How to Develop Paragraphs

The backbone of excellent prose, especially essays, is the paragraph. Your paragraphs can make or break your essays. Poorly developed paragraphs will leave your readers confused, wanting more information and looking for something else to read. No writer wants that. Follow these guidelines to learn how to write effective paragraphs.

Instructions

1. Write an introductory sentence. Also know as a “topic sentence,” every paragraph has to have one. This alerts the reader to what new information you are introducing. This topic sentence tells the reader what you are about to tell, without any of the specific details.

2. Write supportive sentences. Supportive sentences tells the reader, specifically, what you told them you were going to say in your introductory sentence. It goes into the details of your topic sentence. You should list more than one reason for each of the ideas you mentioned in your introductory sentence.

3. Write a concluding sentence. The concluding sentence tells the readers that you did, indeed, tell them what you said you would tell them in your topic sentence. Many beginning writers simply rework their introductory sentence to “sum up” what their paragraph was about. As you become a better writer, you can also use your concluding to lead into the information you will be introducing in the next paragraph.

4. Be aware of the flow of your paragraphs. Many writers construct their paragraphs much like a news story, leading with the most important information first. This is not necessary. In fact, it may be better to mix up the most important information with the information that is not as important. That will keep your readers reading the entire paragraph, not just skimming through it. However you construct your paragraph, be sure to follow the order of your introductory paragraph. If you told your readers you were going to tell them about “dogs, cats and hamsters,” do not write about “cats, dogs and hamsters.” This will disrupt the flow of your paragraph.

5. Use proper grammar and punctuation. As obvious as this may sound, many writers throw out the rules of grammar and punctuation because they feel their words are sufficient to convey their message. This doesn’t always work well. You must know the rules of grammar and punctuation extremely well before you can start taking “creative liberties” with them. Many readers will be turned off by poor grammar and punctuation, even if they do not know that much about the rules. They will recognize that something “isn’t right” with your prose, even if they can’t name the specific rule that you have broken.