Paragraph Writing
Learn to write one good paragraph and you have learnt to write an essay, because an essay is a small number of good paragraphs in a sensible order.
Step 1 — Understand the task
A paragraph is a group of sentences about one idea. That is the whole definition, and almost every weak paragraph breaks it — by containing three ideas, or by containing one idea repeated three times.
In the examination you may be asked to write a single paragraph on a given topic, or paragraphs may form part of a longer piece. The skill is the same.
The four parts of a paragraph
Topic sentence
The first sentence states the idea of the paragraph. A reader who reads only this sentence should know what the paragraph is about.
Supporting sentences
Two or three sentences that explain, prove or expand the idea. This is where most marks are gained, and where weak paragraphs are thinnest.
Example or detail
One concrete instance. Many students find it difficult is vague; In my class of forty, only six had a dictionary at home is not. Detail is what makes writing convincing.
Concluding sentence
A closing sentence that completes the thought or links to what follows. Without it a paragraph stops rather than ends.
Step 2 — Study a model
Question: Write a paragraph on the importance of reading outside the school textbook.
Reading outside the school textbook is one of the most useful habits a student can form. A textbook is written to be examined, so it gives information in the shortest possible form; a story or an article, by contrast, shows language being used naturally, and the reader absorbs sentence patterns and vocabulary without having to memorise them. The effect is gradual but unmistakable. A student who reads a newspaper column or a short story every week for a year will write more fluently at the end of it than one who has spent the same year underlining a textbook, and will usually understand examination passages more quickly as well. For a language, wide reading is not a distraction from study; it is study.
Why this answer works
- The topic sentence states the idea plainly: reading outside the textbook is useful.
- The supporting sentences explain why, by contrasting two kinds of reading. They give a reason, not merely a restatement.
- The detail is concrete: a column or a story every week, for a year.
- The concluding sentence completes the thought and does not simply repeat the opening.
- Every sentence belongs to the one idea. Nothing about libraries, examinations or teachers has been allowed to wander in.
Step 3 — Identify the structure
Read the model again and label its sentences: 1 topic, 2–3 support, 4 detail, 5 conclusion. Do the same with any paragraph you meet in a comprehension passage. Once you can see the structure in other people's writing, it appears in your own.
Joining sentences properly
The links between sentences are what make a paragraph read as one thought rather than a list. Use them, but do not use one in every sentence.
- Adding: also, in addition, moreover, furthermore
- Giving an example: for example, for instance, such as
- Contrasting: however, on the other hand, nevertheless, by contrast
- Cause and effect: therefore, as a result, consequently, because of this
- Sequencing: first, then, afterwards, finally
- Concluding: in short, in conclusion, to sum up
Step 4 — Guided practice
Topic: The problem of plastic waste in our town.
- Write one topic sentence naming the problem. Do not describe it yet.
- Write two sentences explaining why it is a problem.
- Write one sentence giving a concrete detail — a place, a quantity, something you have actually seen.
- Write one concluding sentence.
- Now read your five sentences in order. Add one linking word where the join is weakest — and only there.
Step 5 — Write independently
Ten minutes for one paragraph. Choose a topic and write without a plan on paper — by now the four parts should be the plan.
- The value of learning a second language
- A person who has influenced me
- Why school libraries matter
- The advantages and disadvantages of the mobile telephone
- A festival celebrated in my area
Step 6 — Correction checklist for paragraphs
- Is there one idea in this paragraph, and only one?
- Does the first sentence state that idea?
- Do the supporting sentences explain, rather than repeat the topic sentence in other words?
- Is there at least one concrete detail?
- Does the paragraph end, rather than stop?
- Have I used linking words where they help, and not in every sentence?
- Are my sentences of varied length — not all short, not all long?
- Have I checked verbs, articles, plurals, capitals and full stops?