Hello all you Writing Center Blog Lovers. Don’t we all just love writing essays. Some turn out great others not so much, but if you’ve consistently fallen into the latter, then you’ve come to the right place. When it comes to writing a solid essay, the emphasis is on content, a well-rounded argument, and clear diction. However, for these dreams to become reality, a consistent, firm paragraph structure is necessary for readers to grasp what it is you are trying to say. A consistent paragraph structure also makes it easier for you, as a writer, to formulate your thoughts because you no longer must worry about what order you must structure your paragraphs in, giving you more time to formulate strong arguments.
The first step to writing a well-structured paragraph is to write a topic sentence. Yes, you heard me right, topic sentences are necessary outside of the introductory paragraph. The topic sentence gives your audience an idea of what to expect from the proceeding writing. Are you going to write about Julius Caesar’s love life or his conquests, the dark or light side of the moon, or igneous or sedimentary rocks? That’s for you to decide, but the introductory paragraph gives your audience an idea of what will come next.
After the topic sentence, you want to dedicate 3-4 sentences to bolstering your topic sentence. In these sentences, you are writing about what you know for certain, based on research or observation. Typically, each sentence ties back to the topic sentence, with the same or similar subjects being used for each sentence. Let’s say you were writing about the properties of igneous and sedimentary rocks. In the topic sentence you would establish which rock form you are writing about, then each sentence would begin with that rock. Or, these sentences can follow a linear progression, meaning that each sentence introduces a new subject which is the topic of the next sentence. For Julius Caesar’s love life, one paragraph may be dedicated to a particular lover and progress using the many traits that made them appealing to him.
The final sentence is what you’ve been leading it up to. It is when you can offer a grand explanation as to why Julius Caesar’s first lover was perfect for him or why igneous rocks are the prettiest rocks for a windowsill. This is when facts and information reach the tip of the dropper and a drop falls into the bucket full of other small drops, each one with their own reason for being in the bucket.
I hope you now feel more confident approaching your essays with a paragraph format at your disposal.