WHAT IS A

PARAGRAPH?
 A PARAGRAPH
• It is a group of sentences that developes ONE main idea: its topic. The
topic is the subject of the paragraph, what the paragraph is about.
• The first sentence of the paragraph is indented. That is, it starts a little bit
more to the right than the rest of the sentences in this group.
• A good paragraph contains these five elements:
1: INDENTATION (sangría); 2: TOPIC SENTENCE; 3: CONTROLLING IDEA; 4:
CONCLUDING SENTENCE; 5: UNITY AND COHERENCE
 (2) TOPIC SENTENCE and (3)
CONTROLLING IDEAS
As we stated before, a good paragraph develops ONE TOPIC. That topic is
usually introduced in the first sentence of the paragraph, which is called the
TOPIC SENTENCE. By reading the topic sentence, the reader should be able to
tell what is going to be developed afterwards. A good topic sentence also serves to
state an idea or attitude towards the topic, which is called the CONTROLLING
IDEA. For example, in the paragraph given as an example, the topic is
“smoking”, and the controlling idea is “expensive”. With the same topic, there
could have been other controlling ideas, for example, that of smoking being
unhealthy. But as a paragraph develops ONE idea, and the controlling one was
“expensive”, that was the only idea developed.
SUPPORTING SENTENCES
• They make up the body of your text.

• They develop the topic sentence.

• They explain the topic sentence by giving

reasons, examples, facts, statistics and
quotations.
(4) THE CONCLUDING SENTENCE
• It signals the end of the paragraph
• It summarizes the main points of the paragraph/provides a
reflection on the topic.
• It leaves the reader with important points to remember.
• It can paraphrase the topic sentence ie. repeat the main idea
of the topic sentence in different words.
• To introduce your concluding sentence, you can use an end-of-
paragraph signal such as “In conclusion, In summary, Finally,
All in all” etc.
 (5)UNITY
It means that you discuss only one main idea in a paragraph. This
main idea is stated in the topic sentence and then each and every
supporting sentence develops that idea.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE TEXTS IN THE FOLLOWING

SLIDE. Which one is unified and which one is not? Can you
identify the sentences that are not related to the topic sentence?
TEXT 1
Effects of color
Colors create biological reactions in our bodies. These reactions, in turn, can change our behavior. In one
study, prisoners were put in a pink room, and they underwent a drastic and measurable decrease in muscle
strength and hostility within 2.7 seconds. In another study, athletes needing short bursts of energy were exposed
to red light. Their muscle strength increased by 13.5 percent. (…) Other studies have shown that color green is
calming. Maybe that is why it was sacred for the Egyptians, who considered green to represent hope and joy for
spring and thus, believed it to be a sacred color. To sum up, colors influence us in many ways.

TEXT 2
Effects of color
Colors create biological reactions in our bodies. These reactions, in turn, can change our
behavior. In one study, prisoners were put in a pink room, and they underwent a drastic and
measurable decrease in muscle strength and hostility within 2.7 seconds. In another study, athletes
needing short bursts of energy were exposed to red light. Their muscle strength increased by 13.5
percent. Other studies have shown that color green is calming. After London´s Blackfriars Bridge was
painted green, the number of suicides decreased by 34 percent. These and other studies clearly
demonstrate that color affects not only our mood but our behavior as well.
As you may have noticed, text 2 is unified and text 1 is not.

The topic of the text was “color”, and the controlling idea was “reactions in
our bodies”. That means that all ideas in the paragraph have to be directly
directed to that idea and need to support it. Although the fact that “Egiptians
considering Green as sacred” is connected to the topic, it is not connected to
the effect is has on our bodies. Thus, the two sentences about that have to
go.

You may also have noticed that:

- The text was indented
- There is a concluding sentence that reestates the main idea and
summarizes the fact that evidence was presented in the body of the text.
(5) COHERENCE
It means that your paragraph is easy to read and understand
because
1) your supporting sentences are in some kind of logical order
and
2) your ideas are connected by the use of appropriate transition
signals ( connectors).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Oshima, Alice, and Anne Hogue. Writing Academic English. Pearson Longman, 2005.

White, Nancy. Kaplan Writing Power. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

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