PARAGRAPH FUNCTIONS AND

TYPES OF DISCOURSE

1) Articulate how paragraphs help to develop a thesis;

2) Describe strategies for writing introduction, body, and conclusion;

3) Detail key points for writing narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative/persuasive papers.

AT THE END OF THE LESSON, STUDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO:

TO UNDERSTAND HOW PARAGRAPHS HELP TO DEVELOP A THESIS, THINK OF THEM AS LANDMARKS ON A MAP.

• presents the material

• gains the reader’s attention

• sets the tone and parameters of the article

• does not go into detail; just gives a general idea of the paper by introducing its thesis statement

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

• interesting story or anecdote

• compelling or surprising statistics

• provocative question

• attention grabbing quotation or piece of dialogue

• brief example

STRATEGIES IN CATCHING THE READER’S ATTENTION

What particular strategy is used in each of the following

introductory paragraphs?

Is it true that bigger is always better? Could it be that society’s insatiable desire for more is in many ways giving people less? Once society has accepted the premise that more choice is better, is it possible to reverse that trend? For small, local, family-owned businesses, more and bigger has been anything but better.

TOPIC: AGRIBUSINESS IS DEVOURING THE SMALL FARMER

“There cannot be true democracy unless women’s voices are heard” (Hillary Rodham Clinton). A democracy is a system of government that places the power in the hands of the people. If individuals in a given society are not granted equal access and representation, then that government cannot claim to be a true democracy. The lack of female voices in the Unites States Government creates an imbalance of power based on gender. Despite the smaller percentage of women currently involved in high level government positions, pioneers like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Condoleeza Rice are leading the way towards gender equality in politics.

TOPIC: WOMEN IN POLITICS

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, could spend one million dollars per day, every day, seven days a week and would not run out of money until he was 311 years old! Most would agree that he has reached a point of financial security. In fact, it would be almost impossible to figure out how one could spend one million dollars per day. But, what really is financial security?

TOPIC: CHOOSING A LIFELONG CAREER

Functions:

a) define each new stage of the article

b) give concrete details of the material

(Stafford, 2009)

DEVELOPMENT PARAGRAPHS

How to Bore the Children by Charles Eisenstein

LET US EXAMINE THIS SAMPLE ESSAY.

Here is how to make a child bored: first and foremost, keep him indoors so that the infinitude of nature, its endless variation and chaotic messiness is replaced by a finite, orderly, predictable realm. Second, through television and video games, habituate him to intense stimuli so that everything else seems boring by comparison. Third, eliminate as much as possible any unstructured time with other children, so that he loses his capacity for creative play and needs entertainment instead. Fourth, shorten his attention span with fast-paced programming, dumbed-down books, and frequent interruptions of his play. Fifth, hover over him whenever possible to stunt his self-trust and make him dependent on outside stimulation. Sixth, hurry him from activity to activity to create anxiety about time and eliminate the easy sense of timelessness native to the young.

HOW TO BORE THE CHILDREN

No one, of course, sets out on purpose to strip away their children’s most primal self-sufficiency — the self-sufficiency of play — but that is the net effect of a culture fixated on safety, bound to schedules, and addicted to entertainment.

In a former time, children, despite a dearth of complicated toys, were rarely bored. Ask your grandparents whether they were bored as children, with their bikes, bats and balls, simple dolls that didn’t speak or move by themselves, in the days before television. Boredom, in fact, is a very recent word, apparently not having appeared in print until the mid-19th century. It is not a natural state, and did not exist in state of nature, or in a state anywhere near nature. It is a symptom of our alienation.

Alienation – happens when the things we created begin to overpower and control us Reflect on the forms of alienation depicted in the photos.

• as short as a single sentence or two

• marks a shift in the paper from one section to another, or from one idea or topic to another

TRANSITION PARAGRAPH

Boredom, however, is quite good for the economy. It motivates all kinds of consumption, an endless hunger to keep ourselves entertained. It points therefore to a need that was once met without money, but that is now met with money; the phenomenon of boredom and its alleviation exemplifies a much more general economic principle.

In order for the (money) economy to grow, some function once exercised without money must be converted into a good or a service. One can view economic growth as a progressive stripmining of nature and community, turning the former into commodities and the latter into paid services, depleting, respectively, the natural and social commons. Pollute the water and sell bottled water; disempower folk healing and make people pay for medical care; destroy cultural traditions that bestow identity and sell brand name sneakers… the examples are endless. Boredom is a symptom of a similar stripmining of what was once a kind of wealth native to us all: the ability to feel good doing nothing, the ability to create our own fun, a general sense of sovereignty over our own time. This is a form of what I call spiritual capital.

As I write this, my six-year-old sits a few feet away, wholly absorbed in threading a colored string through an old tape roll. Without a screen in front of him, his brain must make its own images — an ability that counts among the forms of spiritual capital. Before that he was begging to be allowed to watch a video. His whining and cajoling seemed almost like an addict wanting a fix. I haven’t tried to isolate him from society. Even though we don’t have TV, we do have videos, and he still gets plenty of that kind of thing elsewhere. Besides, there are rarely any kids playing outside. Their parents won’t let them, at least not in this neighborhood. They are afraid: afraid of nature, afraid of other people, afraid of what might happen, suspicious of play, loath to have their children unsupervised.

• implicitly wraps up the paper and then gives a distinctive perspective on the material discussed so that the thesis statement will be reemphasized

CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH

• stress the importance of the thesis statement,

• give the essay a sense of completeness, and

• leave a final impression on the reader.

A GOOD CONCLUSION MUST:

Let us create a world of real wealth, where our ability to play and imagine are intact, and where the outdoors is full of children.

HERE’S THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH OF OUR SAMPLE ESSAY.

Writing effective concluding paragraphs

OTHER BASIC STRATEGIES

Introduction

From the parking lot, I could see the towers of the castle of the Magic Kingdom standing stately against the blue sky. To the right, the tall peak of The Matterhorn rose even higher. From the left, I could hear the jungle sounds of Adventureland. As I entered the gate, Main Street stretched before me with its quaint shops evoking an old-fashioned small town so charming it could never have existed. I was entranced. Disneyland may have been built for children, but it brings out the child in adults.

Conclusion

I thought I would spend a few hours at Disneyland, but here I was at 1:00 A.M., closing time, leaving the front gates with the now dark towers of the Magic Kingdom behind me. I could see tired children, toddling along and struggling to keep their eyes open as best they could. Others slept in their parents' arms as we waited for the parking lot tram that would take us to our cars. My forty-year-old feet ached, and I felt a bit sad to think that in a couple of days I would be leaving California, my vacation over, to go back to my desk. But then I smiled to think that for at least a day I felt ten years old again.

1 ECHOING THE INTRODUCTION

There is still a role for study, research, and education. However, we need to examine our emphasis on education for the sake of a piece of paper, and to learn the real meaning and revolutionary challenge of knowledge.

2 CHALLENGING THE READER

Without well-qualified teachers,

schools are little more than buildings and equipment. If higher-paying careers continue to attract the best and the brightest students, there will not only be a shortage of teachers, but the teachers available may not have the best qualifications. Our youth will suffer. And when youth suffers, the future suffers.

3 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Campaign advertisements should

help us understand the candidate's qualifications and positions on the issues. Instead, most tell us what a boob or knave the opposing candidate is, or they present general images of the candidate as a family person or God-fearing citizen. Do such advertisements contribute to creating an informed electorate or a people who choose political leaders the same way they choose soft drinks and soap?

4 POSING QUESTIONS

THE CLEARER THE SIGNPOSTS ARE, THE EASIER IT IS TO GET TO YOUR DESTINATION. LOOSELY CONNECTED SENTENCES MAKE THE RIDE BUMPY AND MAY EVEN GET SOMEONE LOST.

Study the traditional types of discourse by reading the article in this link:

http://hunbbel-meer.hubpages.com/hub/Four-

Types-of-Writing

HOMEWORK:

Then, identify the types of writing used in the previous articles we have read.

TIP: Consider the main thesis of the article. Write answers in one half crosswise yellow paper

Use the format below:

HOMEWORK:

Title of article Type of Discourse1) Amplifying Peace Across Borders _____________________

2) Developing Creativity in Science Among our Youth

_____________________

3) Philippines remembers indigenous hero Macli-ing Dulag

_____________________

4) The pangat, the mountains, and the river

_____________________

Eisenstein, C. How to bore the children. Retrieved from http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/how-to-bore-the-children/

Literacy Education Online. Retrieved from http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html on September 12, 2013

Writing Effective Paragraphs. Retrieved from http://write-site.athabascau.ca/documentation/writing-effective-paragraphs.pdf on September 10, 2013

http://www.waunakee.k12.wi.us/faculty/lcarothers/EffectiveWriting/Reflective/Attention%20Getters.pdf

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/essaybasic.html

REFERENCES: