A paragraph is one of the most fundamental parts of writing. If you can plan and organize a well-structured paragraph, it improves everything else you write: essays, stories, speeches, blog posts, and even text messages.
But where do you start?
This article will outline six basic steps to writing a good paragraph.
What is a Paragraph?
A paragraph is a group of sentences that develop a unified main idea or theme. While paragraphs can be as short as one sentence and as long as several pages, a paragraph’s length ranges from five to ten sentences. A new paragraph is signaled by a new line and indent.
Paragraphs can stand on their own or as part of a larger text, such as an essay or story. Organizing a clear paragraph is a fundamental writing skill that improves your ability to write all sorts of texts:
Essays: Personal statements and college essays, literary analysis, argumentative, persuasive
Stories: Fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies
Interpersonal communication: Emails, text messages, letters
Public relations: Newsletters, memos, speeches
The paragraph structure below works for all writing genres listed above. However, this format is especially effective for academic writing styles like literary analysis essays and one-paragraph responses like you might write in class.
How to Write a Paragraph: 6 Steps
Here are the 6 steps to write a well-organized academic paragraph:
Focus sentence: The paragraph’s main idea
Elaboration: Builds on the first sentence by explaining how or why
Evidence: Provides a quotation, example, or detail that demonstrates the focus
Zoom in: Identifies what is especially important about this evidence
Connect: Links this significant detail or observation back to the main idea
Significance: Explains why this main idea matters, or how it builds your essay thesis
Notes:
If writing an essay body paragraph, your focus sentence will directly support your thesis statement in some way
If writing an essay body paragraph, your evidence will usually be a quotation. If writing a personal story or argument, the evidence will be an example or anecdote
1. Focus Sentence (One Sentence)
A paragraph’s first sentence should get right to the point by stating the paragraph’s main idea or focus. If you’re writing a one-paragraph response, aim to answer the question as directly as possible in your first sentence. If writing an essay body paragraph, your focus will probably be a subclaim that supports your essay’s overall thesis. In most cases, this main idea should be your opinion, claim, or argument–not a fact.
Try to begin your paragraph by summarizing your overall message as clearly as possible.
2. Elaboration (One Sentence)
In your second sentence, elaborate on the first sentence by explaining what you mean. Consider which of your first sentence’s phrases or words need further clarification, and use the second sentence to fill in the gaps by explaining them further. Try to address any confusion your reader might have after your first sentence.
Pretend there’s a reader responding to your first sentence by saying “What do you mean?”, “How?”, or “Why?” Proactively answer their question in sentence two, making sure your audience fully understands your paragraph’s main idea.
3. Evidence (One to Three Sentences)
After clarifying your focus, provide evidence to exemplify or demonstrate it. Choose an example or quotation that illustrates your paragraph’s main idea, with language or behavior enough that you can comment on it. Rather than choosing evidence that narrates an event occurring, choose evidence with powerful and significant language that provides insights into a character or topic.
The evidence portion of your paragraph commonly requires only one sentence, but you can devote two or even three sentences to it when necessary.
Depending on the purpose of your paragraph, you can use different types of evidence:
Quotation: An excerpt from a text or movie. This is the standard for literary analysis writing. If you use a quotation, make sure to properly format it. Remember to lead into the quotation with a bit of context, such as who is speaking, so the reader doesn’t feel lost.
Paraphrase: Alternatively, summarize or explain an event or observation without using a quotation. For example, you can paraphrase an event from a story, a character’s behavior, or some other pattern you noticed. Paraphrases can be vague compared to a quotation, but they work well for in-class writing when you don’t have a text in front of you.
Example: Briefly narrate an anecdote, experience, or story that illustrates your focus. This type of evidence works well when making an argument or writing about your personal experience in papers like college essays, speeches, and memos.
4. Zoom In (One to Two Sentences)
Highlight what you want your reader to notice about the evidence. Think about what makes this quotation or story so important, and identify this key aspect for the reader. Is there a particular tone, personality trait, or language that makes the evidence impactful? Ask yourself why you picked this piece of example and what stands out about it. Then, spend a sentence or two explaining this insight, so the reader can analyze your evidence from your perspective.
Parts of your evidence to highlight (choose one or two):
Word choice and specific language: Point out powerful or significant language the author uses, and how this language affects the reader
Tone: Identify the general emotion or mood in the author’s language, and how this tone influences the reader
Patterns or observations: Highlight patterns or observations about a character’s behavior, that make it stand out. Consider what about this behavior or interaction makes it important, and explain.
5. Connect (One to Two Sentences)
Once you’ve pointed out the most significant part of your evidence, explain how it demonstrates your topic sentence. Consider the impact that this language, or a character’s behavior, might have on the reader. Ask yourself what the evidence implies or suggests about the topic, or how the evidence changes our understanding of a topic or character. Link this insight and new understanding to your paragraph’s focus sentence.
6. Significance (One to Two Sentences)
Now that you’ve connected your evidence back to your focus, explain why this focus matters. What does it teach us about a theme, about people, or about something else? Explain the deeper implications that this main idea has for characters, other people, or you. Consider what your paragraph’s focus reveals about big topics like relationships, human behavior, emotions, growing up, and other important ideas.
Example Paragraph
The color-coded example below demonstrates these 6 steps.
Note that this example is a standalone paragraph responding to the prompt “Why do you think reading is important?” so my focus sentence answers the prompt directly. If this were an essay body paragraph, my focus sentence would be a claim or subclaim that supports my essay’s overall thesis statement.
