Successful paragraphing

I. WRITING ESSAYS

An essay is a writing peace in which we state our ideas on practice. The subject of a topic determines a type of the essay. According to a purpose of an essay there are description essays, narrative essays, expository¹ essays and discursive² essays.

A descriptive essay enables the reader to understand the structure of an object, i.e. different aspects of the main object represent the structure. You can describe the properties of an element, the procedure of an experiment etc.

Narration is writing about a succession of events, often in a chronological order. It can be an account of some event about your first day at the university. Narrative essay is a story told in first person, a reflective account of an experience.

Expository essays are writings with a referential aim to explain something. There exist two types of expository essays.

· A classification essay explains how something works and what part it plays in the wider scheme of things, categories, i.e. types of semiconducting materials, why one thing is better than the other.

· A cause and effect essay offers the conclusive statement of one thing followed by the consideration of several reasons.

Discursive essays are writings to demonstrate an argument on a specific and controversial topic, situation or problem. There exist three types of the discursive essays.

· A for and against essay is a sketch in which the author gives the arguments for and against (supporting and opposing) the points of the issue.

· An opinion essay presents our personal opinion on a particular subject.

· A problem-solution essay offers the way to the problem solution.

All writing should contain an introduction, main body and conclusion. The introduction presents your argument; the rest of the paper gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

The hardest part of writing is getting started. No one can say when and how inspiration will strike you. It comes to those who work much for it. You can try it by freewriting, i.e. writing non-stop foe twenty minutes about a specific topic.

¹ expository - пояснювальний

² discursive – дискурсивний; той, що перестрибує з одного питання на інше

The structure and texture of an essay

The structure of an essay is the order of its major parts, the way its main points have been arranged and connected with each other. In a well-structured essay an introduction leads to middle and the middle in turns flows to a conclusion The fluidity of this structure depends on three things: unity, continuity and progression.

· An essay has unity when all of its points serve to develop, illustrate or even to oppose the thesis.

· An essay has continuity when the reader can see a line of thought, when the opening sentence of a new paragraph has connection with the closing sentence of the one before it.

· An essay has progression when each new paragraph adds something new to the points already made..

Successful paragraphing

The secret of successful writing is learning to think in paragraphs, not in sentences. A paragraph is defined as a short text of at least three sentences devoted to one topic.

Successful paragraphing is essential to good writing. As a general rule a paragraph contains sentences to develop an idea. One idea can't be separated over several paragraphs. The main idea of the paragraph is in the key sentence (topic sentence). It is usually the first sentence but sometimes it can come later in the paragraph.

· The topic sentence may be the first sentence of the paragraph. Such paragraphs state their central idea first and then add details supporting it.

· The topic sentence may be the last sentence of the paragraph. Such paragraphs give details first and lead up to the main point in the final sentence.

· The topic sentence in the paragraph occupies a medial position.

The other sentences should relate to one main idea, they either support it by giving more information or develop a line of thought. Supporting details include anecdotes, facts, opinions, quotations and statistics. A final sentence often signals what will come next.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29