Glossary

The way something or someone looks.

 

In paragraphs you will sometimes see a sentence at the end of the paragraph which summarizes the information that has been presented.  This is the concluding sentence.

A concluding sentence can also give your feelings about what the paragraph is about.

Using words to show how something looks.

A small or less important part of an item.

Something you don't notice if you look at a picture quickly.

 

ex. Look at the details in this picture.

 

The five senses are sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell.  People use these to understand the world.

 

The following link will take you to a website where you can learn more about the five senses.

 http://webpages.shepherd.edu/JHENCK01/index%20webquest.htm

A picture or visual way of organizing and showing how ideas relate to each other.  Can be an outline, a web, or lots of other things.

A paragraph is a piece of writing that is usually five to six sentences long.  It begins with a topic sentence that tells the reader what the paragraph is about.  That is followed by three or four sentences with details about the topic sentence.  A paragraph usually ends with a concluding sentence that helps the reader understand what she has just read.

A topic sentence usually comes at the beginning of a paragraph; that is, it is usually the first sentence in a paragraph.  Not only is a topic sentence the first sentence of a paragraph, but, more importantly, it is the most general sentence in a paragraph.  What does "most general" mean?  It means that there are not many details in the sentence, but that the sentence introduces what you are going to talk about in the paragraph.

If you want to read a more detailed description of writing a topic sentence click on the link below.

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html