Paragraph Patterns: The Illustration Paragraph

In today's culture, written communication is used more than ever before. Emails, blogs, and text messages have literally changed the way people exchange information, share stories, and stay in touch. Although you may communicate informally with friends and family, your writing must follow standard conventions in education and workplace environments. Effective writers know that eliminating fragments, run-on sentences, and usage errors will help readers understand a message more clearly. Effective writers also know that the purpose of their writing is to inform, persuade, or entertain. They select a paragraph type that will ensure their purpose is met. For example, a story needs a narrative paragraph type, a complaint letter requires an illustrative paragraph type, and a technical manual calls for a process paragraph type.

Regardless of the type of paragraph used to suit a purpose, a paragraph will always have the same structure. It will always include a topic sentence with a controlling idea, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

This resource provides instruction for users to:

• Differentiate between the nine types of paragraph patterns and recognize each paragraph pattern type in writing samples
• Define paragraph pattern
• List the guidelines for writing an illustration paragraph Write a grammatically correct illustration paragraph