Quick Guide to ABCDE Paragraphs in Science

Assertion: Make a claim or include a topic sentence. The key here is that you include a
sentence that states the purpose of your paragraph or describes what you are going to explain.

The first sentence of any scientific response that you write should make a claim. What does that
mean?

 It is a one sentence “answer” to the question being asked. Always ask yourself, does my first
sentence answer the question?
 It is a statement that you can prove or defend with evidence.
 Every sentence following the claim is included to prove it or explain it.

Some Types of Claims:

1. A conclusion at the end of an experiment. These are the types of claims that are
answering the question, “Was the hypothesis supported or refuted?”. If a student wrote a
hypothesis, and the question says, “Write a conclusion.”, it should be written in the following
manner:
- The hypothesis that ___________________________ was ______________.
- The first “____________” is the prediction the student made, or the “then” part of the
hypothesis. It does not contain a description of what was done in the lab or the “If”
part. It does not contain the scientific reason or the “because” part.
- The second “__________” is for the word “supported” or “refuted”. This is the word
that turns the sentence from a statement to a claim. The word “supported” or
“refuted” must be included in the first sentence.
- Example: The hypothesis that the plant in the window sill will grow taller than the
plant in the closet was supported.

2. A question asking about the relationship between two variables. These questions
might be phrased “What is the relationship between _________ and _________?” or “How does
__________ affect ____________?”. These should be written as a relationship statement:
- As ___________ increases, __________ increases/decreases.
- The first “_________” is for the first variable listed in the question.
- The second “_______” is for the second variable listed in the question.
- The end word should be either “increase” or “decrease” depending on the
relationship you find.
- Example: As temperature increases, the rate of dissolving increases.

3. An opinion about a scientific situation. Some questions ask you to take a stand on a
topic. For example, “Which direction does air move?”, “Did the experiment have valid data?”,
“If there was a race between a marble, golf ball, and tennis ball, which would have the
highest acceleration?”.
- There is not a clear or definite way to phrase these. The key is that you always
need to RPQ, or repeat part of the question and make sure you pick a clear answer.
Make a choice that you are ready to defend.
- Example: Air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.
- Example: The experiment did not have valid data.
- Example: If there was a race between a marble, golf ball, and tennis ball, the
marble would have the highest acceleration.

Background: Give the reader background on the topic. – The reader needs to be given
information regarding your topic before you can explain your points. Without background
information, readers are forced to make “leaps” in their understanding that they might not be able to
make on their own. For example, if you are describing what happened in the lab, the reader may not
have been in class with you. They need to know what happened!

Types of Backgrounds:

1. Describing what happening in the lab. Often we use transitions like, “In the lab”. These
sentence(s) should give the reader a visual picture of what you did, what variable you tested,
and what you measured.
2. Providing content background. If you are responding to a question that is not about a lab,
think to yourself, “What does the reader (who was not in class for the lesson) have to know
before they can understand the points I am going to make?”. Give the reader some
background in the content you will be explaining.

Citation: Cite sources including data, text, and diagrams. – Scientific writers utilize multiple
resources and sources of information in their writing. Citing where this information came from allows
the writing to be more credible. Citations usually include the definition of a science term or
concept data supporting the claim, and diagrams.

Types of Citations:

1. Text citations: As you look up information from any text to develop your answer, give
credit to the resources you used! This could be a text book, notes page provided from your
teacher, a video, a website, an informational article, etc. Students often use transitions such
as “According to “title of text””, “As stated in “title of text”, etc.
2. Data: Anytime there is data, it needs to be cited! When using data:
a. Compare 2 data points
b. Use units
c. Use the science vocabulary the data is describing
3. Diagrams: If you include a diagram, reference it! Without connection to the diagram within
the text, the reader may not use the diagram in a way that will help them understand your
point. Diagrams must serve a purpose and include a title, caption, and labels.

Discussion: Discuss how your examples and citations relate to your topic or claim. –
Discuss how the text, data, or diagram that you just cited connects to your big idea, or your
assertion. If you do not make this connection for the reader, they may miss it! Clearly connect your
citation to the assertion.

Types of Discussions:

1. Relate the citation to the lab: Often, the discussion is relating the science term you cited
to the lab you completed.
2. Relate the citation to your assertion: If you are answering a question that is not about a
lab, you still need to discuss how the points you are making/citing connect to your big idea, or
assertion.

End/Extension: Write a conclusion sentence. – At the end of your paragraph, write a conclusion
sentence that wraps up your ideas.

Types of Conclusion Sentences:

1. End: Often this is a rephrasing of the assertion. If you are only writing one paragraph, make
sure that your conclusion sentence does not introduce new information not previously
discussed.
2. Extension: If you are writing more than one paragraph, the “E” can turn into an “Extension”.
This can be a sentence that connects the paragraph that you just wrote to the big idea of the
paragraph to follow.