Essay Paragraph Structure

Learn how you can make a decent paragraph structure with our expert guide

Only the perfect structure will make your writing perfect

General Idea

In an essay, each paragraph relates back to and supports a thesis. As you write your paper, keep in mind that each paragraph should be:

• Unified: all the sentences in the paragraph should be related to the main idea or topic sentence.
• Coherent
• Well developed: each paragraph should contain an appropriate amount of evidence and explanation
• Organized:

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The Topic Sentence

A topic sentence is simply the controlling idea for a paragraph. You can think of it as a sort of mini-thesis. Often, the topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph. The remainder of the paragraph then supports, explains, justifies, or expands upon that topic sentence.

A good topic sentence is:

• Clear
• Concise
• Emphatic

Here are some examples of topic sentences and commentary.

Creating a Unified and Coherent Paragraph

In a coherent paragraph, sentences flow easily from one to the other. Coherent paragraphs tend to share certain characteristics:

• Ideas are linked. Sentences are connected either to the paragraph's main idea or to the preceding sentence.
• Key words (or synonyms of key words) are repeated.
• Transitions are used to bridge ideas. These are words and phrases that signal the relationship between ideas.
• Here is an example of a paragraph that is being revised to be more coherent and unified.

Organization

The overall organizational approach varies by essay. If you are writing a narrative, for instance, your paragraph would look very different than a paragraph in an analytical essay. No matter the type of essay, however, the sentences in a paragraph do come in a logical order. In a well-written paragraph, sentence 2 naturally follows sentence 1. Sentence 3 naturally follows sentence 2, and so on. For a breakdown of how a paragraph is organized, look at this model.

Some typical patterns of organization in paragraphs:

• Examples and Illustrations: one of the more common types of organization
• Narration: a story or part of a story
• Description: descriptive writing to paint a verbal picture
• Process: a step by step instruction in chronological order
• Comparison and Contrast: how 2 things are similar and/or different
• Analogy: comparisons between 2 seemingly unlike things
• Cause and Effect: the causal relationship between things
• Classification and Division: grouping of items according to a consistent principle
• Definition: defining or clarifying a term

Reasons for Beginning a New Paragraph

As you become a more experienced writer, you will discover the natural places where a paragraph should end and a new one begin. There are many, but here a few common reasons to begin a new paragraph:

• To signal a new idea
• To signal a shift in time and place
• To emphasize a point
• To change speakers (in dialogue)
• To break up dense text
• To highlight a contrasting point

Reasons for Combining Paragraphs

Too many short paragraphs can be as problematic for a reader as a dense block of text. Frequent short paragraphs make the overall essay seem choppy, and sometimes make it hard to see the connections between ideas. Here, then, are a few reasons to combine paragraphs:

• To clarify the essay's organization
• To connect related ideas
• To ease the a text's choppiness

Overall, be as deliberate with each paragraph as you are with the overall custom term paper or essay. The details can make all the difference!

References:

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.

Kane, Thomas S. The New Oxford Guide to Writing. New York: Oxford, 1988.

McMahan, Elizabeth. Here's How to Write Well. New York: Longman, 2002.