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Writing Paragraphs That Work
When writing, the importance of breaking your copy down into sensible paragraphs cannot be stated enough. Sentences strung together endlessly one after another can be difficult to work through, just as copy where a single thought extends across paragraphs can break the flow of writing. In fact, any decent English writing software will point you the fact if you try running your poorly-arranged copy through one.
If you’ve found it hard to construct your paragraphs without running into either one of the two problems above, you can use this brief guide to help you manage them a bit more easily.
1. Start with a topic sentence
Always include a topic sentence that expresses the main idea you will expound on explicitly. That helps prepare the reader for what is to come, as well as avoid any confusion as they read through it. For academic-type work as well as business reports, it always works best to begin each paragraph with the topic sentence.
2. Use the paragraph to expand on your topic sentence
With a topic sentence clearly in place, the rest of the paragraph’s job is to spell it out in detail. If a particular sentence or statement doesn’t support any of the issues in your topic sentence, consider leaving it out or moving it elsewhere in the copy.
3. Arrange the paragraph in a logical sequence
Use a logical progression in writing out your paragraphs, presenting your ideas in a recognizable pattern (e.g. cause and effect) instead of throwing out statements in a disjointed manner. Use descriptive language to demonstrate each connection.
4. Keep it to reasonable lengths
For academic work, business documents and prose, long sentences spanning up to an entire page in length is usually acceptable. It is highly frowned upon in other forms of writing, though (such as magazines, blogs and newspapers), especially where a large number of readers will be involved. If you feel your paragraph running a little too long, try breaking it down further by cutting it off at logical points. Look for sections where some of the focus changes as potential candidates for splitting your paragraph.
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