Matakuliah
Tahun
Versi
: Writing III
: 2006-2007
:3
Pertemuan 1
What is a paragraph?
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Learning Outcomes
• By the end of this session the students are
expected to
– Know what this subject (writing III) is about
– Understand what a paragraph is
– Be able to recognize which paragraph is good
and which is not
– Be able to write a simple paragraph
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Outline Materi
• Overview of the materials in Writing III
• Definition of a paragraph
• The difference between a paragraph and
an essay
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Overview of Writing III
• This course aims to prepare students to
write different types of essays such as
descriptive, narrative, exposition, division,
cause-effects and compare contrast.
• The students will be taken through several
steps to write their own cohesive and
coherent essays.
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• These steps include how to write the
thesis statement and supporting details,
organize their essays, write the
introduction, body and conclusion of
different types of essays.
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What is a paragraph?
A paragraph is
– a collection of sentences which has one
main idea
– The main idea is expressed in a topic
sentence, which is usually the first
sentence in a paragraph.
– This topic sentence is supported by all
the other sentences in the paragraph
– The ideas in the sentences are
connected one with another
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How to write a paragraph
• Write your main idea in a sentence 
topic sentence
• Write other sentences that expand or give
more information on that sentence
• The other sentences could be examples,
definition, reasons, etc., of the topic.
• A paragraph should be indented (the first
line should be in 2-3 cm from the left
margin)
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What is an essay?
• An essay consists of several paragraphs
which connected one with another
• It should have one purpose or main idea
• This idea is expressed in a thesis
statement
• The thesis statement consists of points to
be expanded in several paragraphs
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Conclusions
– A paragraph consists of sentences that are connected
in one main idea
– The main idea is expressed in a topic sentence
– The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the
paragraph
– All other sentences support the topic sentence
– An essay consists of paragraphs which has the same
main idea
– The main idea is expressed in a thesis statement
– The thesis statement is expandable into several
paragraphs
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