UNDERSTANDING THE PARAGRAPH

What is paragraph?

A paragraph is a series of sentences that are organized and coherent, and are all related to a single topic. Almost every piece of writing you do that is longer than a few sentences should be organized into paragraphs.
Paragraphs are basic structural units of extended prose writing.
A paragraph can identify an idea, develop it with illustrations and details and reinforce with a conclusion.

The Basic Parts of a Paragraph

Topic Sentence

The topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is going to be about. It also helps you keep your writing under control. This is why a topic sentence is sometimes called the "controlling idea" of a paragraph. Below you will find a sample topic sentence and a simple formula for writing good topic sentences:
Topic sentence: Mr. Brown must have been a drill sergeant before he became our gym teacher.
Formula: A specific subject (Mr. Brown, our gym teacher) + a specific feeling or attitude (must have been a drill sergeant before) = a good topic sentence.


Body

The body is the main part of the paragraph. This is where you tell the reader about your topic by including specific details. All of the sentences in the body must relate to the specific topic of the paragraph and help it come alive for the reader. That is, all of the sentences in the body should contain details that make the topic more interesting or help explain it more clearly. These sentences should be organized in the best possible order.

Concluding Remarks

The closing or clincher sentence comes after all the details have been included in the body of the paragraph. The closing sentence reminds the reader what the topic of the paragraph is really all about, what it means. For example, let's say the topic sentence of a paragraph is "Mr. Brown must have been a drill sergeant before he became our gym teacher." A closing sentence for this paragraph could be something like the following:
Closing sentence: I'm surprised that Mr. Brown doesn't make us march into the shower room after each class.

Sample Paragraph

My Dog Romeo is so much fun to play with. One reason he’s fun is because he loves to play catch. What’s also fun is that he follows me around the house with a toy and drops it on my foot, so I will kick it. Additionally, he can catch just about anything, but his favorite thing to catch is a Frisbee. Finally, he loves it when I pretend like I’m falling dead, and he runs over to lick me. All these reasons show why I really have fun playing with Romeo.

The paragraph is the main structural unit of any passage. To find a paragraph's purpose, ask yourself
o Why did the author include this paragraph?
o What shift did the author have in mind when moving on to this paragraph?
o What bearing does this paragraph have on the author's main idea?
This process allows you to create a "mental road map" of the passage. You are taking the test on a computer screen. You cannot label the paragraphs. Instead, remember the structure as you proceed and/or use scrap paper to draw a rough diagram of the essay as you go. Some students feel comfortable drawing the diagram. There are two purposes to creating a map of the essay: 1) it will help you better understand the essay and 2) it will help you locate specific details later if you get a specific detail question.

Let's look at the earlier essay:

One of the most persistently troubling parts of national domestic policy is the development and use of water resources. Because the technology of water management involves similar construction skills, whether the task is the building of an ocean jetty for protection of shipping or the construction of a river dam for flood control and irrigation, the issues of water policy have mingled problems of navigation and agriculture. A further inherent complexity of water policy is the frequent conflict between flood control and irrigation, between requirements for abundance and those for scarcity of water. Both problems exist in America, often in the same river basins; the one is most typically the problem of the lower part of the basin and the other the problem of the upper part.

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Then there are the problems of cities located along the major American rivers, not infrequently directly on the very flood plains of highly erratic streams. In the arid parts of the land, it has recently become clear that climate varies over time, with irregular periods of serious drought followed by wet periods marked by occasional floods. The problems of land and water, then, are inherently difficult. For this reason alone, shortcomings and failures have probably been inevitable. Moreover, in the scale of the undertakings that have been attempted involving on occasion no less than the reversal of stream flow and the altering of the natural features of whole river basins, it is inevitable.

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Nevertheless, the most startling fact about the history of water projects in the United States is the degree to which their shortcomings have been associated with administrative failures. Again and again these shortcomings have proved to be the consequences of inadequate study of water flow, of soils, of factors other than construction technology and of faulty organization. In 1959, the Senate Select Committee on National Water resources found that twenty different national commissions or committees charged with examining these problems and seeking solutions had emphasized with remarkable consistency the need for coordination among agencies dealing with water.

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Draw the roadmap:

Paragraph 1. This paragraph is a discussion of the conflicts over scarce water resources (flood control vs. irrigation, lower part vs. higher part of basin).
Paragraph 2. Because climate varies, it creates inherent conflict in how to use a water supply that constantly changes.
Paragraph 3. The major problem with water policy is administrative failures. Coordination is needed between agencies.

If you see how the essay is set up, you will better understand the essay and more quickly find answers.