Academic Writing-2

BCA-5th Sem-2022-23

Writing Styles

Certain Concepts in Writing-1

1 Introduction Introduction is an opening in a piece of writing. In a paragraph, it is the

first sentence mentioning the central idea.
2 Main/body of a Supporting sentences of a paragraph, which develop the central idea is
paragraph referred as main/body.
3 Conclusion Conclusion is an end in a piece of writing. In a paragraph, it is the last
sentence summarizing the facts along with the central idea.
4 Title Title is the subject (or an idea) of a paragraph. It entirely depends on the
understanding of the reader/writer. If ten people are to give a title to a
paragraph, it is most likely that they will come up with a different title.
It must not be confused with the topic sentence which is defined below.
The title of the paragraph is as important as a signboard of a shop is. In
the sense that a title/topic tells us what a paragraph, in question , is all
about as a signboard of a shop tells us what is available in that particular
shop. Also, it is important to remember that a title is generally a word or
a phrase not a sentence unless it is a question.
For example: Titanic or Titanic: A journey to death but NOT Titanic
was a journey to death.
5 Topic A topic sentence is the sentence, in the paragraph, that makes a statement
Sentence about the topic/title. In other words, a topic sentence is the sentence
which states the central idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence is
generally the first or the second of a paragraph.
For example, Immigrating to the united states from Vietnam was
difficult for my parents. Topic sentence
6 The A topic sentence generally has key words or phrases which limit the
Controlling discussion, in the sense that they will help the reader know how one is
idea going to discuss the topic. Such words or phrases are called Controlling
Idea. Sometimes, a topic sentence is followed by such key words or
phrases which tell us more detail about the paragraph. For example, if
one says, “I have an elder brother.”, this is a topic sentence. And if it is
revised as “My elder brother is a great soccer player”, in this, the phrase
‘a great soccer player’ limits the discussion, that is, the paragraph will
be all about how he is a great soccer player. Thus the phrase ‘a great
soccer player’ is a controlling idea.

Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English

PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 1 of 10
 Sometimes a title/topic has the controlling idea, as in ‘Titanic: A
journey to death’., ‘A journey to death’ - the controlling idea in the title
itself suggests what exactly will be in the paragraph.

7 Supporting As discussed above, a paragraph begins with introduction, which has a

Sentences topic sentences followed by a controlling idea. And rest of the sentences
before the conclusion are called supporting ideas/sentences, since they
help in developing the story (see example one.7-8). For example:
‘When I was a boy and first learning about the world, I took a big risk.
I was playing in the yard out side of my family’s house with my
friends. Supporting sentence
8 Sub- Sometimes supporting sentences need to be supported by some more
supporting sentences. Such sentences are called Sub-supporting sentences as they
Sentences support the supporting sentences. For example, .......he had to teach
students not to panic in a dangerous situation. For example, one time, I
made a big mistake while we were flying in the clouds.
Sub-supporting sentence
9 Unity As discussed above, the topic sentence, in a paragraph, is followed by
supporting (and sub-supporting) sentences. These supporting (and sub-
supporting) sentences must complement one another, that is, they help in
the development of the main single idea. In other words, a paragraph is
said to have, unity if each supporting sentence is connected with the
other, in the sense that it talks about the topic (sentence) only.
10 Coherence A paragraph is said to have coherence when the ideas in the sentences
have a logical flow, in the sense that the relationship between the
sentences is clear and one idea connects to the next. And events are
present in order, in such a way that the most important point is followed
by other important points or less important point is followed by the most
important one logically. Coherence in a paragraph is also achieved
through connecting sentences, through discourse markers or making
them compact, that is, complex sentences are changed into simple, so as
to avoid repetition.

Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English

PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 2 of 10
 Certain Concepts in Writing-2

1 An Essay is a series of related paragraphs on one theme. It, like a

Essay paragraph, has three parts, namely, Introduction, Main body and
Conclusion. For the structure of the paragraph see below.
2 An Essay comprises three or more paragraphs. However, three and five
paragraph essays are more common in formal style. See below:
Three paragraph Essay
• Paragraph one- Introductory Paragraph
• Paragraph two- Main Body/Development
• Paragraph three-Concluding Paragraph

Structure of Essay Five paragraph Essay

• Paragraph one- Introductory Paragraph
• Paragraph two- Main Body/Development
• Paragraph three- Main Body/Development
• Paragraph four- Main Body/Development
• Paragraph five-Concluding Paragraph
(For more detail and examples see pg. no…)
3 Essay like paragraph has three parts, namely, Introduction, Main body
and Conclusion, but unlike paragraph, these parts come in different
paragraphs. See below.
1.Introduction: An Introduction to the essay
includes the following:
• Topic
Parts of Essay • Hook Sentence
• Background Information
• Thesis Statement
2.Main body: It Develops the thesis statement.
3.Conclusion: It Sums up the details in the Main body and restates the
thesis.
4 A Hook sentence is the opening (sentence) of the first paragraph in
Hook Sentence essay, which attracts the reader’s attention. It introduces the object
or event of description.

Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English

PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 3 of 10
5 The sentences after the hook sentence give information necessary to
Background/general
understand the topic. It takes the readers from general to the specific
Information
details.
6 The sentence/clause after background information is the thesis
statement, which is generally the last sentence of the first paragraph.
Thesis Statement It gives the topic and controls the idea in the essay. It tells us why
the object or event of description is important to the writer. It acts
as the main claim/purpose of the essay.
7 The development paragraph/main body develops the various aspect of
Development Paragraph(s)/
the topic and the central idea. This paragraph may talk about – causes
Main Body
and effects, comparison and contrast, process etc.
8 It is the last paragraph of essay. It summaries/ties together all of the
ideas expressed in the development/main body paragraph. It lets the
readers know what the writer has thought about the topic through out
Concluding Paragraph the essay and believes that the ideas presented in the essay are
complete. In other words, the concluding paragraph summarizes what
the writer has talked about giving his final opinion about the topic,
restating the thesis.
9 Transition words are the words that connect one
idea/sentence/paragraph to another. In fact these words bring
Progression of thoughts and add to the coherence in writing. They help
Transition Words/Transitional
the readers to move smoothly from one idea to the next. A variety of
Expressions
transitions add interest to an essay, too. These are useful when moving
from paragraph to paragraph, or point to point. Transition words help
the reader follow your thoughts logically.
10 Brainstorming/outlining- Brain storming is nothing but gathering information before writing,
Prewriting i.e., planning or thinking. In fact, Brainstorming is the art of thinking
critically to discover original, hidden insights about the topic.

11 A piece of writing maybe a paragraph or essay has different purpose

in the main body. It may describe, define, narrate, argue, compare
Types of writing
and contrast, tell steps in process, give an opinion, discuss cause and
effects, Classify, illustrate etc.
The purpose of descriptive essay is to present a detailed picture of a
Descriptive Writing
person, place, object event etcetera..
Definition Writing In this kind of writing a thing is defined.
In classificationi we divide the members of a group into categories
Classification Writing whose members share similar characteristics. They can be classified
according to the language they classify.
In this kind of essays a person tells about his past experiences o
Narrative Writing
happenings.

Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English

PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 4 of 10
 This is based on examples and illustration to support his point of
Illustration Writing
view.
In this kind of writing certain reasons for something happening are
Cause and effects Writing
given followed by the effects of the same reasons.
In this kind of writing author argues on some issues, readers may
Argumentative Writing
agree with that.
A comparison tells the ways in which a person, a place , a thing,
Comparison and Contrast event and so on are similar. A contrast points out differences. In
Writing comparison and contrast writing, the emphasis is only on one or the
other.
In process writing we write how something is done/how something
Process Writing
works/happens/ how something is done
In opinion essay you are trying to convince your reader to agree with
Opinion Writing
a particular position or view point you have expressed in your thesis.

Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English

PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 5 of 10
 Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English
PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 6 of 10
 Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English
PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 7 of 10
 Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English
PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 8 of 10
 Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English
PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 9 of 10
 Dr. Harish Kumar Khanna, Associate Professor of English
PDM University, Bahadurgarh, Delhi NCR, Haryana 124507
• This study material is supplementary to classroom teaching and meant for the students of PDMU only.
Page 10 of 10