What is the prompt I have been given? If you are writing a paragraph as a response or answer to a particular prompt, such as “You have decided to donate money to charity. Which charity do you choose and why?” or “Describe your favorite day of the week,” you will need to think carefully about that prompt and make sure you are directly addressing it, rather than going off-topic. What are the main ideas or topics that I need to address? Think about the topic you are being asked or have decided to write about, and consider what the most relevant ideas or s relating to that topic are. As paragraphs are usually relatively short, it is important that you try to hit on all the main ideas, without going off-topic. Who am I writing for? Think about whom the intended readership of this paragraph or paper will be. What is their prior knowledge? Are they familiar with the topic at hand, or will it require many explanatory sentences? If your paragraphs are part of a larger essay, writing an essay outline can help you define the major ideas or goals of each paragraph.
At this point, you may realize that there’s a gap in your knowledge and that it will be necessary to look up some facts and figures to support your argument. It’s a good idea to do this research now, so you will have all the relevant information easily at hand when it comes to the writing stage.
This new order may be chronological, may put the most important information first, or may just make the paragraph easier and more interesting to read - it all depends on the topic and style of the paragraph you wish to write. [2] X Research source Once you have decided where you want everything to go, you can rewrite your points according to this new structure - this will help to make the writing process a lot faster and more straightforward.
Every other sentence you write should support the topic sentence and provide further detail and discussion of the s or ideas it raises. If any sentence you write cannot be directly related to the topic sentence, it should not be included in this particular paragraph. More experienced writers can include their topic sentence at any point in the paragraph; it doesn’t necessarily need to be the first line. However, writers who are new or less comfortable with paragraph writing should stick with having the topic sentence first, as it will help to guide you throughout the rest of the paragraph. [1] X Research source Your topic sentence should not be too broad or too narrow. If your topic sentence is too broad, you will not be able to discuss its ideas adequately in your paragraph. If it’s too narrow, you won’t have enough to discuss.
Link each sentence with transition words that form a bridge between one sentence and the next. Transition words can help you compare and contrast, show sequence, show cause, and effect, highlight important ideas, and progress smoothly from one idea to the next. Such transition words include “furthermore”, “in fact” and “in addition to”. You can also use chronological transitions, such as “firstly”, “secondly” and “thirdly”. [2] X Research source The supporting sentences are the meat of your paragraph, so you should fill them with as much evidence to support your topic sentence as possible. Depending on the topic, you can use facts, figures, statistics, and examples, or you can use stories, anecdotes, and quotes. Anything goes, as long as it is relevant. [1] X Research source In terms of length, three to five sentences will usually be enough to cover your main points and adequately support your topic sentence, but this will vary greatly depending on the topic and the length of the paper you are writing. There is no set length for a paragraph. It should be as long as it needs to be adequate to cover the main idea. [2] X Research source [3] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC’s on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
Don’t just reword the topic sentence. Your concluding sentence should acknowledge the discussion that has come before it and remind your reader of the relevance of this discussion. [4] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC’s on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source For example, in a paragraph dealing with the topic “Why is Canada a great place to live?” The concluding sentence might look something like “From all the evidence provided above, such as Canada’s fantastic health care provisions, its top-notch education system, and its clean, safe cities, we can conclude that Canada is indeed a great place to live. "
A new paragraph is also used each time you are contrasting two points or presenting each side of an argument. For example, if your topic is “should civil servants receive lower salaries?” one paragraph would deal with the arguments supporting lower pay for civil servants, while the other paragraph would provide arguments against it. [1] X Research source Paragraphs make a piece of writing easier to comprehend and give readers a “break” between new ideas to digest what they have just read. If you feel that the paragraph you are writing is becoming too complex, or contains a series of complex points, you may want to think about splitting it up into individual paragraphs. [1] X Research source When writing a paper, the introduction, and conclusion should always be given their paragraphs. The introductory paragraph should define the aim of the paper and what it hopes to achieve, while also giving a brief outline of the ideas and s it will go on to discuss. [15] X Research source The concluding paragraph provides a summary of the information and arguments contained in the paper and states in clear terms what the paper has shown and/or proven. It may also introduce a new idea, one that opens the reader’s mind to the questions raised by the paper. [16] X Research source If you’re writing fiction, you need to start a new paragraph in dialogue to show a new speaker. [17] X Research source
Ensure that each sentence has a subject and that all proper nouns are capitalized. Also, make sure that all the subjects and verbs agree with each other and that you use the same tense across the entire paragraph. Use a dictionary to double-check the spelling of words that you are unsure about, don’t just assume that they are correct. Check your paragraph for the proper use of punctuation, making sure that you use marks such as commas, colons, semicolons, and ellipses in the correct context.
The point of view of your writing should remain consistent throughout the paragraph, and indeed, the entire paper. For example, if you are writing in the first person (e. g. , “I believe that. . . “) you should not switch to a passive voice (“it is believed that”) halfway through. However, you should also try to avoid beginning every sentence with “I think. . . " or “I contend that. . . " Try to vary the format of your sentences, as this will make the paragraph more interesting for the reader and help it to flow more naturally. For beginner writers, it is better to stick to short, to-the-point sentences which clearly express your point. Long, rambling sentences can rapidly become incoherent or fall victim to grammatical errors, so try to avoid them until you gain more experience as a writer.
If you feel that the main claim of your topic sentence is sufficiently supported and well-developed by the contents of the rest of your paragraph, then your paragraph is probably complete. However, if any important aspect of the topic remains unexplored or unexplained or if the paragraph is shorter than three sentences, it likely needs a little more work. [20] X Research source On the other hand, you may decide that your paragraph is too long and contains superfluous or tangential content. If this is the case, you should edit the paragraph, so it contains only the most relevant information. If you feel that all the content is necessary to your point, but the paragraph is still too long, you should think about breaking it up into several smaller, more specific paragraphs. For Example: Instead of writing- ‘So we say that if people are negative to you just be friendly to them. ’ You could write- ‘So, to conclude, just be friendly to the people who are negative to you. '
