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The “P” part of your paragraph is your topic sentence: a clear statement of the main claim you are making in the paragraph. The “I” fills out the body of ...
Typology: Lecture notes
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WHAT ARE PARAGRAPHS?
Paragraphs group related sentences around one main point, so the paragraphs can work together to prove the larger argument (the thesis) in an essay. Paragraphs provide visual breaks between ideas and signal a progression of ideas in the essay.
WHAT KINDS OF PARAGRAPHS ARE THERE?
In an essay, you’ll have the following types of paragraphs:
Introductions capture your reader’s interest, establish a context for your topic, and smoothly lead your reader into your topic and thesis. You can read more about them in Chapter 8: Introductions (220-226).
Body paragraphs develop each of the main points and sub-points needed for your thesis to be credible. Body paragraphs contain topic sentences, evidence and analysis. You will read more about them in this chapter.
Conclusions help you bring together the points you’ve made in an essay, they delve into the larger significance or impact of your argument, and they should leave your reader convinced of that central argument. You can read more about them in Chapter 8: Conclusions (227-231).
PARAGRAPHS DO NOT:
Consist of only quotes Consist of only facts Consist of only summary Contain a series of sentences not related to one another or to the thesis.
WHY USE PARAGRAPHS?
● RELEVANCY: Paragraphs help your reader to follow the logic of the essay and clearly see how each of your body paragraphs is related to your thesis. ● FOCUS: Paragraphs help your reader easily identify the one main idea in each paragraph and how each of the sentences within that paragraph contributes to this main idea. ● ORGANIZATION: Along with transitions and topic sentences, paragraph breaks help your reader understand you are moving on to a new point or aspect of your essay. DEVELOPMENT: Paragraphs require critical thinking to prove the main point of the essay by making connections with textual evidence, outside evidence, and your own analysis. VOICE: Paragraphs are a place where you get to say what you think and prove why you’re right.
Sample PIE Paragraph
See the PIE paragraph structure in the first body paragraph from an essay on
Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”:
Of course, PIE paragraphs don’t always need to look exactly like this; while you
want to start a paragraph with your main Point , you might alternate between
Information and Explanation , so that your paragraph could look like this:
P I E I E.
EXAMPLE
Creating Paragraphs Using the PIE Paragraph Approach
Let’s practice creating paragraphs using the PIE paragraph approach.
First, select a topic:
immigration the president reality shows rap music the health care system police profiling legalizing all drugs the minimum wage a topic raised in your current class reading
Second, using the topic you selected, write a topic sentence that states the main oint claim (your specific opinion) that you want to argue that fits the size of the paragraph:
Third, brainstorm concrete evidence/information you can use to prove your main claim:
Fourth, analyze and explain the significance, importance or impact of your evidence and claims:
Finally, using all the advice in this chapter, put it all together into a complete paragraph.
PRACTICE
WHAT IS A TOPIC SENTENCE?
The PIE paragraph strategy begins with a topic sentence, and knowing how to build a strong topic sentence is the foundation of writing a convincing paragraph.
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF A TOPIC SENTENCE?
The main point (claim) of a paragraph is often indicated in a single sentence called the topic sentence. A topic sentence is like a thesis in that you can also ask yourself: Can I disagree? You want to be able to answer YES to show that there is an arguable claim that needs to be proven. While it is true that in published writing you’ll sometimes find topic sentences in the middle or even at the end of a paragraph, placing your topic sentences at the beginning of each of your paragraphs is useful because:
A strong topic sentence can help you, the writer, to focus each paragraph on one main point.
A strong topic sentence can help your reader to see where you are headed with your ideas in a particular paragraph; topic sentences help your reader form a mental map of your essay.
WHY USE TOPIC SENTENCES?
A strong topic sentence connects back to your overall thesis and connects forward to the specific supporting point you are making in the paragraph to prove and illustrate your thesis and this makes the paragraph focused and unified. Here is a visual:
And forward to the supporting point
Connects back to the thesis
THESIS
Topic
Sentence
Supporting Point
HOW CAN I WRITE STRONG
TOPIC SENTENCES?
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES A STRONG TOPIC SENTENCE FROM A WEAK ONE?
CHOOSING THE TOPIC SENTENCE THAT FITS:
The topic sentence of the paragraphs below has been removed. Read them carefully and then choose the best topic sentence among the four choices below. Be prepared to explain your choice.
This belief is especially common among weight lifters who often consume large quantities of high protein foods and dietary supplements, thinking it will improve their athletic performance. Like weightlifters, football players consume too much protein, expecting it to produce additional muscle energy. Although it is true that muscles contain more protein than other tissues, there is no evidence that a high protein diet actually constructs more muscle tissue than a normal diet. Nutritionists point out that muscle cells grow not from excess protein but from exercise: when a muscle is used, it pulls in protein for its consumption. This is how a muscle grows and strengthens. If athletes want to increase their muscle mass, then they must exercise in addition to following a well-balanced, normal diet.
Lately parents and critics across the country have been making a bigger fuss about the number and content of commercials aimed at children, and it seems as though the media has become a scapegoat for adults who have set questionable health guidelines for their children. It is both logical and factual to state that parents are the number one authority for most everything in their child’s life, which of course includes food choices. Recent studies from the Institute of Medicine found that the easiest and most reliable measure of understanding a child’s health and diet is to look at the health and diet of the parents. It is very likely that a child’s obesity did not come from the media, but from behaviors within the family. Even if advertisements became restricted or more limited, if parents do not enforce healthy diets or teach nutrition, the children will have learned nothing. Timothy J. Muris of The Wall Street Journal realizes that without addressing the issues of parental control, the ban on child food advertisements are “appealing on the surface, but ultimately useless.”
PRACTICE
CREATING A TOPIC SENTENCE THAT FITS:
Now try creating your own topic sentences for the following paragraphs:
_________________________________________________________________________________________ Famous inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, did so poorly in his first years of school that his teachers warned his parents that he'd never be a success at anything. Similarly, Henry Ford, the father of the auto industry, had trouble in school with both reading and writing. But perhaps the best example is Albert Einstein, whose parents and teachers suspected that he was mentally disabled because he responded to questions so slowly and in a stuttering voice. Einstein's high school record was poor in everything but math, and he failed his college entrance exams the first time. Even out of school the man had trouble holding a job-until he announced the theory of relativity.
_____ _____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Young girls not only play with Barbie dolls that display impossible, even comical, proportions, but they are also bombarded with images of supermodels. These images leave an indelible mental imprint of what society believes a female body should look like. Carri Kirby, a University of Nebraska mental health counselor, adds that there is a halo effect to body image as well: “We immediately identify physical attractiveness to mean success and happiness.”
_____ _____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Boys tend to gather in large, competitive groups. They play games that have clear winners and losers and bluster through them, boasting about their skill. Girls, early on, gather in small groups, playing theatrical games that don’t feature hierarchy or winners. One study of children aged three to four found they were already resolving conflict in separate ways—boys resorting to threats, girls negotiating verbally and often reaching a compromise.
PRACTICE
HOW CAN I BEST USE TRANSITIONS?
Being familiar with different transitions and the logical direction each signals is the first step in using them effectively in your writing.
PATTERNS OF ORGANIZATION AND THEIR TRANSITIONAL WORDS:
Addition (providing additional examples):
furthermore, again, also, further, moreover, besides, likewise, and, indeed, in addition, too, next, first, second
Cause and Effect (showing one element as producing or causing a result or effect):
because, for this reason, consequently, hence, as a result, thus, due to, therefore, if, so, since
Concession (acknowledging the merits of the counter argument before reasserting an opinion):
whereas, granted that, even though, though, yet, while, although
Illustration (explaining using examples): that is, for example, to illustrate, for instance, in fact, specifically, as seen in
Comparison (listing similarities among items):
in a similar way, similarly, parallels, likewise, in alike manner, also, in the same manner
Contrast (listing differences among items): on the other hand, more than, but, however, conversely, on the contrary, although, nevertheless, still, in contrast, yet, even though
Definition (defining a concept and expanding with examples and restatements):
can be defined, means, for example, like, in short, specifically
Description (listing characteristics or details using vivid language):
is, as, like, could be described (using adjectives, adverbs and language that touches on the senses)
Location or Spatial Order (identifying the whereabouts of objects or people):
next to, near, below, above, close by, within, without, beside, around, to the right or left, opposite
Narration or Time Order (listing events in order of occurrence): first, second, finally, after, before, next, later, now, at last, until, at the same time, while, during, as, meanwhile, then, immediately
Simple Listing (randomly listing items in a series):
also, another, several, for example
Summary (condensing major points): in conclusion, to restate, briefly, to sum up, in short, in a nutshell, in other words, therefore, in summary
INSERTING APPROPRIATE TRANSITIONAL WORDS:
(1) Many people think that heavy fishing of a lake will eventually cause a serious depletion of the stock of fish; ____________________ in a lake with a limited food supply, heavy fishing often increases the fish supply.
(2) I didn’t finish my homework, I’m behind in the reading, and I didn’t study for the exam today;
____________________ I think I’m going to fail the class and have to take it again.
(3) The torrential rains in the Los Angeles area were highly destructive to the economy; _____________________ the rains brought much needed water to the farmers, the destruction to property and crops was enormous.
(4) Today, college women are finding many acceptable alternatives to the "graduate and get married" pattern of the past. Many women _____________________ are pursuing graduate degrees or joining the military.
(5) She had acquired some bad habits over the years of impatience and procrastination; ______________________ she started smoking and stopped working out.
MAKING PARAGRAPHS COHESIVE AND LOGICAL USING TRANSITIONS:
Obstetricians perform too many cesareans. They can schedule deliveries for their own convenience. They can avoid
sleepless nights and canceled parties. They resort to cesareans in any difficult delivery to protect themselves
against malpractice suits. Cesareans involve larger fees and hospital bills than normal deliveries. Cesarean patients
spend about twice as many days in the hospital as other mothers.
The National Institutes of Health confirmed that doctors were performing many unnecessary cesarean sections.
They suggested ways to reduce their use. The recommendation was widely publicized. The obstetricians
apparently failed to take note. In 1985, the operation was performed in 16.5 percent of United States' births. In
1992, 24.7 percent of the births were Cesareans.
PRACTICE
IDENTIFYING TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES:
After secretly learning to read and write on his own, Douglass discovered that freeing his mind led to anguished torment as he was unable to free himself from the entrenched institutions of slavery but change was set in motion. Being awakened to the stark realities of his condition only served to plunge Douglass into despair: “As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish (84). Once Douglass’s eyes were opened, he invariably suffered: “… I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (84). So is ignorance bliss? The answer for us to live in a fair and decent world has to be no, never. To be ignorant allows others not only to make choices for you but to limit your choices without you even realizing it. Not knowing the factors and people who shape your life, enables those in power to act in their own self-interest and have no accountability when doing so. It also makes people unable to recognize when they are victimized by unjust situations, and if you cannot see the problem, then you can never demand or bring about change. After Douglass understood the evils of slavery, he suffered initially and even entertained thoughts of suicide, but later he escaped to the north and became an influential leader in the abolitionist movement and spent the remainder of his life fighting for the equality and rights of blacks as well as women.
PRACTICE
CHOOSING THE TOPIC SENTENCE THAT FITS:
CREATING A TOPIC SENTENCE THAT FITS:
1) On inventors:
Doing well in school does not always demonstrate intelligence or future success.
2) On eating disorders:
The images of beauty we are surrounded by are unrealistic and impossible to attain and make many women feel unattractive and deeply unhappy with themselves.
3) On Deborah Blum’s article:
The female approach to interacting with one another is more harmonious and democratic.
ANSWERS
IDENTIFYING TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES:
After secretly learning to read and write on his own , Douglass discovered that freeing his mind led to anguished torment as he was unable to free himself from the entrenched institutions of slavery but change was set in motion. Being awakened to the stark realities of his condition only served to plunge Douglass into despair: “ As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish (84). Once Douglass’s eyes were opened , he invariably suffered: “… I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony , I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity” (84). So is ignorance bliss? The answer for us to live in a fair and decent world has to be no, never. To be ignorant allows others not only to make choices for you but to limit your choices without you even realizing it. Not knowing the factors and people who shape your life, enables those in power to act in their own self-interest and have no accountability when doing so. It also makes people unable to recognize when they are victimized by unjust situations, and if you cannot see the problem, then you can never demand or bring about change. After Douglass understood the evils of slavery , he suffered initially and even entertained thoughts of suicide, but later he escaped to the north and became an influential leader in the abolitionist movement and spent the remainder of his life fighting for the equality and rights of blacks as well as women.
ANSWERS
