Paragraphs are the fundamental units of texts, whether you are writing an article, an essay or a letter. I don’t think anybody studying English will be able to avoid them, so we might as well try to grasp the concept of writing paragraphs as soon as possible. I tried to sum up the most important information.
Before writing
BRAINSTORM
While Writing
You can imagine your paragraph’s stucture like a tasty hamburger:
Topic sentence
- usually the first sentence (indented)
- introduces main idea
Supporting sentences
- body of the paragraph; between the topic sentence and the conclusion
- length depends; approximately 5-7 sentences
- explains main idea and gives facts, details and examples
- juicy details, spice it up!
Conclusion
- last sentence
- summarizes the information that has been presented
- rephrase topic sentence
After writing
Check:
Cohesion: Are there connectors to make it easier to follow the text?
Coherence: Is the paragraph logically structured?
Formal register: For academic paragraphs, do not use contractions, e.g. “do not” rather than “don’t”.
Paragraph Punch: A step by step guide (try the free demo).
A few exercises on paragraph writing.
A more detailed explanation (choose: the one for kids or the one for adults).
mpurk 