Paragraph Writing

• A good topic sentence should state the topic (main idea) and the focus (controlling idea). A
reader should get a clear image about what he is going to read in the rest of the paragraph
when he reads the topic sentence.
Example 1: “Travelling by plane has become much cheaper.”

• A good topic sentence should have only one focus. More than one focus will make you lose
control while writing, which will confuse the reader as well.
Keeping a healthy diet depends on your eating habits.
• A good topic sentence should be a full sentence; not a phrase.
There are many factors created by humans in general that lead to global warming.
• A good topic sentence is not in question form.
Scientists reveal several harmful effects of self-driving cars to the environment.
• A good topic sentence should not be well-known or a scientific fact. It should assert an idea,
suggestion, argument, thesis, etc.
The best state to live in the United States of America is California for several reasons.
• A good topic sentence should neither be too narrow nor too broad.
Cars are a good way of transportation between two cities.
• You should not “announce” the topic while writing a topic sentence.
Women in under-developed countries face domestic violence more for several reasons.

Topic: Eskişehir is one of the most popular cities to study in.

Explain: Compared to bigger cities, Eskişehir offers a more student-friendly atmosphere for college
students.

Describe: There are three different universities in Eskişehir with many various faculties and
departments; that’s why, it attracts significant number of college students with different interests.

Give reason: Located in between Ankara and Istanbul, which are the two biggest cities in Turkey,
Eskişehir seems a good choice both for parents and students in terms of convenient transportation.

Give facts: The number of students who are enrolled in face-to-face programs is already close to
100.000. This figure goes up to more than a million if the students enrolled in open and distance
education programs are counted.

Give examples: A youth magazine has recently listed Eskişehir as one of the best cities in Turkey for college students after they conducted a survey with more than 5000 students all around Turkey.

A concluding sentence is usually the last sentence of a paragraph and it actually tells the reader that the paragraph has just ended. Occasionally, a concluding sentence is a restatement of the topic sentence (with a different wording) or it is the summary of the whole paragraph.

Topic Sentence: Eskişehir is one of the most popular cities to study in.
Support 1: Student-friendly atmosphere
• Various social and cultural activities
• Low-cost meal options
Support 2: Location
• Real close to Ankara and Istanbul by high-speed train
• In central Anatolia, close to Izmir and Antalya by bus
Support 3: high number of students
• 3 different universities with a big variety of departments
• Students enrolled in distance and open education programs
Concluding Sentence: To sum up, Eskişehir stands out as one of the most attractive cities in Turkey to study college.

In academic writing, it is always important for the words to be connected to each other, which is linguistically defined as “cohesion”. It is derived from another word called “cohere”, which can be explained as “stick together”. Hence, cohesion in academic writing is to make sure that the words - in either sentence or paragraph level or even at the whole text level – stick to each other. There are two main ways of providing cohesion in your writing: lexical cohesion and grammatical cohesion.

Lexical cohesion is mostly achieved by using a wide range of vocabulary items and to ensure that your text is lexically cohesive, there should be meaningful connection in between your choice of words. This might involve the repetition of a word either in the same or the in the following sentences. However, repeating of the same words frequently will make your writing look like a text that came out of an incompetent author or even out of a child.

Referring Expressions - Pronouns

Referring Expressions - This & that

Referring Expressions – It as a Dummy Subject

Therefore, most authors prefer such other techniques as using a synonym, hyponym, meronym, or
antonym, which are exemplified in the sentences below in italics.
• Synonym: The lieutenant ordered his soldiers not to war but the die. The privates went to death without a slice of fear in order to defend their countries.
• Hyponymy: She came a across a huge snake while wandering in her garden. She then ran back into her home being afraid of that the animal would bite her.
• Meronymy: Please excuse my dirty hands since I was busy trying to fix the chain. I will carry a pair of gloves before going on a ride on my bike next time.
• Antonymy: The estate market is a real dilemma. While the old houses in or around the city centre cost more than a billion, the new ones on the outskirts cost almost half of it.

This is one of the most commonly used ways of building linguistically meaningful relations among the words. In any kind of text, for example, the author may wish to use pronouns in the place of nouns to avoid repetition, whose risks for the writer are explained above. As an author, it will be a practical idea for you to use as many pronouns as the text allows you. However, do not forget that repeating the same pronoun over and over might also lead to a meaning loss. Therefore, it might be a good idea to refer back tothe original noun to make the reader remember who or what you have been talking about.

Another common way of referring to other elements in the text is the use of demonstrative adjectives: this, that. Unlike pronouns, the demonstrative adjectives have a wider usage. They might refer to a single noun, phrase, idea, or the whole sentence or even paragraph.

The pronoun it is frequently used in English at the beginning of the sentences as a dummy subject.
Dummy here means that it has no meaning itself, but is meaningful with the other part of the sentence as a kind of reference. In addition, it is also used at the beginning of the sentence when the subject is totally obvious such as day, time or weather.

Coherence is defined as the organisation and connection of ideas in a paragraph. Just like cohesion, coherence is also derived from the word “cohere” and it is related to how the sentences stick to each other.

Cohesion and coherence are highly related to each other but there is one key difference: cohesion is related to micro level of the text and provided by making connections through lexical and grammatical devices while coherence is related to the macro level and achieved by making meaningful connections between the sentences in a paragraph.

Discourse markers, e.g. however, also, therefore, are commonly referred as “linking words” or “linking phrases”, or “connectors” since they function as linking or connecting at least two different but related sets of arguments, ideas, or suggestions. They can connect the arguments in one sentence or they can link two sentences to each other.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS             

and                               Ex: She likes apples and bananas.

TRANSITIONS

furthermore
moreover
in addition
also
what is more
besides

Ex: She goes dancing every Wednesday. In addition, she has a ballet class on Fridays.
Ex:The low GDP of the country affects the wealth of its people. Moreover, millions of citizens are at the risk of losing their jobs.

ADVERB CLAUSES

because
since
as
because of
due to

Ex: They will not be able to buy a house since they cannot afford it.
Ex: Due to the recession, the company is planning to limit most of its expenses.

TRANSITIONS

Therefore
Consequently
In consequence
As a result
Accordingly
Hence
Thus
For this reason
Because of this
-----
Starting up your own business has a lot of risks. Therefore, it is good idea to consult an agency before you make a move.
The local government decided to open up more green spaces in the city; thus, they are planting everywhere.

Adverb Clauses

Even though
Despite the fact that
In spite of the fact that
Regardless of the fact that.

They decided to sit inside although the weather was sunny and warm.
Despite the fact that everyone admires her, she still keeps her humble attitude towards her employees.

What this mean is
In other words
To be clear
This is to say that

To improve your speaking skills you should practice as much as you can. This is to say that you can even talk to yourself in the target language.

She was broken by what her boyfriend told him and could not do anything about it; in other words, she felt miserable and desperate.

Transition

to summarise
to sum up
in summary
in conclusion
to conclude
briefly
in short
in brief

To sum up, the world is in the risk of a food crisis.
In brief, he managed to survive thanks to his being calm during the storm