Writer's Guidelines: Writing the Paragraph

1. The development paragraph is a group of sentences, each with the function of stating or supporting a controlling idea called the topic sentence.

2. The developmental paragraph contains three parts: the subject, the topic sentence, and the support.

3. The two main partterns of the developmental paragraph are (A) topic sentence and support, and (B) topic sentence, support, and cocluding sentence.



Pattern A ...........................Pattern B

Topic sentence_____________Topic sentence


Support__________________Support


Support__________________Support


Support__________________Support


.............................Concluding sentence.

4. The topic sentence includes what you are writing about-the subject-and what you intend to do with that subject-the treatment.

5. The outline is a pattern for showing the relationship of ideas. It can be used to reveal the structure and content of something you read or to plan the structure and content of something you intend to write. The following topic outline shows how the parts are arranged on the page as well as how the ideas in it relate to one another.

Main Idea (will usually be the topic sentence for the paragraph or the thesis for the essay)

I. Major support
.....A. Minor support
____1. Details (specific information of various kinds)
____2. Details
__B. Minor support
____1. Details
____2. Details

II. Major support
__A. Minor support
__B. Minor support
____1. Details
____2. Details
____3. Details