Opinion Paragraph - September 10, 2012

Outline for a Formal Paragraph 

Main Idea: _____________________________________________________________  

Supporting Evidence: what points will you use to support the main idea?

1. i)  ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
   
2. 
   ii)  ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
   
3. 
   iii)  ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
   

Concluding Sentence: Rewrite the main idea but in a different way. A suggestion for how to do this is to start with what you said at the end of the sentence at the beginning and then finishes with the idea you started with in the “main idea” sentence.

Concluding Sentence: ______________________________________________________________________  

For Your Written Copy Remember:

• Use transitions to move smoothly from one point to the next (then, next, similarly, etc.)
• Practice word variety (look up a word in a thesaurus and choose another way to say the same idea). This is particularly helpful when you are rewriting the main idea in the concluding sentence
• Check all topic sentences and concluding sentences
• Write in third person not first person (avoid I, me, my, we, I think, In my opinion)
• Write in the present tense and do so consistently
• Points in paragraph must support the topic of the paragraph
• Each paragraph must support the topic of the paragraph
• Make sure you have three relevant points in each paragraph

KEY - Write in Standard Canadian English
No contractions
No slang or texting short forms Employ proper spelling and grammar 
Use Canadian spellings of words 

The example we used in class as a main idea is this: Bigfoot is real.

The three areas of supporting evidence we used are:

i) physical evidence
ii) eyewitness testimony
iii) legends and folklore

Note: After you write your paragraph, exchange it with another student and check each other's work. Be sure to write your name and "Checked By" on the paragraph that you read.