9 How do I Write a Paragraph?

A paragraph is a section of writing that deals with a single topic and supports this topic with several sentences. Like an essay, a paragraph has a beginning, middle, and end; in fact, a paragraph is structured just like a miniature essay. A developed paragraph has an introductory sentence, several sentences in the middle, and a concluding sentence.

Paragraph outline:

• Topic sentence
• Body sentences
• Wrap-up sentence

Topic sentence

The first sentence in a paragraph, especially a paragraph in the body of an essay, is usually a topic sentence: this identifies the topic and introduces a supporting point about this topic. Each paragraph can directly connect back to the overall thesis for the entire essay from the essay’s introduction.

For example, if you are writing an essay about hockey, and your thesis is to explain the most common minor penalties in hockey, each of your supporting body paragraphs is going to discuss a different type of penalty. Your paragraphs’ topic sentences will each identify a specific penalty.

• One of the minor penalties in hockey is tripping an opposing player.

What could logically follow this sentence in a paragraph? Well, just what constitutes “tripping”—does it have to be deliberate? Does it matter if a player uses a stick or skates to trip another player? What if the opposing player has possession of the puck? What if the player falls after the trip, and gets seriously injured? Questions like these should be answered in the supporting sentences in the body of the paragraph.

Body sentences in a paragraph

In the middle of your paragraph, you add detail sentences to support your topic sentence. These details can be descriptions, explanations, or quotes and information from outside sources.

For example, if you are writing an essay about bias in news sources, one of your body paragraphs might support your essay’s thesis by identifying why people unknowingly watch biased news programs. A topic sentence might be:

• People who get their news from television almost always watch the same network show with familiar news anchors and they always receive the same point-of-view, supported by the same advertisers.

Therefore, the rest of this paragraph must support and explain this topic sentence. Next, give an example that supports this topic sentence:

• Television news programs are money-making businesses: their goal is to sell advertising space in the form of commercials.

Then you can further explain your example:

• Take a survey of the type of commercials that run during a selected news program and notice what kind of products and services they are selling.
• You will see political ads for the same party as well as ads with actors who reflect the type of viewers in terms of age and socioeconomic status.
• A different network news program will have different ads, targeting different viewers.

Another way to support a body paragraph is to use a credible outside source, such as a quote from an article. There is a very important structure to follow when using outside sources as support:

• Introduce the source
• Present the quote
• Say something about this quote in your own words.

You cannot just drop a quote into your writing: you must “sandwich” it between your own words. Suppose you read an article about alternative fuels and you are writing a response essay with the thesis that the high initial cost of electric vehicles is outweighed by the savings over the life of the vehicle. One of your body paragraphs describes the cost savings. You can use a quote from the article to directly support your paragraph:

In “Cars of the Future,” the author states “Electric vehicles are more reliable and have fewer maintenance costs than gas-powered cars.” This is important because drivers will save not only money, but also they will not lose time while their car is in the shop being repaired.

• Introduce the source: In “Cars of the Future,” the author states
• Present the quote: “Electric vehicles are more reliable and have fewer maintenance costs than gas-powered cars.”
• Say something about this quote in your own words: This is important because drivers will save not only money, but also they will not lose time while their car is in the shop being repaired.

Wrap-up sentence

The final sentence in a paragraph functions just like a conclusion to an essay: it wraps up important points and stresses the relevance of this paragraph to the overall thesis or main idea of the whole essay. You can also use this last sentence to transition into the next paragraph.

Like an essay’s conclusion, you can circle back to the beginning of your text to signal that you are concluding your thoughts on this topic. If your paragraph’s topic sentence talks about how people always watch the same news program, and you support this topic sentence with body sentences that explain how commercials also target these same viewers, you could wrap up your paragraph with:

• Not only do people watch the same news program, they also are exposed to the same commercials, which serve to only show one side of certain issues.

The next paragraph in this essay may then talk about how target audiences can become biased without realizing they aren’t seeing both sides of issues.

Or, in our essay explaining minor penalties in hockey, the paragraph about tripping an opposing player could end with:

• Although tripping is one of the most common minor penalties in hockey, there are several other penalties to watch for.

Then the next paragraph might introduce slashing or cross-checking. Here, your last sentence transitions nicely into the next paragraph’s main idea: other penalties.

You can see that paragraphs usually need to contain several sentences, and you may have heard that a paragraph should have 5-7 sentences. This is a good rule to follow as you pass through ENGL-090 and ENGL-095. However, the most important thing to remember about paragraph structure is this basic outline:

• A topic sentence which presents a single idea for the paragraph
• Body sentences which support the topic sentence with details and examples
• A wrap-up sentence