Do you know the differences between a paragraph vs an essay?
In this lesson, we'll look at just that, the basics of organization.
Let’s look at the differences between the two.
A Paragraph.
1. No introduction. We typically don’t write an introduction to a paragraph. For a paragraph, students could write a very short introduction of one or two sentences but most people do not. Why don’t they?
First, often students don’t write good introductions and so they create very boring, ineffective introductions. Topic sentences are typically boring. With a boring introduction and topic sentence, the first part of the paragraph is incredibly boring.
The main reason why most don’t write an introduction is that it is simply not necessary. The purpose of writing is to give new information and/or new support and an introduction typically does neither.
2. The topic sentence. The first sentence is the topic sentence which we will define as the topic plus the controlling ideas. The topic is the subject that you are writing about. The controlling ideas show the type of writing. They are also the number of ideas and the number of controlling ideas in a paragraph is usually 1 to 3.
3.The body of the paragraph. After the topic sentence, there should be a sentence to tell the reader the type of organization inside the paragraph, the number of ideas inside the paragraph. For example, let’s say the writer is going to write two ideas inside the paragraph. The writer will write the first idea. Then there will be support. Then there will be a sentence for the second idea and after that, there will be sentences for the support of that second idea. Students could also write 3 ideas. We will talk more about how to create support later.
4.The concluding sentence. The conclusion for a paragraph is just one sentence. Why? The most important part of the paragraph is the support, the body of the paragraph. The conclusion should not be long so that the focus will be on the support. Also, the conclusion is a summary of the paragraph and should be written succinctly as in one sentence.
An Essay
1.The introduction. An essay must have an introduction. The introduction can be broken down into two parts: introductory devices and the thesis statement.
Introductory devices is just a phrase that means the different ways we begin an introduction. I created that term and different textbooks/teachers would call that term with other words. When we look at introductions, we will look at these different devices.
Thesis statement. A thesis statement is the last sentence of an introduction. The thesis statement is like the topic sentence in that it contains the topic and controlling ideas. The thesis statement is different from a topic sentence in two aspects: 1) the thesis statement is at the end of the introduction and the topic sentence is at the beginning of a paragraph. 2) The number of controlling ideas is different as well. For a thesis statement, the number of controlling ideas needs to be at least two and there can be a lot of ideas as an essay could be several pages long. The topic sentence typically only has 1 to 3 controlling ideas. Please note that sometimes the writer doesn’t add the controlling ideas but does tell the type of writing.
The total number of sentences for an introduction should be at a minimum of 3 sentences including the thesis statement.
2.The Body Paragraphs. Traditionally, there was always a minimum of 3 body paragraphs in an essay. That tradition typically holds true except for tests like the TOEFL or in cases where the instructor wants fewer than 3 body paragraphs As a general rule, when the instructor asks for an essay, write 3 body paragraphs unless otherwise instructed by the teacher.
The length of the body paragraphs depends on the purpose of writing. As we write our three types of essays, I will explain the length of those essays.
3.Conclusion. The typical conclusion for an essay has to be a minimum of 3 sentences. TOEFL will let you get away with only 1 sentence although that is not typical. For almost all conclusions to an essay, you need 3 sentences. There are a lot of ways you can write a conclusion. One of the most common is a summary of the information previously given. As we go through our types of essays, we will talk about the different ways to write a conclusion.
Here is a brief outline of the paragraph versus the essay.
PARAGRAPH ESSAY
No Introduction Introduction has 2 parts: intro. device and thesis statement Thesis statement: topic + controlling ideas (2- )
Topic sentence – first sentence Body #1: same as a paragraph
(NO SPACE) SPACE
1st idea
support Body #2: Same as a paragraph
no space
2nd idea
support
concluding sentence (1 sentence) Conclusion: Need at least 3 sentences
Key differences that an essay has:
Has intro and conclusion
Has spacing
Has more controlling ideas
Thesis statement – has to be the last sentence of the introduction