FEEL COMMUNITY

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Ever had problems with your paragraphs?

Welcome back to our Academic Writing course – bringing you the essential knowledge and skills you need to be an effective writer in your study life. This time we're looking at a crucial feature of academic writing: the paragraph!

One of the main features of good academic writing is effective use of paragraphs. Scroll down and do the activities to improve your paragraphs for better assignments.

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Paragraph structure

When you are writing essays and assignments, you need to organise your writing into paragraphs.

What does a paragraph look like?

In the picture, which shows an extract from an essay, we can see four paragraphs: the end of one paragraph, followed by two complete paragraphs and finally, the beginning of another paragraph.

Basic paragraph structure

Good paragraphs usually follow a particular structure:

- Topic sentence

- Supporting sentence 1

- Supporting sentence 2

- Supporting sentence 3

- More supporting sentences (as required)

- Concluding sentence(s)

To do

Now we'll take a look at what makes a topic sentence different from a supporting or concluding sentence. Read on!



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Challenge 1: Get on top of topic sentences

A good paragraph often starts with a topic sentence, which summarises the main idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence sometimes includes 'signposting' words and phrases to show how it is connected to the paragraphs before it in the text. Some examples of these are: 'As a result of this...', 'Another reason...' and 'However,...'

To do

Below is a paragraph from an assignment from an education management course. Read the assignment title and the and topic sentences 1- 3 below. Then read the paragraph and decide which topic sentence is the most suitable.

Assignment title

What strategies are available to educational leaders for managing institutional change?

Possible topic sentences

1. Before this question can be addressed, definitions of the terms ‘educational leader’ and ‘institutional change’ must be established.

2. When change is imminent, it is necessary for educational leaders to make appropriate preparations (Zimmerman, 2004).

3. According to Zimmerman (2004) there are four basic types of educational change.

Which topic sentence is best for this paragraph?

[Topic sentence] Firstly, leaders must ensure that their own understanding of the change process is clear and complete before they begin to implement change (Calabrese 2002). In particular, leaders must recognise that change almost inevitably results in some degree of resistance on the part of school staff, and must identify any issues which are likely to cause particular resistance. Having done this, leaders need to design communication strategies and any related CPD in order to minimize the effect of this resistance. Badely (2013) recommends that in any situation of major institutional change, educational leaders should always design and implement a series of dedicated training sessions.

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