PARAGRAPH POINTERS:
PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH USING “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” by HARPER LEE
Most paragraphs
have three main parts:
· The topic sentence (the POINT
in the PEEL paragraph).
· The supporting sentences. These start
with an EXPLANATION of your point, followed by EXAMPLE/S or EVIDENCE
in a PEEL paragraph.
· The concluding sentence. This links
to the THESIS of your essay, or links to the POINT of your next paragraph. If
you’re writing a stand-alone paragraph, your concluding sentence will summarise
your paragraph.
SO LET’S PRACTISE:
The first
part of the paragraph is called the topic sentence/POINT. This sentence tells
the reader what the paragraph is about.
READ the paragraph
below. Look for the topic sentence/POINT.
In literature, the author expresses his/her attitude towards
the subject primarily through the characters and events. In “To Kill a
Mockingbird”, Harper Lee feels strongly the need for human understanding and
conscience, especially in regards to the attitude of the whites to the negroes
of Maycomb County in the 1930s. The main character and narrator, Scout Finch,
uses forthright observations which are often humourous, but which reveal much
about the attitudes in the South, as the reader follows her progression from
prejudice and intolerance to understanding. Her journey is carefully guided by
her father, Atticus, who teaches Scout and her brother Jem to “…appreciate the
good qualities in people and understand the bad qualities by treating others
with sympathy…trying to see life from their perspective.” In this, the author successfully
reveals her attitude towards the themes of the novel through the characters of
Scout, Jem and their father, Atticus.
1. What is the topic/POINT?
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2. Rewrite the second and consequent
sentences, which are the supporting sentences. How do these sentences use facts
and descriptions to offer an EXPLANATION for the topic sentence?
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3. Write down the EXAMPLE/EVIDENCE used
to back up the EXPLANATION. Is this a good example? Why?
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4. The last part of the paragraph is the
concluding sentence. It ties together all the sentences in the paragraph. Copy
the concluding sentence here. In what way could this link to a THESIS?
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