Paragraphs

Do you have a problem knowing when to break up your writing into paragraphs?

Some teachers have identified the following difficulties with paragraphing in students' writing.

• The report or essay is written in continuous prose, without any paragraphing at all.
• Each paragraph consists of only a single sentence.
• Paragraphs are over-long.
• Paragraphing is arbitrary with no real understanding of what a paragraph is supposed to do.

What are paragraphs for?

Paragraphs are a way of organising a piece of writing, so good paragraphing can help you structure your essay or report. Good paragraphing should lead you through an essay, clearly signposting the various stages. A plan for your essay or report will assist you.

The techniques of brainstorming or mind mapping will help in this. You may also find it helpful to use sub-headings when writing your draft.

What is a paragraph?

• Paragraphs are clusters of sentences on the same topic.
• Within each paragraph, there should be one main idea, which should appear in the topic or 'signpost' sentence. This should come at or near the start of the paragraph.
• The other sentences in the paragraph should expand on this idea, either by developing the argument or providing illustrations.
• Each new main idea should form the basis of a new paragraph.
• Paragraphs can be linked by transitional words or phrases such as however, on the other hand, conversely, in conclusion. These are often referred to as linking words and can help your essay flow easily from one paragraph to another.

Useful linking words and phrases

Some of the following words and phrases are useful to put at the start of a paragraph to link it with the previous one.

How to organise paragraphs

Read through the following two paragraphs. Which one is better? Why?

1.  The work of home carers is sometimes described as 'women's work'. This implies that the skills used by home carers are in some way natural for women, or that women have acquired them as a result of their domestic role in the family. This assumption has contributed to the continuation of home care being viewed as a low status profession which is poorly paid and has little training involved. This view is being increasingly challenged, however, as can be seen by the increased importance of qualifications such as the national vocational qualification in care as a requirement for home care workers.

2.  Home carers do not need to be trained because they do it naturally. Women are often home carers but some now need to do national vocational qualifications. Why is this? If women can do the work of being a home carer because they are mothers and wives. I do not agree with this because being a home carer is not easy and you need to have special training. That is why they don't get paid enough and are not as important as people like doctors.

Discussion

I hope you agree with me that paragraph 1 is better! There are several reasons why.

• The first sentence signposts the main point in this paragraph (which is the argument that the work of home carers is sometimes seen as being unskilled 'women's work').
• Each sentence which follows builds on what has gone before, and therefore gradually constructs the case that being a home carer in fact requires particular skills and training.
• If this were part of an essay you might expect to see the other side of the argument in the next paragraph, i.e. the justifiable associations between the work of home carers and the skills which women in particular develop through their role in the family, maybe as informal carers.

Paragraph 2 is a bit of a muddle, in comparison. Just look at the first sentence – it doesn’t read like an opening sentence, it could have come from somewhere else in the paragraph. The sentences which follow do not really build on each other. The writer is just not clear what the main point in this paragraph should be.

Preparation for writing

It is important to spend time preparing for your essay or report before you start writing it.  Here are some of the things that you should be doing.

• Look at the question set, decide which are the key or process words, some of which have very specific meanings.

• Write out what you think the question is asking you to do, in your own words. Try this activity to help you to understand what the essay title means.

• Read the assignment notes in the Assignment Booklet and following any advice given there.

• Plan your assignment - a good technique is to brainstorm by writing down all the words and ideas about your given topic. Then draw up a plan for the essay or report either using a mind map, a diagram, or listing your ideas and dividing them into topics.

• Write a first draft, checking it over, and then redrafting until you are happy with the result. After redrafting, it is a good idea to go through a process of editing and proof-reading [see: writing check list].

When you have finished writing your assignment it is a good idea to go back over it and check what you have written. There are two processes here: editing and proof-reading.

Editing means thinking about the content of your writing and whether you have got your meaning across clearly. For instance, see if your sentences each contain one main idea, which is expressed clearly and concisely. Make sure you have grouped your sentences together in paragraphs in a logical way.

Proof-reading means checking for spelling, punctuation and seeing whether you have used grammar appropriately e.g. verbs agreeing and staying in one tense.

The Writing checklist could be useful here. The questions on structure, paragraphing and style will help you with the editing process and those on sentences and vocabulary may be useful for proof-reading.