Lesson 10 — Activity 2: Developing the Body of a Paragraph


In this activity, you will look at some of the ways you can provide support for your topic sentence.

 Your paragraph will not be effective unless you:
  • describe for
  • persuade
  • explain to
OR
  • tell
your reader about the point you made in your topic sentence! These are called SUPPORTING DETAILS. You should have 3–4 supporting details in a well-written paragraph. If your topic is very complex, you may have more than that.


You have thought carefully about the topic sentence and the purpose of your paragraph. Now you must decide what information or details you need to include to make your ideas clear.

Depending on the type of paragraph you are writing, you may need to do some research to include the facts you need to persuade or inform your reader.

Once you have decided on the details that you need to include to support your main idea, it’s time for the next step:

You need to decide how best to organize your supporting details.

The supporting detail sentences are like the cheese, tomato, lettuce, and hamburger patty in the middle.


Babies learning in chronological order.
Image courtesy of www.imagesgoogle.com

There are several different ways you can use to organize your supporting points:

In order of time. This is also called chronological order.
  • This means that you put your details in the order that they happened.
  • This is often used when writing descriptive, narrative, and expository paragraphs.


In order by location or place.
  • This is probably most useful when writing a descriptive paragraph and you are explaining where certain things are located.
  • You might also use this in an expository paragraph if you need to explain the structure or layout of something (for example, if you were writing about football and had to describe the field).



You might want to describe this field.



This kind of orgnization is used in news stories.
Image courtesy of www.imagesgoogle.com
In order of importance.
  • Some paragraphs are organized so that the most important point goes first and the least important detail is at the end.
  • This is used a lot in news stories.
  • Persuasive paragraphs often use this form of organization as well, so the most powerful point goes first.
  • Expository paragraphs might also follow this pattern to explain certain events in order of importance.




Brett on the ice.
Here's an example of the paragraph written by Brett in which he explains why he loves hockey. He has used in order of time/chronological order. He explains that he began liking hockey when he was 5 years old and is still enjoying it at age 14. (Notice the supporting details in Brett's paragraph have been highlighted for you.)

Hockey has been my passion since I was five years old. I was first introduced to the sport curled up beside my father, watching Hockey Night in Canada. Later that winter, we went to the local arena to watch our town's team play in the championship game. I started playing hockey myself the next year and have been playing ever since. I am now in bantam and this year our team has played great.  Hockey is a fantastic sport and I’m so glad I started playing.



Remember!

Focus on your topic sentence and make sure that the sentences that make up the body of your paragraph all support your main idea.


If the sentences are not related to your main idea, remove them from your paragraph.