CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter will discuss the theories which underlie the study. This chapter will be divided into two parts: theoretical description and theoretical framework. The
theoretical description consists of brief descriptions of the theories which are used in this study. The theoretical description will discuss four major theories: first, writing,
which will discuss the theory of writing in general. Second, paragraph which will elaborate paragraph and its substances. The third is argumentative writing which will
discuss about the theories of argumentative writing and argumentative paragraph. And the last is testing writing which will elaborate the theories which support the
way the researcher gathers the data of this study. In the theoretical framework, the writer will adapt the theories from the theoretical description to support this study.
2.1. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION
2.1.1. WRITING
As mentioned in the first chapter, writing means both physical and mental work. Writing is a physical work of gathering words into sentence, sentences into
paragraph, and paragraphs into text. However, the physical work of writing will not be meaningful without the mental work. The mental work of writing here is
the work of brain in investing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraph, so that the physical work of
writing will produce meaningful writing product and the message from the writer will be clearly conveyed to the readers Nunan, 2003.
Based on that understanding, paragraph writing could be defined as the physical work of gathering words into a sentence and sentences into a paragraph,
and the mental work of investing idea, thinking about how to express them and organized them into sentences to make a good paragraph. The idea invested will
be stated on the main paragraph or the topic sentence and expressed in well- organized supporting sentences.
Physically, writing is a process of gathering sentences into paragraph and paragraphs into a text. Thus, paragraph is one of the important parts that
establishes a text. In order to know what paragraph is, the following description will describe briefly about it.
2.1.2. PARAGRAPH
2.1.2.1. Definition
A paragraph, physically, is a group of sentences. However, a good paragraph should contain relevant information about one main or central idea. The main or
central idea here is called a topic sentence, and the relevant information about one main idea is called supporting sentences Bram, 1995.
Muhyidin 1988 states that a paragraph consists of three main parts; they are: 1. Topic sentence
A topic sentence is used to state the main idea of a paragraph.
2. Supporting sentences Supporting sentences are used to develop the topic sentence by giving
reasons, examples and facts. 3. Concluding sentences
A Concluding sentence is used to end the paragraph by restating or summarizing the ideas in it.
However, a good paragraph does not always consist of the three main parts stated above. The most important elements of a paragraph are the topic sentence and a set
of supporting sentences Bram, 1995. 2.1.2.2. Topic sentence
As stated before, a topic sentence is the main idea of the paragraph Muhyidin, 1988. A topic sentence introduces the topic of the paragraph. A good topic
sentence states the idea or attitude which is called controlling idea. Controlling idea controls what the sentences in the paragraph will discuss. All sentences in
the paragraph should relate to and develop the controlling idea stated. “A topic sentence should consist of a subject and an attitude. A subject is what the writer
writes, and an attitude is why the writer writes” Bram, 1995: 16. For example:
“The BBC World Service Radio station broadcasts various highly selected programs.”
From the sentence, it is shown that ‘The BBC World Service Radio station’ is the subject of the topic sentence. It tells the reader that the paragraph will talk about
the BBC as the world service radio station. Then ‘broadcasts various highly selected programs’ is the attitude. It shows the reason why the writer writes the
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