How to Write a Paragraph

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams. Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University.

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Writing can seem like a challenge, but it doesn't have to be difficult! These suggestions will help you put together A+ paragraphs in no time.

Planning Your Paragraph

• 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.

Writing Your Paragraph

Write a topic sentence. The first sentence of your paragraph needs to be the topic sentence. A topic sentence is an introductory line that addresses what the main idea or thesis of the paragraph will be. It should contain the most significant and relevant point you wish to make regarding your topic, thus summarizing the paragraph as a whole. [1] X Research source

Don't: use an obvious fact as your topic sentence.
Do: feel free to start with a vague idea if you feel stuck, and improve it once you've finished the paragraph.

• 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

Write a concluding sentence. The concluding sentence of your paragraph should tie everything together. A good concluding sentence will reinforce the idea outlined in your topic sentence, but now it has all the weight of the evidence or arguments contained in your supporting sentences behind it. After reading the concluding sentence, the reader should have no doubt as to the accuracy or relevance of the paragraph as a whole.

Don't disagree with your evidence: Despite these comments, the report was a failure.
Do qualify the conclusion if it transitions to the next paragraph: These quotes prove the report had major support, but this does not mean it led to major change.

• 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