How to write a good paragraph.
Part One: Planning Your Paragraph
1. Decide what the main topic of the paragraph is going to be. Before you begin
writing your paragraph, you must have a clear idea of what the paragraph is going to be about.
This is because a paragraph is essentially a collection of sentences that all relate to one central
topic. Without a definite idea of what the main topic is, your paragraph will lack focus and unity.
In order to pin down the exact topic of your paragraph, you should ask yourself a number of
questions:
• What is the prompt I have been given? If you are writing a paragraph as a response or
answer to a particular prompt, such as "You have decided to donate money to charity. Which
charity do you choose and why?" or "Describe your favorite day of the week," you will need
to think carefully about that prompt and make sure you are directly addressing it, rather than
going off topic.
• What are the main ideas or issues that I need to address? Think about the topic you are
being asked or have decided to write about and consider what the most relevant ideas or
issues relating to that topic are. As paragraphs are usually relatively short, it is important that
you try to hit on all of the main ideas, without going off topic.
• Who am I writing for? Think about who the intended readership of this paragraph or paper
is going to be. What is their prior knowledge? Are they familiar with the topic at hand, or
will it require a number of explanatory sentences?
• If your paragraphs are part of a larger essay, writing an essay outline can help you define the
major ideas or goals of each paragraph.
2. Write down information and ideas relating to that topic. Once you have a clearer idea of
what you want to address in your paragraph, you can start organizing your thoughts by writing
down your ideas on a notepad or word document. There's no need to write out full sentences just
yet, just jot down some key words and phrases. Once you see everything on paper, you may get a
clearer idea of which points are essential to include in your paragraph, and which points are
superfluous.
• At this point, you may realize that there's a gap in your knowledge and that it will be
necessary to look up some facts and figures to support your argument.
• It's a good idea to do this research now, so you will have all the relevant information easily at
hand when it comes to the writing stage.
3. Figure out how you want to structure your paragraph. Now that all of your thoughts,
ideas, facts and figures are laid out clearly in front of you, you can start to think about how you
want to structure your paragraph. Consider each of the points you wish to address and try to
arrange them in a logical order - this will make your paragraph more coherent and easier to read.
• This new order may be chronological, may put the most important information first, or may
just make the paragraph easier and more interesting to read - it all depends on the topic and
style of the paragraph you wish to write.
• Once you have decided where you want everything to go, you can rewrite your points
according to this new structure - this will help to make the writing process a lot faster and
more straightforward.
Part Two: Writing Your Paragraph
1. Write a topic sentence. The first sentence of your paragraph needs to be the topic sentence. A
topic sentence is an introductory line that addresses what the main idea or thesis of the paragraph
is going to be. It should contain the most important and relevant point you wish to make
regarding your topic, thus summarizing the paragraph as a whole.
• Every other sentence you write should support the topic sentence and provide further detail
and discussion of the issues or ideas it raises. If any sentence you write cannot be directly
related to the topic sentence, it should not be included in this particular paragraph.
• More experienced writers can include their topic sentence at any point in the paragraph; it
doesn't necessarily need to be the first line. However, writers who are new or less
comfortable with paragraph writing should stick with having the topic sentence first, as it
will help to guide you throughout the rest of the paragraph.
• Your topic sentence should not be too broad or too narrow. If your topic sentence is too
broad you will not be able to discuss its ideas adequately in your paragraph. If it’s too
narrow, you won’t have enough to discuss.
2. Fill in the supporting details. Once you have written and are happy with your topic sentence,
you can start to fill in the rest of your paragraph. This is where the detailed, well-structured notes
you wrote earlier will come in handy. Make sure that your paragraph is coherent, which means
that it is easy to read and understand, that each sentence connects with the next and that
everything flows nicely as a whole. To achieve this, try to write clear, simple sentences that
express exactly what you want to say.
• Link each sentence with transition words which form a bridge between one sentence and the
next. Transition words can help you compare and contrast, show sequence, show cause and
effect, highlight important ideas, and progress smoothly from one idea to the next. Such
transition words include "furthermore", "in fact" and "in addition to". You can also use
chronological transitions, such as "firstly", "secondly" and "thirdly".
• The supporting sentences are the meat of your paragraph, so you should fill them with as
much evidence to support your topic sentence as possible. Depending on the topic, you can
use facts, figures, statistics and examples or you can use stories, anecdotes and quotes.
Anything goes, as long as it is relevant.
• In terms of length, three to five sentences will usually be enough to cover your main points
and adequately support your topic sentence, but this will vary greatly depending on the topic
and the length of the paper you are writing. There is no set length for a paragraph. It should
be as long as it needs to be to adequately cover the main idea.
3. Write a concluding sentence. The concluding sentence of your paragraph should tie
everything together. A good concluding sentence will reinforce the idea outlined in your topic
sentence, but now it has all the weight of the evidence or arguments contained in your supporting
sentences behind it. After reading the concluding sentence, the reader should have no doubt as to
the accuracy or relevance of the paragraph as a whole.
• Don’t just reword the topic sentence. Your concluding sentence should acknowledge the
discussion that has come before it and remind your reader of the relevance of this discussion.
• For example, in a paragraph dealing with the topic "Why is Canada a great place to live?"
The concluding sentence might look something like "From all the evidence provided above,
such as Canada's fantastic health care provisions, its top-notch education system and its
clean, safe cities, we can conclude that Canada is indeed a great place to live."
4. Know when to move on to a new paragraph. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell where one
paragraph should end and another begin. Luckily, there are a number of guidelines you can
follow which can make the decision to move on to a new paragraph an obvious one. The most
basic guideline to follow is that every time you start to discuss a new idea, you should move on
to a new paragraph. Paragraphs should never contain more than one central idea. If a given idea
has multiple points, then each individual aspect of the idea should be given its own paragraph.
• A new paragraph is also used each time you are contrasting two points or presenting each
side of an argument.
For example, if your topic is "should civil servants receive lower salaries?" one paragraph
would deal with the arguments supporting lower pay for civil servants, while the other
paragraph would provide arguments against it
• Paragraphs make a piece of writing easier to comprehend and give readers a "break" between
new ideas in order to digest what they have just read. If you feel that the paragraph you are
writing is becoming too complex, or contains a series of complex points, you may want to
think about splitting it up into individual paragraphs.
• When writing a paper, the introduction and conclusion should always be given their own
paragraphs. The introductory paragraph should define the aim of the paper and what it hopes
to achieve, while also giving a brief outline of the ideas and issues it will go on to discuss.
The concluding paragraph provides a summary of the information and arguments contained
in the paper and states in clear terms what the paper has shown and/or proven. It may also
introduce a new idea, one that opens the reader's mind to the questions raised by the paper.
• If you’re writing fiction, you need to start a new paragraph in dialogue to show a new
speaker.
Part Three : Reviewing Your Paragraph
1. Check your paragraph for spelling and grammar. Once you have finished writing, it is
essential that you re-read your paragraph two or three times to check it for misspelled words and
poor grammar. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar can significantly impact the perceived
quality of your paragraph, even if the ideas and arguments it contains are of a high quality. It is
very easy to overlook small mistakes when writing, so don't skip this step, even if you're in a
rush.
• Ensure that each sentence has a subject and that all proper nouns are capitalized. Also make
sure that all of the subjects and verbs agree with each other and that you use the same tense
across the entire paragraph.
HSC Programme
Unit 15 Page # 262
• Use a dictionary to double-check the spelling of words that you are unsure about, don't just
assume that they are correct.
• Check your paragraph for the proper use of punctuation, making sure that you use marks
such as commas, colons, semicolons and ellipses in the correct context.
2. Check your paragraph for coherency and style. Not only should the technical aspects of
your writing be spot on, but you should also try to achieve clarity in your writing, as well as
stylistic flow. You can do this by varying the length and format of your sentences and by using
transitional words and a varied vocabulary.
• The point of view of your writing should remain consistent throughout the paragraph, and
indeed, the entire paper. For example, if you are writing in the first person (e.g., "I believe
that...") you should not switch to a passive voice ("it is believed that") halfway through.
• However, you should also try to avoid beginning every sentence with "I think..." or "I
contend that..." Try to vary the format of your sentences, as this will make the paragraph
more interesting for the reader and help it to flow more naturally.
• For beginner writers, it is better to stick to short, to-the-point sentences which clearly express
your point. Long, rambling sentences can very quickly become incoherent or fall victim to
grammatical errors, so try to avoid them until you gain more experience as a writer.
3. Decide if your paragraph is complete. Once you have re-read the paragraph and fixed any
grammatical or stylistic errors, you should have one more glance over it to determine whether it
is complete. Try to look at the paragraph objectively and decide whether it sufficiently supports
and develops your topic sentence, or whether it needs a few more details or additional evidence
to back up your claims.
• If you feel that the main claim of your topic sentence is sufficiently supported and welldeveloped by the contents of the rest of your paragraph, then your paragraph is probably
complete. However, if any important aspect of the topic remains unexplored or unexplained
or if the paragraph is shorter than three sentences, it probably needs a little more work.
• On the other hand, you may decide that your paragraph is too long and contains superfluous
or tangential content. If this is the case, you should edit the paragraph so it contains only the
most relevant information.
• If you feel that all of the content is necessary to your point, but the paragraph is still too long,
you should think about breaking it up into several smaller, more specific paragraphs.
Some important tips for writing a paragraph
• A paragraph should consist of:
• Topic sentence
• Supportive sentence(s)
• Concluding sentence
• When you are reading, notice how paragraphs are divided. If you learn what a paragraph is
by experience, you can divide writing into appropriate parts by feel.
• There are no hard-and-fast rules for how long a paragraph should be. Instead, make sure
there are natural breaks. Each paragraph should contain one main idea and whatever writing
supports it.
• Always indent before starting a new paragraph. 0.5” indentations are standard for English
writing.
• Spelling and grammatical errors can detract from even the most well-planned writing. Use a
spell-checker or ask someone to read your work if you are unsure about anything.
• If you are writing a conversation, start a new paragraph each time somebody else speaks.
• The secret lies in:
Unity: Have a single idea and the topic needs to be expressed.
Order: The way you organize your sentences helps the reader to understand better.
Coherence: Quality that makes your writing understandable. Sentences need to be
connected with each other.
Completeness: All sentences used in a paragraph should convey a complete message.
• Adjust your writing to its purpose. Just as you wear different clothes for different occasions
and different climates, you should write in a style that suits your aim.
• You should start your paragraph with a good clear and simple topic sentence which contains
the topic and the controlling idea.
Source : The Internet
Exercise:
Write paragraphs on following topics:
The Necessity of Learning English
Our Victory Day
Dangers of Smoking
Environmental Pollution
Beautiful Bangladesh