Structure Of Paragraphs In Writing Essays

THUS ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION YET DISCOVERED HAS BEEN USED TO EXTEND OUR SENSE OF SIGHT IN SOME WAY.George Harrison, “Faith and the Scientist”In a coherent paragraph, each sentence relates clearly to the topic sentence or controlling idea, but there is more to coherence than this.

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Each part of the paragraph plays an important role in communicating your meaning to your reader.

Introduction: the first section of a paragraph; should include the topic sentence and any other sentences at the beginning of the paragraph that give background information or provide a transition.

A well-organized paragraph supports or develops a single controlling idea, which is expressed in a sentence called the topic sentence.

A topic sentence has several important functions: it substantiates or supports an essay’s thesis statement; it unifies the content of a paragraph and directs the order of the sentences; and it advises the reader of the subject to be discussed and how the paragraph will discuss it.

Along with the smooth flow of sentences, a paragraph’s coherence may also be related to its length.

If you have written a very long paragraph, one that fills a double-spaced typed page, for example, you should check it carefully to see if it should start a new paragraph where the original paragraph wanders from its controlling idea.

Most paragraphs in an essay have a three-part structure—introduction, body, and conclusion.

You can see this structure in paragraphs whether they are narrating, describing, comparing, contrasting, or analyzing information.

For example, you might be able to omit a topic sentence in a paragraph that narrates a series of events, if a paragraph continues developing an idea that you introduced (with a topic sentence) in the previous paragraph, or if all the sentences and details in a paragraph clearly refer—perhaps indirectly—to a main point.

The vast majority of your paragraphs, however, should have a topic sentence.