In academic writing, students are required to divide their essays into several types of paragraphs:  introductory paragraph, main paragraphs and a concluding paragraph.  If an academic essay is one continuous piece of a text, it is difficult for any reader to follow the argument. Therefore, academic essays need paragraphs.

A paragraph is a group of sentences that develop one topic or idea.  The topic of one paragraph should follow logically from the topic of the previous paragraph and should lead on to the next paragraph.  The paragraphs in an academic essay have different topics, but they all develop a main idea, i.e. they add information, explain, and provide examples and illustrations until the main theme is fully explained to the reader.

This EXTRACT will help you understand the mechanics of good paragraphs.

Objectives

At the end of this extract you should be able to:

• Construct an introductory paragraph, main paragraphs and a concluding paragraph;

• Identify the components of a main paragraph;

• Identify topic sentences in a main paragraph;

• Identify supporting sentences and linking words in a paragraph;

• Construct written paragraphs that have topic sentences, supporting sentences and linking words.

1. Paragraph writing

1. 1.  The introductory paragraph

The introductory paragraph serves as the beginning of an essay.  It usually begins with a general statement about the topic, or in other words, it introduces the topic.  It also gives the reader limited information about the essay to orient the reader with the contents of the essay.  It also states the thesis i.e., purpose of the essay along with the controlling ideas which direct the essay.

Thesis statement

When readers read your essay, they expect it to be controlled by a main idea or a thesis.  In most cases, when writing the drafts, writers convert this main idea into what is called a thesis sentence (or sentences).

What are the functions of a thesis sentence?

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It reduces the topic to one central idea that a writer wants the readers to gain from. All the paragraphs that are developed in the essay are then designed to support this idea.

In most cases, it precisely previews how you arrange the entire contents of the essay.

It is the most important sentence in the essay. It acts as an umbrella over the essay. All ideas in the essay are then made to fit in this umbrella.

It is the strongest and most clear sentence of all. 

It usually comes at the beginning of the essay and at the end of the introductory paragraph.

It must not be stated in the form of a question, as a question carries no intent. Instead, the answer to such a question would be the actual thesis statement.

It contains controlling ideas that “control” the content of the essay and guide the reader.

There are usually two types of thesis statements.  The first type is one in which an intent is stated without evaluative words.  For example, a thesis statement could read as follows:

A college lecturer must have four qualities.

Note: The words in bold are controlling ideas.  These are the ideas on which the entire essay would be based.  Deviating from these ideas would mean that the student is waffling.  Waffling is a word used to describe a student who moves away from the topic and starts beating about the bush.

The second type of thesis statement is one in which an opinion is stated.  This is called a thesis statement of opinion.  Such thesis statements of opinion usually contain the purpose of the essay, and they have evaluative words such as best, worst, valuable, unpleasant and boring Look at the following example:

Our campus has four public toilets; these toilets present a serious health hazard to students.

The evaluative words that are underlined would, therefore, need answers.  A good and successful thesis statement is not vague and allows for qualification and specificity. An example drawn from Reid (1999) below demonstrates how a vague thesis statement is narrowed down to a better one.

The Koran is wonderful.

[The evaluative opinion wonderful is too vague to be supported in the essay.]

The Koran is the perfect book for everyone.

[Everyone is still too vague and perfect is difficult to support.]

The Koran is one of the best books in the world.

[Somewhat qualified, but brings a bigger topic, other religious books.]

The Koran is an important religious book.

[Important is more qualified, more objective but the sentence needs an additional idea to help direct the essay.]

The Koran is the basis of the lifestyle of millions of Muslims.

[Reasonable, specific, supportable opinion and clear intent for the essay.]

It is very important to remember that the thesis statement is placed at the end of the introductory paragraph.  It is also crucial to understand that all other paragraphs that follow must develop from this thesis sentence.

1. 2.  Main paragraph

A main paragraph in an essay consists of a topic sentence and supporting sentences. A topic sentence is the main idea of a paragraph that is usually expressed in one sentence (the main idea or topic sentence). This sentence is usually found at the beginning of a paragraph but may come in the middle of a paragraph or at the end of a paragraph. The rest of the paragraph generally expands on the main sentence. All the sentences that expand on the topic (main) sentence are known as the supporting sentences. (Compare with section 1.3)

Study the following paragraphs.  The topic sentences are in bold and italics.  Notice the sentences surrounding the topic sentences.

The population as a whole was unevenly distributed. The north was particularly thinly settled and the east densely populated, but even in counties like Warwickshire where there were substantial populations, some woodland areas were sparsely peopled. There was already relatively dense settlement in the prime arable areas of the country like Norfolk, Suffolk and Leicestershire. Modern estimates of England's total population, extrapolated from Doomsday patterns, vary between 1 and 3 million.

Atoms of all elements consist of a central nucleus surrounded by a "cloud" containing one or more electrons. The electrons can be thought of as occupying a series of well-defined shells. The behaviour of a particular element depends largely on the number of electrons in its outermost shells. Other factors, such as the total number of electron shells, also play a part in determining behaviour but it is the dominance of the outer electron configuration that underlies the periodic law and justifies the grouping of the elements into groups or families. 

 In general, Victorian families were big. In 1851 their average size was 4.7, roughly the same as it had been in the seventeenth century, but the 1½ million couples who married during the 1860s, which the historian G. M. Young described as the best decade in English history to have been brought up in, raised the figure to 6.2. Only one out of eight families had one or two children, while one in six had ten or more, so that the counsel 'little children should be seen and not heard' was prudent rather than simply authoritarian advice.

 The spoken word (whether conversation or oratory or the coy mixture of the two which is now familiar to us on television) is a very different thing from the written word. What is effective or allowable or desirable in the one may be quite the reverse in the other, and the extempore speaker cannot correct himself by revision as the writer can and should. It is therefore not fair to take a report of a speech or of an oral statement and criticise it as if it were a piece of considered writing. 

 This is a period when education faces many disturbing circumstances originating outside itself. Budgets have been drastically cut throughout the country affecting every type of education. Enrolments are dropping rapidly, because the children of the post-World War II "baby boom" have now completed their schooling, and we are feeling the full effect of the falling birth rate. So there are fewer opportunities for new teachers, and the average age of teachers is increasing.   (Note.  Example paragraphs taken and adapted from Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education: Academic Writing Web site (Writing Paragraphs, Topic), by A. Gillett, n.d., Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm)

2.   Linking words in academic paragraphs

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