successfull academic writing

Parts of a paragraph:

• Topic sentence (what are you writing about) it should be interesting and not very long.
• Body ; it should follow the order of importance or a chronological order. 
• Closing sentence; it should restate the main idea and  add something to think about. 

Source: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cCuExRE6N-4 last visited on may 30 2013. 

Structure of paragraphs in academic writting 

• what a paragraph is: a distinct section in a piece of writing
• Types of paragraphs: persuasive, narrative, descriptive and explanatory. 
• qualities of a successful paragraph: unity, coherence and development. controlling idea answers to the "wh" questions. 
• tee rule: topic, explanation, example, evaluation. 
• concluding paragraph:  should summarize the main point, state main conclutions and answer to the presented questions, it shouldn't introduce new material, end with a generalization or end with a quotation. 

source: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w183qB0KDFg last visited on may 30 2013.