Course: English Composition (ENGL 1A) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Lindgren
Module: Week 3 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 3 — Develop unified, coherent, well-developed paragraphs (SLO A).

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 3 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 3 meeting Tue Sep 15 and Thu Sep 17, and end-of-week work due Sunday Sep 20, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 3 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 3: The Paragraph

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

If the whole essay is a building, the paragraph is the brick — the basic unit of composition you'll stack again and again all term. Last week you read a text and responded to it; this week you build the thing you've been reading: a paragraph that makes one point and actually proves it. We answer three questions that decide whether your reader follows you or gives up: what is this paragraph about (the topic sentence), does every sentence belong (unity), and does it flow and actually develop the idea (coherence + development)?

The week's big question

"How do I build a paragraph that makes one clear point — and develops it so a reader is convinced, not just told?"

By Friday you'll be able to spot a topic sentence, cut the sentence that breaks unity, choose the transition that makes a paragraph flow, and build a body paragraph that explains its evidence instead of just listing it.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all four out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Write a topic sentence that states the paragraph's one controlling idea (and tell it apart from a title or a bare fact).
• [ ] Test a paragraph for unity — every sentence serves the topic sentence — and cut the one that wanders off-point.
• [ ] Make a paragraph cohere — order ideas logically and use transitions and old-to-new flow so each sentence hands off to the next.
• [ ] Develop the idea — back the point with evidence and explanation (the P-I-E / MEAL move), not a pile of facts.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI work: you'll use a chatbot to draft and react, and then you judge its work. Ask a chatbot to "improve" a paragraph and you'll often watch it pile on praise and flatten your voice into corporate mush — handy practice for the skill this whole course is about. The tool drafts; the writer decides.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• One paragraph = one idea. The single most useful rule in the course: if a paragraph is trying to make two points, it's two paragraphs. Name the one point first, then build only what serves it.
• Forget the "five-sentence" myth. A paragraph is as long as its idea needs — three sentences or thirteen. Length is set by the idea, never by a magic number.
• Memorize one tiny hook. "Point · Illustration · Explanation · Link — make it, prove it, explain it, connect it." (Some books call this MEAL: Main idea · Evidence · Analysis · Link. Same move.)
• Listing isn't developing. Facts don't speak for themselves — you have to explain what each one shows. A paragraph that only stacks facts hasn't developed its point yet.
• The unity test: read each sentence and ask, does this serve the topic sentence? If not, cut it (or move it to a paragraph where it belongs). Cutting the wanderer is a revision move, not an edit.

You don't need anything special for this week — just last week's habit of reading closely, now pointed at sentences you build yourself. Come to class ready to defend (or demolish) the idea that a "good paragraph" has to be five sentences. See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 3

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Mon Sep 14, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Mon Sep 14."

Subject: Week 3 — the brick every essay is built from 🧱

Hi everyone,

Quick question to start: how many sentences does a "good" paragraph have? If you said "five," this is the week we retire that rule for good. A paragraph isn't a sentence count — it's one idea, fully made. This week we learn to build that idea so well a reader is convinced, not just informed.

This week — The Paragraph — we tackle the big question: How do I build a paragraph that makes one clear point and develops it so a reader is convinced? By Friday you'll write a sharp topic sentence, test a paragraph for unity (does every sentence belong?), make it flow with transitions, and develop an idea with evidence and explanation — not just a stack of facts.

Four things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 3 — build a unified, well-developed paragraph step by step with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. Due Sun Sep 20.
2. Quiz 3, Discussion 3, and Assignment 3 also close Sun Sep 20 — the discussion is a peer-review: you'll post one paragraph and give two classmates real feedback, so post early and leave time to reply.
3. Writing Studio 3 — "One Point, Fully Made" — our weekly workshop. You'll build one body paragraph from a topic sentence and then hunt down the sentence that breaks unity in a paragraph I give you. Hands-on and quick.
4. Open the Start Here page first — it lays out everything in order with due dates.

One promise: the paragraph is where writing stops feeling like a mystery and starts feeling like construction you control. Learn to make one point cleanly and you can build any essay out of those bricks — which is exactly what we'll start doing next week with the thesis.

Bring a strong opinion about the "five-sentence paragraph" to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Lindgren