As part of the BBC's Skillswise unit, this site focuses on the development of good paragraphs. As learning tools, the site includes a fact sheet, a worksheet, and a game. Be sure to click on the quizzes to check your understanding.

This PDF lesson, POWER PARAGRAPH, focuses on analysis and will also help students to understand structure in a paragraph. The "power" concept teaches the students to organize their sentences according to different levels of importance....

A major requirement of the five paragraph essay is the use of sufficient, appropriate, and interesting supporting details. Use this guide for the entire process of writing the five paragraph essay, or focus on the section about...

This lesson focuses on descriptive writing including discussing what it is and the chararacteristics. It provides links to the web articles: "How to Write a Descriptive Essay," "5 Model Descriptive Paragraphs," "MLA Formatting and Style...

This slideshow lesson focuses on the use of concluding transition words; it defines transition words and lists the categories. It explains when and how to use concluding transitions, provides a sample list of them, and offers sentence...

This lesson focuses on figurative language used in descriptive writing including similes, metaphors, cliches, hyperbole. It offers multiple links to websites pertaining to figurative language in descriptive and creative writing; an...

This slideshow tutorial focuses on organizing an analytical paper; it defines analysis and outlines the basic five- paragraph essay format. It discusses what goes into the introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. It...

This slideshow lesson focuses on local editing; it defines the term and explains what to look for: clarity, mechanics, and grammar, word choice, sentence structure, paragraph structure, and impact on the reader. It discusses each and...

This site by University of St. Thomas focuses on the basics for writing any paragraph. It is developed in outline fashion and is very easy to follow. This site provides a basic overview of the process of writing without going into a...

This entry focuses on verb tense consistency in sentences, paragraphs, and essays by explaining the importance of maintaining verb tense throughout each and providing examples of each.

This handout focuses on organizing exploratory or inquiry essays including the introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. W.11-12.2 Informative

This tutorial on writing topic sentences includes 2 videos, 2 slide shows, and an audio clip. The first YouTube video explains the 4 parts of a topic sentence and tells where topic sentences belong. The 2 slide shows focus on the MAP...

This lesson focuses on John F. Kennedy's speech, "We Choose to go to the Moon," delivered at Rice University on September 12, 1962. It features links to JFK's biography and Wikipedia entry, the National Geographic: "Moon 101" video, the...

This lesson focuses on making connections with the text including text to self, text to text, and text to world. It provides links to book excerpts from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and information...

This slideshow focuses on how to punctuate dialogue; it explains the rules for quotation mark and comma use in direct speech, when switching speakers, and when a single speaker speaks in multiple, continuous paragraphs. It provides...

This lesson focuses on strategies for reading and analyzing a poetry. Reading poetry creates some interesting challenges because a poem uses lines and stanzas rather than paragraphs in order to create emotions and experiences. Figurative...

For Dickens' opening to his Tale of Two Cities, he uses one of the longest series of comma splices in the history of literature. Dickens seemingly did this for stylistic effect. In this lesson plan, students create their own Dickens-like...

Excerpt from Notes on the State of Virginia written by Thomas Jefferson, 1784. In this section, entitled, "Manufactures" Jefferson argues the U.S. should focus on an agrarian economy rather than manufacturing. Paragraph breaks and...

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson focuses on strategies for using context clues and analogies to determine the meaning of words, sentences, and paragraphs.

This lesson focuses on Matter including the three states of matter, the energy that it takes to change the state of matter, and experiments for children to conduct. Students can choose to have any paragraph read to them.

For this lesson, students evaluate their eating habits, focusing on the ways in which one can assess whether or not his or her diet is nutritious. Students will work in small groups to design a menu for a healthy lunch and write a...