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Chapter 8 - Teaching Paragraph Writing

From sentences to coherent paragraphs: the building block of all academic writing

Paragraph unity, made visible

The colour-highlighting technique: students highlight every sentence in one colour if it supports the topic sentence, and a different colour if it doesn't. A paragraph with two or more colours has a unity problem the student can literally see, rather than just being told about.

Model	Best for	Stages
PEEL	Argumentative / persuasive writing	Point, Evidence, Explain, Link
PIE	Simpler, shorter paragraphs	Point, Illustration, Explanation

AI-generated paragraphs need human evaluation. A student who cannot write their own paragraph cannot judge whether an AI-generated one is genuinely coherent - only whether it looks polished.

Additional activities for Chapter 8

Individual10 minDigital

Activity 8.A - Colour-Code Your Own Paragraph. Students apply the highlighting technique to their own most recent paragraph and revise any off-colour sentences.

Pair15 min

Activity 8.B - Transition Swap. Pairs exchange paragraphs and replace every "and" or "also" with a more precise transition from a provided bank, then discuss what changed in meaning or emphasis.

Further resources

Appendix G - Paragraph Writing Resources ↗
Tribble, C. (1996). Writing. Oxford University Press.