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Developing Paragraphs
Well developed paragraphs support their topic sentences with concrete details, lively examples and illustrations, or well developed, clearly worded arguments. The relation between the specific, concrete details--the facts you are basing your opinion on--and your opinion must be clearly spelled out for your reader.
Forms of Supporting Material
In order to hold your readers' attention, you must give them something worth reading. Essays containing paragraphs that are not adequately developed simply waste your readers' time. Therefore, so as to keep your audience, you must bring in enough specific detail to keep the reading interesting. In fact, your goal should be to capture on paper your memories (narration), mental images (description), or reasoning processes (exposition and argumentation) in such a carefully detailed and ordered fashion that your readers cannot help but recreate the mental images or reasoning processes in their own minds. There are a number of different ways in which you can develop a paragraph. The most common are explained below.
ExplanationAn explanation is an attempt at making a term, concept, process, or proposal clear and intelligible. An explanation may show the relationship between the whole and its parts. Often, explanation is followed by a specific example or illustration.
Comparison and ContrastComparison attempts to help the reader understand a new concept by likening it to one that the reader already knows. Contrast may be used to explain how the new concept is different from the old one, how it has its own identity.
Comparison and contrast may be used alone or in combination. In the examples below, X indicates the new concept while Y represents the familiar concept:
Comparison used alone is really analogy. Analogies often take the form of
X is like Y in that . . . .
Contrast is often used to differentiate between two closely related or outwardly similar ideas. Sometimes contrast is used to describe something by explaining what it is not. Contrast sometimes take the form of
Unlike Y, X does not . . . .
Comparison and Contrast together are very often the best way to convey a new idea to your readers, relating the new idea to something your readers are already familiar with and then explaining how it is NOT the same as that more familiar concept.Keep in mind that neither comparison nor contrast will work if you are not relating the new concept to one that your readers already understand. Therefore, it is important to define your audience and know who they are and what they care about.
Illustration, specific instance and exampleAn illustration is a narrative example, a story exemplifying the idea that you are trying to express. An illustration should have concrete details, all of which support the main idea you are expressing. Unlike specific instances and examples, which are usually conveyed in one sentence or sometimes in just a phrase, illustrations may make up an entire paragraph.Illustrations may be factual--recounting a true story--or hypothetical. Hypothetical illustrations present a possible event that could happen in the future if certain actions are not taken or convey a possible scenario that could have happened in the past if certain actions had not been taken.To be effective, illustrations, examples, and specific instances must be
clearly related to the idea in your writing that you are trying to support
reasonable and realistic, not the exception, not science fiction
vivid in detailChoose your illustrations, specific instances, and examples carefully, applying the above criteria.
StatisticsStatistics are figures that show trends in the population. Statistics from surveys often indicate how different segments of the population differ from each other in opinion. In addition, statistics can indicate such tendencies as how people react to a new drug, which segment of the population has the greatest tendency toward a certain illness, and what the most common manner of death is for particular segments of the population. Statistics can help you to support your opinion by showing how great a problem is in the population in general or in a segment of the population or by indicating trends across time.
Authoritative opinion and personal testimonyAnother way to support your thesis or topic sentence is through the use of authoritative opinion or personal testimony. A person qualifies as an authority on a subject either through depth of education or through depth of experience, preferably both. Thus, the PhD in Sociology may be an authority on poverty through years of field research and reading in the discipline, but the woman who has reared her children successfully despite an income below the poverty line is also an authority on poverty.
In order for the authoritatave opinion or expert testimony to be acceptable to your audience and an effective method of support for your main idea, you must establish the following for your audience:
The person whose opinion or testimony you are using qualifies as an expert.
The information is based on your expert's first-hand knowledge.(If your expert cites another source, try to go to that original source.)
NOTE: A well developed topic sentence paragraph will be much longer than most of the paragraphs you are reading on these web pages. Writing for the Internet is usually very different from traditional academic writing. (For example, on the Internet, you will find capital letters in odd places for emphasis.)
One primary difference in these two types of writing lies in the length of paragraphs. Paragraphs tend to be much shorter in e-mail messages and on web pages. In your final drafts for this class, you should write fully developed paragraphs, which are at least eight sentences long.
I do not generally care for counting words, pages, or sentences in student writing, but for paragraph development, I've found that fewer than eight sentences generally do not constitute a well developed paragraph according to academic writing standards. On the other hand, having eight sentences in a paragraph does not assure that you have a fully developed paragraph. Paragraph development always refers to content, but chances are good that, if a paragraph looks "skimpy" on the page, it probably is underdeveloped.
The Importance of Levels of Generality
The items in the following list are ranked in order from the most general to the most specific:
All Living Things on EarthAnimalsMammalsDogsGolden RetrieversCaleb
Caleb is the name of a dog who was part of our family years ago. So Caleb refers to the specific, unique example. We cannot get any more specific than to use the proper name of one specific dog.
Notice that we could have inserted other levels of generality or specificity in the list above: Between Dogs and Golder Retrievers we could insert Hunting Dogs, for example. Under that term, we could list Retrievers. Under Golden Retrievers we could list Golden Retrievers in South Carolina or Male Golden Retrievers.
In your writing, the Thesis Statement will express the most general idea of your paper. The Topic Sentences will express less general ideas than the thesis statement, but they will be the most general ideas stated in the paragraphs they introduce. (Topic sentences are the primary level of support for your thesis statement.) Within each paragraph, you should have sentences that are less general than the topic sentence. These sentences will support the topic sentence. (These sentences are the secondary level of support for the thesis statement.) Each of these secondary support sentences, in turn, should be followed by other sentences that are even more specific than the secondary support sentences are. The sentences should move to more and more specific levels until the topic sentence in each paragraph is supported by specific, concrete detail. (These sentences are generally considered to be at the tertiary level of support.)
A well developed paragraph moves from the more general level of the topic sentence to the most specific level of the unique: vivid, pertinent details (and the proper name or date, if applicable) about the particular person, event, animal, or thing that you are writing about.
>
Forms of Supporting Material
In order to hold your readers' attention, you must give them something worth reading. Essays containing paragraphs that are not adequately developed simply waste your readers' time. Therefore, so as to keep your audience, you must bring in enough specific detail to keep the reading interesting. In fact, your goal should be to capture on paper your memories (narration), mental images (description), or reasoning processes (exposition and argumentation) in such a carefully detailed and ordered fashion that your readers cannot help but recreate the mental images or reasoning processes in their own minds. There are a number of different ways in which you can develop a paragraph. The most common are explained below.
ExplanationAn explanation is an attempt at making a term, concept, process, or proposal clear and intelligible. An explanation may show the relationship between the whole and its parts. Often, explanation is followed by a specific example or illustration.
Comparison and ContrastComparison attempts to help the reader understand a new concept by likening it to one that the reader already knows. Contrast may be used to explain how the new concept is different from the old one, how it has its own identity.
Comparison and contrast may be used alone or in combination. In the examples below, X indicates the new concept while Y represents the familiar concept:
Comparison used alone is really analogy. Analogies often take the form of
X is like Y in that . . . .
Contrast is often used to differentiate between two closely related or outwardly similar ideas. Sometimes contrast is used to describe something by explaining what it is not. Contrast sometimes take the form of
Unlike Y, X does not . . . .
Comparison and Contrast together are very often the best way to convey a new idea to your readers, relating the new idea to something your readers are already familiar with and then explaining how it is NOT the same as that more familiar concept.Keep in mind that neither comparison nor contrast will work if you are not relating the new concept to one that your readers already understand. Therefore, it is important to define your audience and know who they are and what they care about.
Illustration, specific instance and exampleAn illustration is a narrative example, a story exemplifying the idea that you are trying to express. An illustration should have concrete details, all of which support the main idea you are expressing. Unlike specific instances and examples, which are usually conveyed in one sentence or sometimes in just a phrase, illustrations may make up an entire paragraph.Illustrations may be factual--recounting a true story--or hypothetical. Hypothetical illustrations present a possible event that could happen in the future if certain actions are not taken or convey a possible scenario that could have happened in the past if certain actions had not been taken.To be effective, illustrations, examples, and specific instances must be
clearly related to the idea in your writing that you are trying to support
reasonable and realistic, not the exception, not science fiction
vivid in detailChoose your illustrations, specific instances, and examples carefully, applying the above criteria.
StatisticsStatistics are figures that show trends in the population. Statistics from surveys often indicate how different segments of the population differ from each other in opinion. In addition, statistics can indicate such tendencies as how people react to a new drug, which segment of the population has the greatest tendency toward a certain illness, and what the most common manner of death is for particular segments of the population. Statistics can help you to support your opinion by showing how great a problem is in the population in general or in a segment of the population or by indicating trends across time.
Authoritative opinion and personal testimonyAnother way to support your thesis or topic sentence is through the use of authoritative opinion or personal testimony. A person qualifies as an authority on a subject either through depth of education or through depth of experience, preferably both. Thus, the PhD in Sociology may be an authority on poverty through years of field research and reading in the discipline, but the woman who has reared her children successfully despite an income below the poverty line is also an authority on poverty.
In order for the authoritatave opinion or expert testimony to be acceptable to your audience and an effective method of support for your main idea, you must establish the following for your audience:
The person whose opinion or testimony you are using qualifies as an expert.
The information is based on your expert's first-hand knowledge.(If your expert cites another source, try to go to that original source.)
NOTE: A well developed topic sentence paragraph will be much longer than most of the paragraphs you are reading on these web pages. Writing for the Internet is usually very different from traditional academic writing. (For example, on the Internet, you will find capital letters in odd places for emphasis.)
One primary difference in these two types of writing lies in the length of paragraphs. Paragraphs tend to be much shorter in e-mail messages and on web pages. In your final drafts for this class, you should write fully developed paragraphs, which are at least eight sentences long.
I do not generally care for counting words, pages, or sentences in student writing, but for paragraph development, I've found that fewer than eight sentences generally do not constitute a well developed paragraph according to academic writing standards. On the other hand, having eight sentences in a paragraph does not assure that you have a fully developed paragraph. Paragraph development always refers to content, but chances are good that, if a paragraph looks "skimpy" on the page, it probably is underdeveloped.
The Importance of Levels of Generality
The items in the following list are ranked in order from the most general to the most specific:
All Living Things on EarthAnimalsMammalsDogsGolden RetrieversCaleb
Caleb is the name of a dog who was part of our family years ago. So Caleb refers to the specific, unique example. We cannot get any more specific than to use the proper name of one specific dog.
Notice that we could have inserted other levels of generality or specificity in the list above: Between Dogs and Golder Retrievers we could insert Hunting Dogs, for example. Under that term, we could list Retrievers. Under Golden Retrievers we could list Golden Retrievers in South Carolina or Male Golden Retrievers.
In your writing, the Thesis Statement will express the most general idea of your paper. The Topic Sentences will express less general ideas than the thesis statement, but they will be the most general ideas stated in the paragraphs they introduce. (Topic sentences are the primary level of support for your thesis statement.) Within each paragraph, you should have sentences that are less general than the topic sentence. These sentences will support the topic sentence. (These sentences are the secondary level of support for the thesis statement.) Each of these secondary support sentences, in turn, should be followed by other sentences that are even more specific than the secondary support sentences are. The sentences should move to more and more specific levels until the topic sentence in each paragraph is supported by specific, concrete detail. (These sentences are generally considered to be at the tertiary level of support.)
A well developed paragraph moves from the more general level of the topic sentence to the most specific level of the unique: vivid, pertinent details (and the proper name or date, if applicable) about the particular person, event, animal, or thing that you are writing about.
>
Topic Sentence
A paragraph is a group of sentences dealing with a single topic or idea. Usually, one sentence, called the topic sentence, states the main idea of the paragraph. All the other sentences are related to this topic sentence. They further explain or support the main idea.
The Topic Sentence's Function
The topic sentence of a paragraph is like a contract between writer and reader. The writer is saying, in effect, "I have an idea I want to explain to you." The reader is answering, "All right, explain it to me." For the writer to hold to the contract, he or she must explain the idea stated in the topic sentence. Therefore, the topic sentence controls the content of the paragraph.
Structure
The Topic Senence consists of three parts: Topic , Direction and /or subpoints. The topic tells reader what problem you will tell. Direction tells which way you will tell, and subpoints tells the specific stuffs you will write.
Subpoints order
Good subpoints satisfy two qualities: subordinate and coordinate. Subordinate means that the subpoint is more specific than topic . At the same time there are should be in the same level with few exception that some are more specific than others.
Judging Topic Sentences
A topic sentence makes a general statement that is wider in its scope than the rest of the sentences in the paragraph. A good topic sentence is broad enough to be developed by specific details. However, if a topic sentence is too general, the remainder of the paragraph will have to be either extremely long in order to give an adequate explanation of the idea, or it will have to contain nothing but more general statements.
- A topic sentence can be evaluated by asking a few questions.
- Does the topic sentence present one--and only one--topic?
- Is the topic sentence an overgeneralization?
- Does the sentence give strong direction to the whole paragraph?
Usually, it is difficult to say that a topic sentence is "good" or "bad." It is possible, however, to say that one topic sentence is better than another.
Placement of the Topic Sentence
In general, a sensible plan is to tell readers what the paragraph is intended to discuss before it is discussed. Thus, the common practice in writing a paragraph is to begin with the topic sentence and to follow it with supporting sentences. The topic sentence serves the special purpose of announcing the paragraph's topic. Using this approach to placement of the topic sentence, the reader can more easily identify the central point that the writer is making.
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