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Paragraph. A paragraph (from Ancient Greek παράγραφος (parágraphos) 'to write beside') is a self-contained unit of discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. Though not required by the orthographic conventions of any language with a writing system, paragraphs are a conventional means of organizing extended segments ...
Topic sentence. In expository writing, a topic sentence is a sentence that summarizes the main idea of a paragraph. [ 1][ 2] It is usually the first sentence in a paragraph. Also known as a focus sentence, it encapsulates or organizes an entire paragraph. Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often ...
Essay. An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal and informal: formal essays are characterized by "serious purpose, dignity, logical organization ...
Lead paragraph. A lead paragraph (sometimes shortened to lead; in the United States sometimes spelled lede) is the opening paragraph of an article, book chapter, or other written work that summarizes its main ideas. [ 1] Styles vary widely among the different types and genres of publications, from journalistic news-style leads to a more ...
WP:UMD. Phrases such as refers to, is the name of, describes, or is a term for are sometimes used inappropriately in the first sentence of Wikipedia articles. For the vast majority of articles, the introduction is using a term, rather than mentioning it. This is known as the use–mention distinction .
For the word puzzle, see Acrostic (puzzle). An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. [ 1] The term comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis ...
Paraphrase. A paraphrase or rephrase ( / ˈpærəˌfreɪz /) is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. [ 1] More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a copy of the text in meaning, but which is different from the ...
Thesis statement. A thesis statement is a statement of one's core argument, the main idea (s), and/or a concise summary of an essay, research paper, etc. [ 1] It is usually expressed in one or two sentences near the beginning of a paper, and may be reiterated elsewhere, such as in the conclusion. In some contexts, such as in the British ...