Paragraph writing is the essential ingredient of a successful composition whether it is an essay, a letter or even a report. The Oxford Dictionary defines the it as a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme(event, description or idea), indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering. Imagine paragraphs as the building blocks which will make up your writing!
A well written paragraph should consist of a clear topic sentence which expresses the main idea, relevant facts and example to support it and a summarizing sentence which emphasizes the main idea and summarizes the supporting ideas. There are various techniques of organizing a paragraph. One of these is emphasis. This means that the supporting ideas are written in order of their importance, usually with the most significant detail last. Another technique is the use of chronological order(narration) as the writer presents the details in the order in which they happened.
When revising the paragraph you have written, keep in mind that your ideas should be
– unified, including details that support the topic and make sense as a whole
– coherent, being united by connectors and transition words(coreferential and substitutuion words) and punctuation
– well-developed, expressed in clearly written sentences
– orderly from a logical point of view
Just as any other skill, paragraph writing is a skill that you acquire, practice and improve gradually as you practice it. Be open to suggestions you receive from teachers, parents or colleagues in terms of ideas, grammar and vocabulary. All of them will help you become proficient. And don’t forget! Learning how to express your ideas in an orderly manner will help you both write and speak better throughout your entire life!
WRITE your way to success and to the UK! Participate in our 2014 Shakespeare School Essay Competition and you can become the lucky winner of a 2-week summer camp to the UK!
