not just a general idea.   What experience can you think of that supports your topic sentence?  Does the meaning of the example match the meaning of the topic sentence?

 

4. Paraphrase:  This needs to be used to support your example or to give further explanation of your topic sentence.   How does the meaning of the paraphrase match the meaning of your topic sentence and details?  Have you changed the vocabulary and grammar but kept the meaning of the original sentence?  Be sure that you also write a sentence which shows how the paraphrase supports your topic sentence.

The paraphrase needs to include the full name of the author and the name of the article in quotes.  

 

 **** (Numbers 3 and 4 can be switched; you can give the paraphrase before the example or the example before the paraphrase.)

 

 

5. Concluding Sentence:  This needs to rephrase the key words and ideas of your topic sentence.