Supporting the Main Idea of a Paragraph

Posted by qpen on July 23, 2009

As a writer, when you know how to achieve effective paragraph development, your material is far more likely to deliver its message to your reader. Most successful topical paragraphs that seek to inform or persuade contain a generalization, which is communicated in the topic sentence of the paragraph.

But more is needed. In writing most topical paragraphs, you must be sure to develop the paragraph. Development is provided by specific, concrete details that support the generalization. Without development, a topical paragraph contains only the broad claim of the generalization.

It goes around in circles because it merely repeats the generalization over and over. It therefore does little to inform or persuade the reader.

Here are two paragraphs: the first is unsuccessful because it contains one generalization restated four times in different words. Compare it with the second paragraph which is developed properly.

The cockroach lore that has been daunting us for years is mostly true. Almost every tale we have heard about cockroaches is true. These tales have been disheartening people for generations. No one seems to believe that it is possible to control roaches.
The cockroach lore that has been daunting us for years is mostly true. Roaches can live for 20 days without food, 14 days without water; they can flatten their bodies and crawl through a crack thinner than a dime; they can eat huge doses of carcinogens and still die of old age. They can even survive “as much radiation as an oak tree can,’ say William Bell, the Univ of Kansas entomologist whose cockroaches appeared in the movie The Day After. They’ll eat almost anything-regular food, leather, glue, hair, paper, even the starch in book bindings. (The NY Public Library has quite a cockroach problem). They sense the slightest breeze, and they can react and start running in .05 seconds; they can also remain motionless for days. And if all this isn’t creepy enough, they can fly too!

When you write a topical paragraph, remember that what separates most good writing from bad is the writer’s ability to move back and forth between generalizations and specific details. A successful topical paragraph includes a generalization and specific, concrete supporting details.

Using details is one of the keys to effective, successful development in topical paragraphs. Details bring generalizations to life by providing concrete, specific illustrations.

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