The art of writing strong paragraphs, like the art of proofreading and editing, is an ancient one, and it is also one that takes a long time to master. For this reason, if you are in a rush, consider making use of proofreading and editing services because these will allow you to benefit from the experience and expertise of trained writing professionals. These services may save you a lot of hassle in the long run!
If you have the time, however, and especially if you are planning to enter a career in which your writing skills will be important, it is essential to know about the main techniques you can use to optimize paragraph structure. Therefore, this article begins by describing the basic process for writing a good paragraph and, in turn, offers a few more advanced writing tips for optimising the structure of paragraphs in your essay or any other document.
Writing a strong paragraph
In academic writing, it is important to be efficient and simple when writing paragraphs. If you stick to the approach outlined below, you will enable your readers to absorb your message easily, whereas if you don’t, you may completely derail the logic of your points.
1. Begin with a topic sentence
A topic sentence (or “paragraph leader”) introduces to the reader the main point and purpose of the paragraph. You don’t need to squash everything you want to say into this sentence – you simply need to convey enough information for the reader to understand what the rest of the paragraph will focus on.
2. Develop your point
In the next two or three sentences of your paragraph, develop the point made in your topic sentence. Any of the non-critical information that you decided to exclude from your topic sentence can be placed into these sentences.
3. Support your point
In subsequent sentences (the exact number will differ depending on the nature of the point you are making), you should bring in any evidence, statistics, opinions, or examples that will help the reader to understand why your point is correct and valid. Anything that verifies the initial statement you made can go into these sentences.
4. Summarise your point
The final sentence of your paragraph should wrap everything up, showing the reader the conclusions that they can draw from the argument you have presented. As such, the language of the final sentence is likely to mirror the topic sentence that started your paragraph.
Advanced tips
Paragraph length
This is a complex and much-discussed issue and, ultimately, there is no clear rule about how long your paragraphs should be. Ideally, the paragraph should be precisely as long as it needs to be to make the point you want to make. In most cases, however, paragraphs that are around four sentences long, and potentially ranging from three to five sentences, are the optimal length. This will include one topic sentence, one concluding sentence, and two or three sentences that develop and support the main point.
Transitioning between paragraphs
Readers appreciate writing that is seamless, where all the points flow logically from one to another and, likewise, so should the paragraphs that communicate these points. To write effective transitions between paragraphs, you can make use of many of the connectives (or “linking words”, such as “however”, “first of all”, “in addition”, and so on) that you use to write strong transitions between sentences.
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