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Paragraph development continues with an elaboration on the controlling idea, perhaps with an explanation, implication, or statement about significance. In some cases, you may need more than one sentence to express a paragraph’s controlling idea.Ĭontrolling idea and topic sentence - Despite the fact that piranhas are relatively harmless, many people continue to believe the pervasive myth that piranhas are dangerous to humans.

Often, the controlling idea of a paragraph will appear in the form of a topic sentence. This idea directs the paragraph’s development. Paragraph development begins with the formulation of the controlling idea. Decide on a controlling idea and create a topic sentence Our example paragraph will be about human misconceptions of piranhas. For each step there is an explanation and example. We’ll walk through a 5-step process for building a paragraph that illustrates a point in an argument. (See an example in the 5-step process below.)įrom the list above, let’s choose “illustration” as our rhetorical purpose.

Illustration: Give examples and explain how those examples support your point.

Classification: Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic.

Perhaps follow a sequence-first, second, third.

Process: Explain how something works, step by step.

Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic.

Description: Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like.

Go chronologically, from start to finish. Below are a few possibilities for organization, with links to brief examples: The organization you choose will depend on the controlling idea of the paragraph. There are many different ways to organize a paragraph.

Well-developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph’s controlling idea (Rosen and Behrens 119).

Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development (Rosen and Behrens 119).

Clearly related to the thesis: The sentences should all refer to the central idea, or thesis, of the paper (Rosen and Behrens 119).

Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a single controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the paragraph).

What else should you keep in mind as you begin to create paragraphs? Every paragraph in a paper should be: So, let’s suppose that you have done some brainstorming to develop your thesis. Any cracks, inconsistencies, or other corruptions of the foundation can cause your whole paper to crumble. Building paragraphs can be like building a skyscraper: there must be a well-planned foundation that supports what you are building. There are many techniques for brainstorming whichever one you choose, this stage of paragraph development cannot be skipped. The decision about what to put into your paragraphs begins with the germination of a seed of ideas this “germination process” is better known as brainstorming.

The whole process is an organic one-a natural progression from a seed to a full-blown paper where there are direct, familial relationships between all of the ideas in the paper. A working thesis functions like a seed from which your paper, and your ideas, will grow. In other words, your paragraphs should remind your reader that there is a recurrent relationship between your thesis and the information in each paragraph. What is the most important idea that you are trying to convey to your reader? The information in each paragraph must be related to that idea. How do I decide what to put in a paragraph?īefore you can begin to determine what the composition of a particular paragraph will be, you must first decide on an argument and a working thesis statement for your paper. In this handout, we will refer to this as the “controlling idea,” because it controls what happens in the rest of the paragraph. Ultimately, a paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long. Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. A paragraph is defined as “a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit” (Lunsford and Connors 116). In reality, though, the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences is what constitutes a paragraph. Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc. Paragraphs are the building blocks of papers.

#Onemain how to

This handout will help you understand how paragraphs are formed, how to develop stronger paragraphs, and how to completely and clearly express your ideas.