7.2: Drafting Effective Paragraphs

Paragraphs Should Contain One Main Point

Paragraphs are the primary vehicles to develop ideas in your writing. They serve three purposes:

1. To group related ideas into single units of thought.
2. To separate one unit of thought from another unit.
3. To alert your readers you’re shifting to another phase of your subject.

An effective paragraph is a functional unit with clusters of ideas built around a single main point or idea and linked with other clusters preceding and following it. It’s not an arbitrary collection designed for physical convenience. It performs a definite, planned function-it presents a single major idea or point, describes an event, or creates an impression.

Most staff writing depends on relatively short paragraphs of three to seven sentences. If you follow this practice, you’ll be more likely to develop clear, easy-to-read paragraphs. The length of each paragraph will vary because some main points need more supporting details than others.

In general, the flow of your paragraphs will follow the organizational pattern or format you selected in Step 4: “Organizing and Outlining” (chapter 6). That is, you build your paragraphs to meet the structural requirements of your overall communication. But you can use analogy, examples, definition, and comparison and contrast to develop single paragraphs within your overall pattern. The guiding principle is to develop one main idea or point in each paragraph.

Topic Sentences: Capturing the Main Point of Each Paragraph

In staff writing, it’s helpful to start off each paragraph with a topic sentence that captures the subject or controlling idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence prepares the reader for the rest of the paragraph and provides a point of focus for support, details, facts, figures and examples.

If your readers are confused, check your topic sentences!

A topic sentence announces your intent for a single paragraph in the same way a purpose statement announces your intent for the entire writing assignment. Most readers are better able to understand how ideas relate to each other if they know what’s coming.

If you’ve received feedback that readers have trouble understanding the "flow" of your writing, check your topic sentences. Does one exist for each paragraph? Can you find it? Do they start off the paragraph? Do they tie back to your purpose statement?

In the body, don’t make your reader search for the topic sentences of your paragraphs. (As stated earlier, the rules are different for introductions and conclusions.) Since the topic sentence is the subject and main idea of the paragraph, the best place for it is up front-the first sentence. This helps with clarity and makes things convenient for your readers. Many people need only general information about the content of certain letters, reports and directives. Scanning topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs for the most important ideas saves a lot of time. If your readers need more details, they can always read beyond your topic sentences.

Once you’ve written a topic sentence, the rest of the paragraph should fall neatly in place. Other sentences between the topic sentence and the last sentence must be closely related to expand, emphasize and support the topic sentence. In some paragraphs, the last sentence is used to summarize key points, clinch the main idea in the reader’s mind, or serve as a transition to the next topic sentence. (We’ll talk more about transitions in the next section.) Eliminate any "extra" sentences that don’t perform one of these functions.

Though most writers will draft an entire paragraph at a time, an alternate drafting strategy is to first write all the topic sentences in your body. Once the topic sentences are completed, go back and write the rest of the paragraphs, one at a time. Drafting the topic sentences first requires the writer to stay focused on the "big picture" and can help produce a clear and wellorganized draft. This technique can be very useful for longer writing assignments and is recommended for writers who struggle to organize their writing.

Here’s the bottom line on body paragraphs: Each paragraph should have one main point or idea captured in a topic sentence, preferably at the beginning of the paragraph. Use supporting ideas to prove, clarify, illustrate and develop your main point. Your objective is to help your readers see your paragraphs as integrated units rather than mere collections of sentences.

Transitions: Bridges between Different Ideas

One way to make sure your paragraphs flow together, both internally and externally, is by using transitions in the form of words, phrases and sentences. Internal transitions improve the flow of sentences within a paragraph while external transitions link separate paragraphs together within the body of your communication.

Internal Transitions

Internal transitions are one or more related words that show the relationship between ideas within a paragraph. Woven skillfully into your writing, internal transitions help your reader follow your line of thought. Some internal transitions show a relationship between two ideas inside a single sentence: "First go home, and then clean your room."

Other internal transitions show a relationship between two or more sentences within a single paragraph such as this example: "Our plan for Saturday afternoon involves both business and pleasure. First, all the kids will come home at noon, and we’ll eat lunch. Next, we’ll get the house cleaned-the whole mess. Finally, we’ll go out for ice cream and a movie."

Take a look at the next page for a bulletin board of transitional words and phrases that provide the ideal logic links between your key points and the mind of the reader. In most cases, favor the short, spoken ones over the long, bookish ones. For example, use but more than however, so more than therefore, and also more than in addition. Remember, different transitions require different punctuation. If you’re uncertain about the rules, check out Appendix 1. For example, you can use "so" in place of "therefore" for a much easier to read sentence, as shown below:

"The movie was too long; therefore, we left after three hours."
"The movie was too long, so we left after three hours."

Transition "Bulletin Board"

To Contrast Ideas	To Show Time	To Relate Thoughts
but yet nevertheless however still conversely on the one hand instead of neither of these (to) (on) the contrary rather than no matter what much less as in contrast otherwise on the other hand in the (first) (second) place nor according to	immediately presently nearly a ___ later meantime meanwhile afterward next as of today this year, however a little later then last year next week tomorrow as of now finally	indeed anyway, anyhow elsewhere nearby above all even these beyond in other words for instance of course in short in sum yet in reality that is by consequence notwithstanding nonetheless as a general rule understandably traditionally the reason, of course the lesson here is from all information at best naturally in the broader sense to this end in fact
To Compare Ideas	To Show Results	To Add Ideas
like just as similar this	therefore as a result thus consequently hence	first, second, next, last, etc. in addition additionally moreover furthermore another beside clear, too, is the answer does not only lie to all that more than anything else here are some . . . facts now, of course, there are now however.

There are many ways to bridge gaps in thought and move the reader from one idea to another. One classic transitional approach involves repetition of key words at the beginning of individual sentences. This is especially popular in formal or ceremonial writing or speaking. Notice how the writer of the following paragraph repeated simplicity, incisiveness and focus to make points clear:

The effective presentation of concepts depends on simplicity, incisiveness and focus. Simplicity is necessary under time constraints when there’s insufficient time for complicated relationships. Incisiveness fixes an idea in the listener’s mind, appeals to common sense and facilitates understanding. Focus limits the subject to essentials, promoting the presenter’s objectives.

Internal transitions, in the form of one or more related words, are key to a well-written paragraph because they guide the reader between related ideas. But how do we move from paragraph to paragraph? We need external transitions to knit together their main points.

External Transitions

External transitions are typically sentences or paragraphs that guide the reader between separate paragraphs and major sections of your communication.

Transitional paragraphs are usually reserved for long papers, books and reports that contain major sections or chapters. They are used to summarize one section and lead the reader to the next section, or they introduce the next section and tie it to the preceding section. Transitional paragraphs are not commonly used in staff writing, but are often seen in books and academic essays.

The short paragraph immediately above this section ("Internal transitions, in the form of one or more related words...") is an example of a transitional paragraph. As you can see, it sums up the previous section on internal transitions and then introduces the new section on external transitions.

Let’s look closer at transitional sentences, which you’ll probably use more frequently than transitional paragraphs. A transitional sentence is often used to bridge main points in two separate paragraphs (though not every new paragraph requires an external transition). There are three options of a transitional sentence bridging paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 :

• Option 1: It can be a stand-alone sentence at the end of paragraph \(1 .\)
• Option 2: It can be a stand-alone sentence at the beginning of paragraph 2 (In this case, paragraph 2’s topic sentence is the second sentence in the paragraph).
• Option 3: It can be merged with the topic sentence of paragraph 2 (In this case, the "transitional" part of the sentence is a separate clause at the beginning of the sentence).

Let’s look at a situation where a transitional sentence is appropriate. Suppose we have two paragraphs: Paragraph 1 describes parking problems; paragraph 2 describes potential solutions to the parking problems. Here’s an example of a stand-alone transitional sentence for these paragraphs:

Fortunately, we can solve these parking problems if we offer our people some incentives to use car pools. (transitional sentence)

If this sentence were at the end of paragraph 1 (option 1), paragraph 2 would start with a topic sentence written something like this:

We can offer our personnel three incentives to participate in car pools: preferred parking spaces, guaranteed duty hours and distant parking for nonparticipants. (topic sentence)

If our transitional sentence were at the beginning of paragraph 2 (option 2 ), then our topic sentence would be the second sentence in paragraph 2, like this:

Fortunately, we can solve these parking problems if we offer our people some incentives to use carpools. (transitional sentence) We can offer them three incentives: preferred parking spaces, guaranteed duty hours, and distant parking for nonparticipants. (topic sentence)

Now let’s look at our third option where we merge the transition with the topic sentence of paragraph 2. In this case, we have one sentence instead of two, like this:

Fortunately, we can solve these parking problems (transitional clause) by offering our people three incentives to participate in car pools: preferred parking spaces, guaranteed duty hours and distant parking for nonparticipants (topic of paragraph 2).

Whether used at the end or beginning of a paragraph, transitional sentences can make your writing smoother and make your reader happier!

Headings as Transitions

Another effective way to transition from one major area to another, especially in a longer report, is to use headings. They allow your reader to follow along easily, even at a glance. Headings are also helpful when topics vary widely. Be informative: headings focus readers from broad topics to more detailed topics. Avoid relying on headings that use one or two vague words but do not use more words than are needed. Here are a couple examples.

For: Procedures; Try: How to Complete AF Form \(X X X X\)

For: Contractors; Try: How Much Contractors May Charge

Now that you have a good idea of how to draft "the big picture" part of your communication your introduction, conclusion and paragraphs in the body-it’s time to dig a little deeper. It’s time to look at building effective sentences within your paragraphs.