If you are having difficulty writing paragraphs, then this page is for you! We will talk about what a paragraph is, and then go through a step-by-step guide to planning and writing it.
Basically, a paragraph is a chunk of writing. It is usually part of the organization of a longer piece of writing. When we write, we often organize words into sentences that have a meaning. Then we organize the sentences into a paragraph which has a wider meaning. After that, we can organize our paragraphs into even wider meanings such as sections, chapters, essays, research papers, or even books.
In English 1 and 2, we will mostly write paragraphs on their own, not as part of an essay or longer piece of writing.
There are two important things to remember when thinking about paragraphs.
They are one continuous block of text. We don't need to start a new line in a paragraph. We can simply continue writing after the previous period (.), as I did in this sentence.
They have one main idea. This is usually stated at the beginning of the paragraph. The following sentences support and explain the main idea with details and reasons. There shouldn't be anything in the paragraph that does not support the main idea.
Before you write anything, you need to have something to do in your writing. Most of the time, this will be given to you in the form of a question from your professor. If that is the case, then your reason to write is answering the question. If there is no question, you can create your own! It is always easier to write to answer a question.
When you have your question, write it down somewhere. Then, try to think of some answers to the question. At this stage, you should not worry about whether your ideas are good or bad. Just write them down.
You could just write notes in bullet points, or use a mind-map, or try free-writing.
Try to write down more ideas than are needed for your paragraph. This way you will be able to choose the best ones.
The ideas you wrote in step 2 are called supporting ideas. Look at your question and determine how many supporting ideas you need. Usually a paragraph will have 2 or 3. More than that makes the paragraph too long for the reader to understand as a chunk.
The best paragraphs have a clear structure. You can make sure yours has one too by using an outline. An outline uses notes to plan the structure of your ideas. A basic outline for a paragraph with 2 supporting ideas looks like this:
Main idea:
Supporting Idea 1:
Details/Reasons:
Supporting Idea 2:
Details/Reasons:
Concluding sentence:
When you make the outline, don't write the main idea first. Instead, just write the two best supporting ideas in the outline, and try to add enough notes so you can write 2 or 3 sentences of details or reasons. Then, when you can see the supporting ideas, write a main idea that covers both of them. Finally, for the concluding sentence, rewrite the main idea in different words.
Finally, write out your paragraph in continuous text and full sentences. Follow the outline that you wrote, but if you suddenly have a better idea, write that instead.
Make sure you don't use the labels from the outline in your paragraph (for example, "Supporting Idea 1"). Also, do not start a new line for a new idea or part of the structure. Instead, use transitions such as "First," and "Second," to introduce your supporting ideas, "for example," or "for instance," to introduce details, and "In conclusion," to introduce the concluding sentence.
If you follow these steps, you should have a good first draft paragraph. It will need to be checked and corrected, but we will deal with those things on another page.
Let's try to write a paragraph in answer to the following question: What are your two greatest fears, and why?
We can start by writing down some of our fears and reasons, like below.
Heights - especially ledges. Jump?
Spiders - moving only
Scary movies - Don't like but not scary
Darkness - imagination
Now we can look at the ideas we thought of and choose the two best. I thought the two best were heights and darkness, so I will add them to my outline and try to add some details and reasons in note form. Remember, I am not going to write the main idea yet because I want to see the supporting ideas first.
Main idea:
Supporting Idea 1: (Scariest) being in total darkness.
Details/Reasons: Mind tricks and imagination - not real so scarier.
Supporting Idea 2: (Second scariest) heights, especially ledges
Details/Reasons: Again psychological. Near ledge = imagine falling/jumping. OK being on mountains etc, even flying.
Concluding sentence:
Now I have a good idea of what I am going to say about my fears, I can write a good topic and concluding sentence. I am going to make sure that my topic sentence is a direct answer to the question, and contains the topic (greatest fears) and controlling idea of the paragraph (psychological).
Main idea: My two greatest fears are psychological ones: darkness and heights.
Supporting Idea 1: (Scariest) being in total darkness.
Details/Reasons: Psychological. Mind tricks and imagination - not real so scarier.
Supporting Idea 2: (Second scariest) heights, especially ledges
Details/Reasons: Again psychological. Near ledge = imagine falling/jumping. OK being on mountains etc, even flying.
Concluding sentence: Things that make me jump, like scary movies, don't scare me; my imagination does.
Finally, I can use the outline to write my first draft in continuous, full sentences. I can also add transitions to help the reader see when I move between different parts of the structure.
My two greatest fears are psychological ones: darkness and heights. First, the scariest fear is being in total darkness. When the lights are off, my imagination starts to run wild and imagine things that are not there. For example, I start to imagine wild animals might be in the room with me. This is much scarier than anything real. Second, another great fear is heights, but specifically being close to edges. Again my imagination goes wild imagining falling and I get a strange desire to jump off from high places. Strangely, I am not scared on mountains or when flying. In conclusion, things that make me jump, like scary movies, don't scare me; my imagination does.