August 7, 2004

Flash back
By now, you know all about brainstorming and arranging ideas in order of priority in your essay. Essentially, every essay has three main parts: Introduction, body text and conclusion. Now let’s start improving our writing from the very core.

Every essay is essentially divided into a number of paragraphs. A paragraph is a group of sentences, all about one main idea. It usually has and begins with a topic sentence, but this can sometimes come after the very first sentence. The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph and is then supported by other sentences. These provide appropriate detail.

So you see? You create a fresh paragraph when you feel a need to discuss a new idea.

Take a look at this paragraph

Sample I
Puppies need to have a proper bed for themselves at home. Never place the water bowl or food items inside the pen. Puppies love to chew at anything. The best way to prevent your pup from shredding your slippers, carpet or toilet paper is to provide him with a chew toy in his pen. It will also keep him from chewing or biting dangerous things.

This is a poorly written paragraph, lacking a topic sentence and a proper flow. Reading it is not very pleasurable.

Now read this paragraph.

Sample II
Puppies need to have a proper bed for themselves at home. The best way to contain them is to keep them in a comfortable puppy-pen where they can feel secure and stay out of trouble. You must ensure that your puppy’s pen is clean and dry. Never place the water bowl or food items inside the pen since puppies will always spill the water and create quite a mess inside. Puppies love to chew at anything. The best way to prevent your pup from shredding your slippers, carpet or toilet paper is to provide him with a chew toy in his pen. It will also keep him from chewing or biting dangerous things.

See the difference? Notice how the topic sentence (in bold italics) introduces the paragraphs contents. The sentences that follow are adequately related to the topic sentence and create a nice flow through the writing.

Now make sure to keep these things in mind while writing. See you next week. Bye!

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