viernes, 9 de mayo de 2014

A Well Written Paragraph



► American paragraph structure is different than the ones in other cultures:

             ▼The topic sentence:
    • One central idea
    • An opinion as an opener
    • One thesis statement
    • Has to be general
    • Should be indented at the beginning

               ▼The body contains the details (sentences and all other ideas should be directly related to the main idea).
  •                     Could be any length
  •                     Details:                                              
o      Why is this important?
o      What are the reasons?
o      Are there any examples of this?
  • There are two ways of ordering details: taking into account their level of importance, and/or chronologically (order of events)
  • The body should contain:
☼Flow- bridges (Sentences with clear connections to preceding and subsequent sentences, and paragraphs whose topic sentence is connected to the closing sentence of the preceding one, and so on)
☼Key terms
☼Variety of words
☼Links between words
                                                                        ☼Synonyms in order to avoid repetition
              ▼Closing sentence
    • Reminder of topic
    • Must keep the reader thinking
    • Must prepare the reader for the next paragraph

      ► Other things to take into account in order to write well-written paragraphs and academic papers:
    • Always ask yourself about what is expected of you
    • Use and make yourself fond of your module handbooks
    • What are the learning outcomes within this activity?
    • Use key direction words
    • Make a plan
    • Reread and edit
    • Proof read
    • Avoid going off on tangents
    • Always have the title in front of you
    • Provide a wide range of arguments


Students: Alvarenga Rodrigo and Mazzei Santiago


Cited Works
engVid.com (2009, May 19). Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCuExRE6N-4
engVid.com (2013, July 22). Writing Skills: The Paragraph [Video file]. Retrieved from
Edge Hill University (2013, Julne 20). Introduction to Academic Writing [Video file].
            Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CelpkwseU5U