Writing a Paragraph

A. What points does the author make in the preceding paragraph? In how many ways does he express the idea?

B. For what purpose does the author use repetition?

There are other possible ways of developing a paragraph: illustrations or examples, a combination of two or more methods.

Drafting Essays

Essay writing builds on many of the skills you have already mastered in learning to write a paragraph. Once you know how to write a paragraph, it is not much more difficult to write an essay; an essay is justlonger. Simply stated, an essay is a set of paragraphs about a specific subject. Like a paragraph, an essay makes and supports one main point. However, the subject of an essay is too complex to be developed in a few sentences. To support fully the main point of an essay, several paragraphs are needed. A typical essay contains five paragraphs, but many other types of essays are longer or shorter, depending on their purpose. In this book, you will learn the formula for a five-paragraph essay. Just as knowing the musical scales will help you compose music, understanding basic essay structure will help you write well.

Although many essays do not conform to the five-paragraph formula, most follow some pattern of organization. The formula is simply a plan to help you arrange your ideas into a systematic order. It has a recognizable beginning, middle, and end. If you know how to write a typical five-paragraph essay, you will always have something to fall back on.

Parts of an Essay

An essay has three main parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Each part has its own special purpose. Briefly, the introduction provides some background information on the subject and states the main point in a thesis statement. The body consists of several supporting paragraphs that develop the main idea. The essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes the main points.