First steps in writing an essay

The basic unit of sentences, paragraphs and essays

The basic unit of sentences, paragraphs and essays.

Sentences are made up of words.
	Paragraphs are made up of sentences.
Essays are made up of paragraphs.

In essay writing, it is important to know how to develop sentences and paragraphs.

Every essay you write in the CXC CSEC English A exam must be made up of paragraphs. It is the basic unit of all essays.

As a result, we include these paragraph tutorials and self-tests to help you learn about writing paragraphs.

The paragraph tutorials here will help you understand the organization of paragraphs and how they can be developed.

Paragraph tutorials:

1) The organization of paragraphs

2) Developing a paragraph

3) Developing a paragraph 2 (sentences supporting the topic of a paragraph)

4) Developing a paragraph 3 (using transitions to help join paragraph sentences together)

5) Developing a paragraph 4 (organizing principles for supporting sentences)

How were the tutorials on paragraphs above? Do you think you understand how paragraphs are developed?

Good! Here are some self-tests for you to try. You can use them to test your understanding of the mechanics of paragraph development.

If you get less than 75% on each test, it means that you will need to do a lot more work on developing paragraphs in your writing.

Paragraph self-tests

Paragraph test 1: Find the topic

Paragraph test 2 : Find the topic sentence

Paragraph test 3 : The supporting sentences

Paragraph test 4: Finding the transitions

Paragraph test 5 : paragraph organization