How to Write A Paragraph

It is not easy for English beginner to write a single paragraph. First thing, he/she needs to know what he/she is going to write; he/she knows the detail information of it; he/she knows paragraph content; he/she has enough vocabulary and adequate knowledge of basic language rule.  As an easy beginning, here are some matters that we must pay attention to write a paragraph:

1.       Choose a topic and main idea that we are writing. Topic here means something that we are going to say often in paragraph. Main idea is a phrase that contents the topic.

2.       Do listing by recalling and collecting information that you are going to write about the topic, streaking through less important points, then re-arranging only necessary points from the first one to the least one.

3.       Write paragraph by paying attention to topic sentence, supporting sentence (major and minor), and concluding sentence. When major supporting sentence is to support topic sentence, minor supporting sentence supports major supporting sentence.

4.       Review to check some possible errors like grammatical error, misspelled words, repetitive words, ambiguous meaning, punctuation and capitalization.

Activity 1

Let us analyze a student named Lita who is building a paragraph about her new job. She lists what she does and notes her activities in detail.

Hi Friends, my name is Lita, and I am going to make a paragraph whose title is ‘my new job’. The topic is my job desk. Here I display what I do in a table to make the process of paragraph building more visible and understandable :

First thing that I need to do is listing any ideas in my mind about it. I have 14 points as my basic thought to describe my new job. They are:	Second, I strikethrough some items to be omitted. There are seven points omitted and seven points chosen.	Third, I re-list the chosen points, from the most to the least important.
Salary office hour position time management doze pray filing some documents emailing meeting lunch free time breakfast over-time work commuting	Salary office hour position time management doze pray filing some documents emailing meeting lunch free time breakfast over-time work commuting	1.  Position 2.  Office hour 3.  Commuting 4.  Filling some documents 5.  Emailing 6.  Meeting 7.  Over-time work
Forth, I decide which is going to be major supporting and minor supporting sentence. I will add more ideas to complete my thinking frame towards this paragraph building. I also need to pay attention for the first sentence because it decides the thorough  ideas of my paragraph. This is how I write the paragraph.
I just begin my new job in a company located in Gatot Subroto. I work for a leasing company as an administrative personnel. I have regular office hour from 8 am to 5 pm every Monday to Saturday. I have break time from 12 pm to 1 pm. I often spend one-hour break for lunch, doze and pray. I commute to work by train. I live in Bogor. It is more than 30 kilometers from my house to office. That is why train is the fastest transport for me. My job is to file some documents and to answer email. I also attend meetings. I normally have meetings after 2 pm. I can have three to seven meetings in a week.  I usually leave office after 7 pm. Even my office hour is until 5 pm, my supervisor often orders me to do some unfinished filing job. When I work over-time, I commonly arrive home after 9 pm or so. One thing I do for sure after arriving home is sleeping, to prepare myself for another busy tomorrow.
At last, I check for some possible errors like grammatical error, misspelled words, repetitive words, ambiguous meaning, punctuation and capitalization as last review for my paragraph building.

Activity 2

Let us analyze the contents of Lita’s paragraph.

 

I just begin my new job in a company located in Gatot Subroto. I work for a leasing company as an administrative personnel. I have regular office hour from 8 am to 5 pm every Monday to Saturday. I have break time from 12 pm to 1 pm. I often spend one-hour break for lunch, doze and pray. I commute to work by train. I live in Bogor. It is more than 30 kilometers from my house to office. That is why train is the fastest transport for me. My job is to file some documents and to answer email. I also attend meetings. I normally have meetings after 2 pm. I can have three to seven meetings in a week.  I usually leave office after 7 pm. Even my office hour is until 5 pm, my supervisor often orders me to do some unfinished filing job. When I work over-time, I commonly arrive home after 9 pm or so. Even it looks tiring, but I love my new job.

*Some important points are underlined and colored for detail description:

1.       Lita has “I just begin my new job in a company located in Gatot Subroto” as opening sentence or topic sentence.

2.       She inserts her main points: position, office hour, commuting, filling some documents, emailing, meeting and over-time work in major supporting sentences. She writes them coherently in the paragraph (the bolded words are main points of paragraph).

3.       Underlined sentence is major supporting sentence. Highlighted sentence is minor supporting sentence.

4.       Color shows a unit of idea. The following sentence after underlined sentence is minor supporting sentence following its major.

5.       Lita develops major supporting sentences with one or two minor supporting sentences. For example, she adds “I have break time from 12 pm to 1 pm” and “I often spend one-hour break for lunch, doze and pray” (as minor supporting sentences) to develop major supporting sentence: “I have regular office hour from 8 am to 5 pm every Monday to Saturday”.

6.       It is clearly seen that Lita develops almost major supporting sentence with, minimally, one minor supporting sentence.

7.       This shows that minor supporting sentence is not always located after major supporting sentence.

 

I usually leave office after 7 pm. Even my office hour is until 5 pm, my supervisor often orders me to do some unfinished filing job. When I work over-time, I commonly arrive home after 9 pm or so.

“I usually leave office after 7 pm. Even my office hour is until 5 pm, my supervisor often orders me to do some unfinished filing job” are minor supporting sentences of “When I work over-time, I commonly arrive home after 9 pm or so“.

8.       Lita has “Even it looks tiring, but I love my new job” as concluding sentence/closing sentence.

9.       It is also very possible for Lita to write “One thing I do for sure after arriving home is and taking a bath sleeping, so I can prepare myself for another busy tomorrow” as closing sentence. Even this sentence does not conclude what she writes in her paragraph, but the sentence is ok to close the paragraph. The classification of this sentence is odd sentence. It is ‘odd’, but it is ok to insert.

Activity 3

Practise your paragraph building by doing some steps just like what Lita does.

Decide a topic of your paragraph: …
Decide a title for it: …
List any ideas in your mind about it. They are:	Strikethrough some items to be omitted.	Re-list the chosen points, from the most to the least important.
·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·	·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·           ·	1.    Position 2.  Office hour 3.  Commuting 4.  Filling some documents 5.  Emailing 6.  Meeting 7.  Over-time work
Decide which is going to be major supporting and minor supporting sentence. Add more ideas to complete my thinking frame towards this paragraph building. Pay attention for the first sentence because it decides the thorough ideas of paragraph.
Write your paragraph here: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
At last, check for some possible errors like grammatical error, misspelled words, repetitive words, ambiguous meaning, punctuation and capitalization as last review for your paragraph building.

Activity 4

After you write a paragraph, notice the contents of paragraph by writing definition of:

Topic                                              :     .....................................................................................................

Main idea                                     :     .....................................................................................................

Topic sentence                          :     .....................................................................................................

Major supporting sentence :     .....................................................................................................

Minor supporting sentence :     .....................................................................................................

Concluding sentence              :     .....................................................................................................

Odd sentence                            :     .....................................................................................................