• It should not be a statement of facts e.g. July 1st is my birthday.
• A topic sentence should limit the topic e.g. Something about basketball will be discussed.
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Topic: basketball Topic sentences:
1. Basketball was played first in the US. history 2. Basketball is far less dangerous than American football. difference 3. Basketball is popular in the US for three reasons. reason 4. I can’t forget the day when I played basketball for the first time. experience
topic) 2. Writing (narrow down the
topic) 3. Revising and editing
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Pre-writing
Before writing, you should think about what do you want to write and what can you write.
concluding sentence_______
what he is going to read
should be related to the main idea use examples, personal experiences, details, facts and statistics
The rest of the paragraph consists of sentences that develop or explain the topic
sentence
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• Through the centuries rats have managed to survive all our efforts to destroy them. We have poisoned them and trapped them. We have flooded and burned them. Some rats even survived atomic bomb tests conducted on Entwetok in the Pacific after World War II. In spite of all our efforts, these enemies of ours continue to prove that they are the most indestructible pests.
restating the main idea suggest a solution to the problem ask a question predict what is going to happen
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The Topic Sentence
• The topic of a paragraph is stated in one sentence. It is called the topic sentence. It is often incorrectly defined as the first sentences in a paragraph. In fact, it can be situated as the second or third sentence.
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_topic sentence___________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ___________________body___ _________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ __________________
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Brainstorminn
social work
challenging
job-hunting
difficult learning cooperation
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The paragraph is a series of sentences developing one topic in a topic sentence
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busy My college life interesting
could be… challenging
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Brainstorming I
preview textbooks life in dorm/traffic
attend classes
occupy seats in library
busy
crowded dining hall
finish assignments
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Brainstorming II
widen horizon more free time
make friends
join in clubs
interesting
live in dorm
take part-time jobs
Write a paragraph in about 100 words, telling readers your daily life in college.
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Introduction to Paragraph-Writing
Writing process 1. Pre-writing (brainstorm the