Paragraphs, Paragraphs, Paragraphs
In order to survive English composition you must be able to write good, strong paragraphs. What exactly is a paragraph? A paragraph is a collection of sentences that support a main idea. Often, the paragraph starts with a topic sentence and is followed by supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. Let's build a paragraph together.
Step1: Hmmm. What will we write about? Ahh. Let's write about smoking. Hmmm. What will we write? Smoking is a big topic. Exactly. Smoking is a big topic. Therefore, we need a controlling idea to limit the topic. How about this? Smoking is very popular on college campuses. See how we went from the general topic of smoking to its popularity on college campuses? That is because we controlled it. Now that we have a topic sentence, let's write a few supporting sentences.
Step 2: What will we say about smoking on college campuses? Maybe some students smoke because it is a social activity. That's good. Let's find another reason. How about this. Many students smoke to reduce stress from studying. Now we need at least one more supporting sentence. There are students who think that smoking makes them look cool or in control of their lives. Excellent! Now we need a concluding sentence.
Step 3: We all know that smoking is not healthy, right? Let's use a contrasting sentence. Why? Well, we know that smoking is not healthy, but many people like to smoke. Do you see the contrast here? Let's make our concluding sentence. Even though everyone knows that smoking is unhealthy, students at college still find great pleasure in lighting up. Do you see the idiom I used? The last phrase I used is [lighting up]. I did this for a couple of reasons. One is I did not want to use smoking twice in the same sentence. The second reason is it sounds more modern and casaual and less scientific.
Now let's put all of our steps together:
Smoking is very popular on college campuses. Some students smoke because it is a social activity. Many students smoke because they feel it reduces stress. Also, there are students who think that smoking makes them look cool or in control of their lives. Even though everyone knows that smoking is unhealthy, students at college still find great pleasure in lighting up.
There. We just made a very nice paragraph about the popularity of smoking. Keep working on ideas to develop. Try to develop two or three paragraphs a day for practice.
Step1: Hmmm. What will we write about? Ahh. Let's write about smoking. Hmmm. What will we write? Smoking is a big topic. Exactly. Smoking is a big topic. Therefore, we need a controlling idea to limit the topic. How about this? Smoking is very popular on college campuses. See how we went from the general topic of smoking to its popularity on college campuses? That is because we controlled it. Now that we have a topic sentence, let's write a few supporting sentences.
Step 2: What will we say about smoking on college campuses? Maybe some students smoke because it is a social activity. That's good. Let's find another reason. How about this. Many students smoke to reduce stress from studying. Now we need at least one more supporting sentence. There are students who think that smoking makes them look cool or in control of their lives. Excellent! Now we need a concluding sentence.
Step 3: We all know that smoking is not healthy, right? Let's use a contrasting sentence. Why? Well, we know that smoking is not healthy, but many people like to smoke. Do you see the contrast here? Let's make our concluding sentence. Even though everyone knows that smoking is unhealthy, students at college still find great pleasure in lighting up. Do you see the idiom I used? The last phrase I used is [lighting up]. I did this for a couple of reasons. One is I did not want to use smoking twice in the same sentence. The second reason is it sounds more modern and casaual and less scientific.
Now let's put all of our steps together:
Smoking is very popular on college campuses. Some students smoke because it is a social activity. Many students smoke because they feel it reduces stress. Also, there are students who think that smoking makes them look cool or in control of their lives. Even though everyone knows that smoking is unhealthy, students at college still find great pleasure in lighting up.
There. We just made a very nice paragraph about the popularity of smoking. Keep working on ideas to develop. Try to develop two or three paragraphs a day for practice.
