How to Write a Strong Paragraph

Writing can be a lot of fun. Giving expression to your thoughts and making your voice heard are just two of the joys that come from writing well. Expressing yourself clearly, however, is a skill. It's important that you develop this skill because, no matter how clearly you are thinking, your teachers can't get inside your brain to shine a light on those beautiful thoughts that you have. With a bit of practice using the guidelines below, however, you can improve your writing and become a master of the craft.

There are four parts to a good, strong paragraph: the claim, the example, the explanation, and the conclusion.

A strong paragraph should follow this outline:

Claim: This is your topic sentence. It tells the reader what you will write about and what you believe to be true about your topic.

Example #1: Examples help prove your claim. They are, in fact, examples of your claim.

Explanation #1: Explanations give more details related to your example and link it to your claim.

Example #2: 

Explanation #2: 

Example #3:

Explanation #3:

Conclusion: Your conclusion summarizes your argument and drives home the point you are trying to make. It is strongly related to your claim.

One way to develop good, strong writing habits is to highlight the different parts of a paragraph in your own writing. This is something I will ask you to do often this year. Below is a sample paragraph w/ highlights.


Highlight these things:
1st color - highlight your "Claim." 
2nd color - highlight your "Examples." 
3rd color - highlight your "Explanation."
Concluding Sentence can be either a 4th color or the same as your claim. 

Example #1: 
Lisa Leslie is the greatest women's basketball player ever. Leslie was a pioneer in the sport of women’s basketball. She was one of the first women drafted to play professional basketball and was the first female athlete to dunk a basketball during a game. As a college athlete, Leslie averaged over 20 points per game for her career. That is more than 3 points per game higher than basketball Hall of Famer, Michael Jordan. Lisa Leslie also competed on four consecutive Olympic teams. Every Olympic team that Leslie played for won gold medals. Those gold medal performances occurred in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. Leslie’s accomplishments on the court have inspired millions of young girls to play basketball, and that makes her the greatest women’s basketball player of all time.

Claim
Example of why she is the greatest
Explanation that links the example to the claim
Concluding Sentence



Activity

Sample Paragraph Practice:
You will have a printed copy of the following paragraph to highlight in class. However, if you are working from home, please simply copy the paragraph below into a Google Doc, put a middle school heading in the upper right-hand corner, make sure that your doc is in your shared personal History folder, and follow the directions.

• Develop your reading and your writing skills by identifying the claim, the three examples, the explanations, and the conclusion in the paragraph below.

 

• After you have identified those elements of a strong paragraph, highlight them using different colors in the paragraph that follows.

 

• Please create a key so that the reader knows which color identifies which element of a strong paragraph.

Nicknamed “the Great One,” Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player ever to lace up skates. In his 20 year career, Gretzky became the leading point-scorer in NHL history. In fact, in his career, he had more assists than any other player had total points. As another example of how dominant Gretzky was on the ice, he remains the only player to have scored more than 200 points in a single season. What is even more remarkable is that he accomplished that feat four times. At the time of his retirement, Gretzky held 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records. In addition to that tally, what makes him truly special are the five trophies he won for sportsmanship. While Gretzky’s record on the ice might speak for itself, to me, what makes “The Great One” the greatest hockey player of all time is his outspoken opposition to fighting in the game of hockey.

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