Purdue University North Central Writing Center Handout

Paragraph Structure:

Prof S. Lichtman

                              Paragraphs can be broken down into five parts:

                              1. Topic Sentence: what the paragraph

                                      is about

                              2. Explanation: defining or explaining any

                                      terms not generally known

                              3. Illustration: "for example" statements

                              4. Analysis: why is this topic important

                                      to the thesis

                              5. Transition Statement to the next paragraph

          This structure changes in the Thesis paragraph, where the Thesis statement replaces the Topic statement and the Illustration becomes the aspects you will cover in your essay.  In the concluding paragraph, the Thesis is restated along with the aspects as part 3 of the paragraph, and the Transition statement becomes the concluding statement.

             Remember, a statement may be more than one sentence.