Background Information: Facts in the following paragraph were taken from an article that appeared in The Maui News in May, 1988. Written by Tom Stevens, it was called "Pennies." It was taken from his anthologized narratives that appear in Shave Ice.

A Sample Paragraph:

Title: Seeing a Penny and Picking It Up

A mere handful of years ago, the copper penny, which was once the highly respected companion of rich men, poor men, beggars, and thieves, has fallen on bad times. According to writer, Tom Stevens, "Aside from the few that can ease the irksome $3.02, please" transaction, pennies simply aren't powerful enough to be kept on "purchase alert" status. They're the buck privates of money. Pennies," he says, "never get to snap crisply out of a billfold or be palmed to a maitre d' in a swanky night spot. They don't get to light cigars, play the ponies or buy state secrets. Their biggest thrill is being run over by a train." Whereas pennies used to go to the opera, travel on luxury liners, and appear as a status symbol on shoes, the thief of time has robbed them of their glory. "Bobbysoxers tucked them into loafers when Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey came to town. Now," says Tom, "pennies can't even get into gumball machines." At the end of each day, Stevens' pennies get pitched from his pockets into a monkeypod bowl that resides on his dresser top along with other odds and ends. "When the pennies reach high tide and submerge the other items in the bowl - the spare car keys, the old St. Christopher medal - they get scooped into a plastic bucket that lives in the swirling, dustball badlands under the bed." When the bucket is in danger of overflowing, the loose coins are spilled onto a table where they are rolled and stacked before being confined to a tight fitting paper tube that banks give out for free. "You have to count every coin because the bank won't take rolls of varying lengths. But after you've counted to 50 several dozen times - and lost count several dozen more - it's amazing how closely a 49-penny roll resembles its 51-penny cousin." Pennies that have fallen on the sidewalk or that have been dropped into a bedside bucket tend to be ignored these days. Says Stevens, "Pennies, especially, were meant to go from hand to hand, to jingle cheerfully in pockets, to bring pleasure to many users - not to languish in some dusty bucket." He remembers their allure. "Look how beautiful they are, especially the old ones. That dark, burnished brown speaks of morocco leather, Swiss chocolate, riding gloves, brandy by firelight. Our greatest president gazes thoughtfully from each penny as if pondering the tiny word to his left: Liberty." So if you find a penny on the street, pick it up, and all that day, you'll have good luck and a relic, filled with tales to tell, if only money could really talk.

Paragraph Analysis:

This paragraph uses a deductive approach.

The topic sentence or generalization is presented first.

It is followed by main clause facts that directly support the controlling idea.