The Food Book of Writing

Paragraphs Paragraphs – a group of sentences that together convey a shared purpose structured around the same topic.

Introductory Paragraphs (Introductions) Hook (Lead / Opening Statement) – can begin with the title Anecdotal (Brief story to set the mood and lead the reader into the topic) Ex. Often throughout the past 50 years when children have earned it, their parents treat them to dessert. Rewarding them with ice cream when they do well at school, for example, young people develop a strong and lifelong connection to sweets. The better they do at school, the more their smiles widen and, sadly, the more the nation’s waistlines and the health outcomes associated with them expand. As children, they may have no idea why, but the adults in their lives should.

Query Based (Question that brings the reader to the topic - avoid second person POV “you”) Ex. Does the consumption of sweets and chocolate really have a negative impact on a person’s health?

Thesis Statements (the purpose of a piece of writing – usually one sentence in length, but can be longer depending on the purpose – must be something that is arguable) Assertion (claim - a subject + a “so what” about the subject) Ex. candy provides very little nutritional content and should be avoided.

Fact (empirically verifiable but often difficult to argue extensively about - better used as evidence to support a claim) Ex. candy is comparatively inexpensive.

Opinion (personal position on a topic) Ex. Hershey’s makes absolutely the best chocolate.

Belief (social, religious, or political in nature – an opinion held by many to be a fact,