Guidelines for constructing good paragraphs

• Decide what the paragraph will deal with. Write this down as a topic sentence OR as a heading.
• Think about all the issues or sub-ideas that your paragraph should include. Think about how they relate to your main idea.
• Based on the relationship between the sub-ideas and the main idea, build a controlling idea into your topic sentence. If you have used a heading instead of a topic sentence, write a first sentence for the paragraph containing your controlling idea.
• Using a pattern of organization stemming from your controlling idea, put your sentences together.
• Ensure your paragraph flows by using transitional words and phrases that are appropriate to the pattern of organization that you have chosen.

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