the Important Components of paragraph

          Writing is a skill which should be possessed by the people in occupation. They usually perform their writing almost daily. Writing is a skill that people in all walks of life must perform almost the day (Oshima and Houge,1991:xiii). It means that learning and practicing how make a good writing is required. A good writing in English requires two parts, good grammar and good organization with the result that writing can not be just written at random or by only following the ideas. The writers should elaborate the organized and structured ideas and consider the writing components. According to the Harris (1969:69), the components of writing are classified into five, that is, content, grammar, style, and mechanics. To achieve a good writing, the writers should comply with each component and do the writing process by using four steps: prewriting (getting ideas and organizing them), (2) drafting, (3) developing sentence in each paragraph, and (4) revising. Paragraph is the component forming a writing. Paragraph constitutes a basic unit of organization in writing. Paragraph also has major part, they are, topic sentence, supporting sentence, concluding sentence and the addition unity and coherence.

            Paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing which consists of group of related sentences developed by one main idea. Then according to Warriner (1988,26-27), a paragraph is series of sentence developing one topic. The ideas in paragraph must be arranged according to a definite plan and should follow one another clearly and smoothly. It means paragraphing must be started by deciding one topic than developing the ideas tidily. Besides, paragraph also shows a piece of writing having content of the writing. According to Hornby (1998:317), paragraph is division of a piece of writing, started on a new line. Paragraph has the three major components, that is, topic sentence, supporting sentence, and concluding sentence. However, paragraph still has two additional components which are as important as the other, that is, the unity and coherence. A paragraph has three major structural parts: topic sentence, supporting sentence, and concluding sentence (Oshima and Houge,1991: 17). From the three major components and two additional components, the writers then process them to be group of sentence (paragraph). Good paragraphing will greatly assist the readers in following a piece of writing.

Topic sentence is the first component of paragraph showing the main idea. Topic sentence is usually situated in first sentence of paragraph, by no mean, it is always situated in first sentence, topic sentence is able to stand in second, third or may be in the last paragraph. Topic sentence is the most important sentence in paragraph that introduces the main idea of the paragraph and indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss. It does not tell about the chronology or developing ideas, neither does it discuss the details of the content. Both the writers and the readers are totally guided by topic sentence because the writers can see the information include and the readers can see what the paragraph is going to discuss. Then according to the Oshima and Houge (1991:19), there are three important points to remember about topic sentence: (1) Topic Sentence is a complete sentence containing a subject, a verb, and (usually) a complement, (2) Topic sentence contains both a topic and a controlling idea, (3) Topic sentence is the most general statement in the paragraph because it gives only the main idea. The paragraph bellow shows the example of topic sentence, the italic writing is topic sentence.

The disaster in Indonesia is actually the consequence from Indonesian bad behavior. Flood is the disaster which the most often occurred in Indonesia. It can happen, because there are many people throw the rubbishes anywhere, many trees are felled and changed become building so there are no water absorption… (Rahayu , 2010:1)

Topic sentence can not stand alone in the paragraph, it must be accompanied by supporting sentence which is able to support the main idea. Supporting sentences are usually called detail sentence and they constitute the body of the paragraph. They naturally provide support to the statement or idea expressed in the topic sentence. They contain the details helping to elaborate the topic sentence. Supporting sentences develop the topic sentence. That is, they explain the topic sentence by giving reasons, examples, facts, statistics, and quotations (Oshima and Houge,1991:17). There are usually 5-8 supporting sentences in one paragraph. In essential, supporting sentences are sentences giving support to the topic sentence.  It is showed which belongs to supporting sentences, the italic sentences are the supporting sentences.

The first problem of naturalization is to fill in a chance for the truth Indonesian players. After PSSI decided to naturalize some players, it may become bad news for some local player because their chance is going to be narrower. For example, the recent occurrence in Junior National team, The Manager called more than four decline players from several countries to join the selection. Almost of them are allowed being to the main team. Of course, they are able to obtain more opportunities to slip out the selection because they possess more experience. As we know the atmosphere and the founding totally differ between Indonesia and the others especially in Europe. In my opinion we can’t found the newcomers without giving land to develop or adding their experience. Because of that, naturalizing the decline players will tighten the chance for the truth Indonesian player to sharpen their ability. (Rahayu , 2011:2)

The following component is concluding sentence that usually present in the end of the paragraph. Concluding sentence is not absolutely needed; even a concluding sentence is not commonly used on essay or another writings. Concluding sentence is hardly complicated task as the others task, topic sentence and supporting sentences. It only restates the main idea of paragraph (topic sentence) using another words and summarizes the information which has been discussed in the paragraph. A concluding sentence serves three purpose, they are, (1) it signals the end of the paragraph, (2) it summarizes the main points of the paragraph, and (3) it gives a final comment on your topic and leaves the reader with the most important ideas to think about
(Oshima and Houge, 1991:25). Moreover, a concluding sentence constitutes a short of the topic sentence reserve. The paragraph bellow shows the example for more understanding, the italic sentence is called concluding sentence.

Ahmad Dahlan University (UAD) will celebrate the 50^th anniversary. The 50^th anniversary of UAD is actually in November 15^th 2010, but before that day UAD will execute some agenda like sport competition among the lecturer employee and deputy of students, educational workshop, religion talk show, parade of traditional clothing and the largest agenda is gathering all of UAD ‘s member in Jogja Expo Center. The committee has already launched the logo 50^th anniversary of UAD  . They have made a big announcement in all campus of UAD and prepared all of the necessity for this celebration.  The agendas are held to enliven the 50^th anniversary of Ahmad Dahlan University. (Rahayu,2010:1)

The additional component of paragraph is unity and coherence. Unity and coherence may not be the main component of paragraph. An affective paragraph is a paragraph which possesses what one often call a unity, completeness, order, and coherent(Saraka,1998:61). The Quotation emphasizes that they have an important function in determining the quality of the paragraph although they are only the additional component of paragraph. Unity and Coherence have a purpose to show how the content of the previous (above) paragraph will be elaborated in the next (following) paragraph.

 Unity means that you discuss only one main idea in a paragraph (Oshima and Houge,1991:17). Unity should be closely related to the topic, it should eliminate the sentence which does not relate to develop the main idea. For example, the writer is going to discuss about Globalization can give positive and negative impact for human existence, discuss only those. The writers can not discuss about the cause of globalization occur, the way how to solve the negative impact or how to come after the globalization.

Coherence means that the paragraph is easy to read and understand because supporting sentence are in some kind like logical order and the ideas are connected by the use of appropriate transition signal (Oshima and Houge,19991:17). There are three way to crate coherence, they are, (1) Arrange ideas to achieve emphasis, (2) Arrange the ideas to achieve the coherence such as using chronological order, comparison and contrast, order of importance, etc, (3) connect the ideas to achieve coherent, it is to show the use of transitional words (before, after, however, although an others coordinating conjunction). A paragraph not only requires the unity but also a logical and natural flow from one idea to another.

            Paragraph is a component that forms a writing; thus, to achieve a good writing, the writer candidates should figure out the major components paragraph. Understanding the paragraph components may be useful for gaining the accuracy of elaboration ideas. Because the writers are directed to think harmoniously step by step in composing a paragraph. Paragraph, a group of sentence, has components that must be complied. The first is topic sentence which introduces the main idea of the paragraph and indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss. The second is supporting sentences which provide support to the topic sentence and contain the details helping to elaborate the topic sentence. The third is concluding sentence which restates the main idea of paragraph (Topic Sentence) using another words and summarizes the information which has been discussed in the paragraph. The forth is unity that show restriction of ideas discussion, it should be closely related to the topic and eliminate the sentence which does not relate to develop the main idea. The last is coherence that explains how to elaborate ideas well using the transitional words in order to the readers easily read.

Bibliography

Haris,P. David. 1969. Testing English as a Second Language. Mc. Grawwhill Book: New York

Hornby, AS. 1998. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press: Oxford

Oshima, Alice and Ann Houge. 1991. Writing Academic English. Addison Wesley Publishing Company: New York.

Saraka. 1998. From Paragraph to Essay Concept and Practice. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan: Jakarta

Rahayu, Risvita. 2011. Essay : Naturalization is Colonialization

Rahayu. Risvita. 2010. Tugas Writing 3

yogyakarta, desember 2011