A
group letters is a word. A group of words (having complete sense,) is sentence.
A group of sentence (supporting one idea) is a paragraph. Paragraph writing is
nothing but solid evidence. Paragraph writing is a art. Like other arts, it can
also be learnt and mastered by learning some principels and acting upon them.
You will have here the most important techniques and principles for writing
paragraphs and later essays. There are four steps for writing an effective
paragraph.
(1) Make a point.
(2) Back up your
point.
(3) Organise the
support.
(4) Sentence skills.
Let us now look at each of above mentioned steps one by one.
STEP
ONE: Make a point.
it is
advisable to state your point in very first sentence. the point, or idea, of a
paragraph is called a topic sentence. whole the paragraph relates to topic
sentence. make sure all the details are directly relevant to topic sentence? if
you add irrelevant details your paragraph is going to be weaker, and weak
paragraph does not capture the attention of the reader. If you fail to catch
your reader’s heed, he/she will not read your paragraph with interest and
finally he/she may put it a side. In paragraph, first and last places are very
important. Induce your reader in first sentence to read more and have interest
so that he/she likes your writing skills.
Understanding
a topic sentence.
An effective
topic sentence does two things. First, it provides the topic of a paragraph.
Second, it demonstrates the writer’s point of you/idea/opinoin about the topic.
For instance, look at the following sentences:
(a) Karachi
is the biggest city of pakistan.
(b) Pakistan
will eliminate terrorism very soon.
(c) Quaid e
azam was a great leader of muslims of sub-continent.
(d) Punjab
library is the largest one in pakistan.
(c) C.S.S is
the only way for the poor to get job in pakistan.
Did you
notice anything in above sentences? What did you notice? Do you think these are
only sentences?
Above
mentioned sentences are five different
topics and their topic sentences. Look at sentence (a) “karachi is the
biggest city of pakistan.” So in this sentence “karachi” is a topic and “is the
biggest city of pakistan” is a writer’s idea about topic. Similarly, (b), (c,
(d)) and (e).
NOTE:
your topic is a genral
idea. Supporting idea is specific one. This will be described below.
STEP
TWO: back up your point.
You have
made a point and provided an effective topic sentence. now it is time for
supporting the point you have made. To support your point you may provide
specific reasons, examples, experince etc. Your supporting details should be
concise so that your reader can understand it throughly. The more brief and
specific your supporting details are, the better your reader can make picture
of your paragraph in his/her mind.
Understanding
general versus specific ideas
paragraph
has main idea, which is general idea and the details which support the general
idea(topic) are specific ones. To write an effective and impressive paragraph,
you should understand the general and specific ideas.
Do you know
that you use general and specific ideas on daily basis? Yes, you do, but you do
not know about them. For example: you may say that “apple is good for health”
and after that you go on telling benefits of apple. So in this example “apple is
good for health” is general idea(topic sentence) and the “benefits” which you
provide are the specific details and strong evidence about topic. Another
example: “dog is faithful animal” this is general idea. You support it with
specific details those will be specific one because they are giving evidence
that dog is faithful, and i am not
randomly saying it without any proof.
Selecting
details that support
the details
in your paragraph clearly relate to and support your topic sentence. if details
are irrelevant, your paragraph is going to lose unity. If unity is lost,
nothing is in paragraph. For example: if your topic is, “economy of pakistan is
going down day by day” so in this topic you should discuss only the reasons of
going down of economy with examples, experience, some study etc. You should not
discuss political aspect of pakistan because topic is economy not politics. If
you mix relevant and irrelevant details in your paragraph your paragraph will
not be read by anyone.
Omitting
and grouping detail in planning a paragraph
There are
three steps for this task.
(1) make a
list of details of your point.
(2) omit
irrelevant material from your list.
(3) group
the details which is remaining detail in a logical way.
By doing so you will master that what relevant
and irrelevant details are. You will catch the secret of effective and
successful writing.
STEP
THREE: ORGANISE THE SUPPORT
There are
two common ways of organising the support in a paragraph, listing order and time order.
you are supposed to learn and understand them. You should also learn signal
words (transitional words), which increases effectiveness of a paragraph.
Transitions are words or phrases
which show relationships among ideas. They are like singposts which are
installed on roads to show the direction to the travellers. The signposts are
installed to facilitate travellers to tell them where to move now. Transitions
are like a bridges which connect two roads. As bridges connect two road so is
the job of trasitions. They connect two thoughts and direct the reader that
writer is connecting another reason with the first or writer is introducing
another idea to support the topic. You must use transitional words. They will
help you organise and connect new idea, and they will help your readers follow
the direction of your thoughts.
Listing
order
A writer
gives a list of some particular reasons, examples, or details. The most
important are set first and the last because first words arouses the interest
of the reader and the last satisfies him, and last words will be long-lasting
in readers’ minds.
Use
transitions before you introduce any new idea. Here are some transitions for
you to use:
First of all second also another for one thing last of all in addition moreover furthermore finally
Time
order
Use time
order to arrange your supporting ideas in a way they occured or arrange them in
a chronological order, for example: 1,2,3,4,5 should be time order. first this
happened then this after that this finally etc. This method is mainly followed
in narration or direction.
Use
transitions wherever they are required.
STEP
FOUR: write clear, error-free sentences
Use correct
spelling, grammar, punctuation marks. If you use all of them correctly, your
sentences will be clear and well-written. If you have any problem in these
things, it does not matter. Keep a better handbook of english grammar and also
keep a authentic dictionary nearby when you are writing. Even senior writers
sometimes need a dictionary and handbook while they are writing.
