Chapter 7: Writing Great Paragraphs
Imagine reading one long block of text, with each idea blurring into the next. Even if you are reading a thrilling novel or an interesting news article, you will likely very quickly lose interest in what the author. During the writing process, it is helpful to position yourself as a reader. Ask yourself whether you can focus easily on each point you make. One technique that effective writers use is to begin a fresh paragraph for each new idea they introduce.
Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. One paragraph focuses on only one main idea and presents coherent sentences to support that one point. Because all the sentences in one paragraph support the same point, a paragraph may stand on its own. To create longer assignments and to discuss more than one point, writers group together paragraphs.
A strong paragraph contains three distinct components:
- Topic sentence. The topic sentence is the main idea of the paragraph.
- Body. The body is composed of the supporting sentences that develop the main point.
- Conclusion. The conclusion is the final sentence that summarizes the main point.
Unlike punctuation, which can be subjected to specific rules, no ironclad guidelines exist for shaping paragraphs. If you presented a text without paragraphs to a dozen writing instructors and asked them to break the document into logical sections, chances are that you would receive different opinions about the best places to break the paragraph.
In part, where paragraphs should be placed is a stylistic choice. Some writers prefer longer paragraphs that compare and contrast several related ideas, whereas others stick to having one point per paragraph. In the workplace, many writers use shorter paragraphs — and even use one-line paragraphs — since this allows readers to scan the document quickly.
Note: When you are drafting, you need to trust your intuition about where to place paragraphs; you don’t want to interrupt the flow of your thoughts as you write to check on whether you are placing them in logical order. Such self-criticism could interfere with creativity or the generation of ideas. Before you submit a document for a grade, however, you should examine the structure of your paragraphs.
Structuring a Paragraph
We’ve already learned that every piece of workplace communication should have a purpose. That’s also true of paragraphs. In general, you should have one purpose per paragraph, although for the overall flow of the document you might want to combine two points. Let’s take a look at this customer service email:
| Paragraph | Purpose |
| Dear Ms. Tran,
Thank you for your patience as we investigated your missing clothing order, which you brought to our attention on Tuesday. |
Provides a context for writing. |
| Once we received your email, we contacted both our warehouse and FedEx. The warehouse confirmed that your order was processed on Feb. 19th and FedEx confirmed that a shipping label was created on Feb. 20th. Unfortunately, we were not able to locate the package from that point. | Tells the reader what the writer did to solve the problem. |
We are sorry for the inconvenience. Since we value your business and we know that you have been waiting for your clothes for two weeks, we would like to offer you two choices:
|
Apologizes and offers a solution. |
| Please let us know which option you choose and we will immediately process your order. If you have any questions, you can also call me at 604-123-4557. | Tells the reader what to do next. |
| Thank you again for your patience. We appreciate your business and look forward to making this right.
Sincerely, Makiko Hamimoto |
Ends the communication on a positive note, looking towards the future. |
As you can see, most of the paragraphs have only one point. In short communication, it’s enough to simply understand what role the paragraph plays in your writing. In longer or more important communication, you may choose to use topic sentences to structure your paragraphs.
Organization Within Paragraphs
If you’re having trouble organizing your paragraph, you can try the following formats:
- General to specific: This is the most common format, and is the one used in the paragraph above.
- Specific to General: Building the reader up to a point. This is usually used to soften bad news, since it helps prepare the reader for the news.
- Cause and Effect: Show how one thing caused another thing to happen.
- Chronological: Describe events as they happened.
- Narrative: Describe a scene. Though this form is usually used in creative writing, it is often used in the workplace in incident reports, donations letters and other forms of storyteller
Paragraph Transitions
Readers expect paragraphs to relate to each other as well as to the overall purpose of a text. Establishing transitional sentences for paragraphs can be one of the most difficult challenges you face as a writer because you need to guide the reader with a light hand. When you are too blatant about your transitions, your readers may feel patronized.
Effective paragraph transitions signal to readers how two consecutive paragraphs relate to each other. The transition signals the relationship between the “new information” and the “old information.”
For example, the new paragraph might:
- elaborate on the idea presented in the preceding paragraph
- introduce a related idea
- continue a chronological narrative
- describe a problem with the idea presented in the preceding paragraph
- describe an exception to the idea presented in the preceding paragraph
- describe a consequence or implication of the idea presented in the preceding paragraph.
