Paragraph Writing: How to Write a Good Paragraph

How to write a good paragraph
Although there are many opinions on how many types of essays there are, everyone seems to agree on what you need to formulate a good paragraph. You’ll probably have read that a sentence expresses a single idea. A paragraph is a group of sentences dealing with a similar idea. As soon as you move on to a new set of ideas, you move on to a new paragraph.

When you create an essay outline, you will probably list ideas that need to be included in your essay. If you’re thinking clearly, each of these ideas would have a paragraph to itself. If some of the ideas you jotted down are closely related, they’d probably form part of the same paragraph.

Crafting a Paragraph

In a way, you could see each paragraph as a mini-essay.

  • You introduce the topic
  • You provide the contributing information
  • You draw a conclusion

But how do you know if you have crafted a good paragraph? It will have four characteristics:

  • Unity
  • Order
  • Coherence
  • Completeness

You achieve these four characteristics through using the three parts of your paragraph wisely and with forethought.

First Sentence

The first sentence in a paragraph is important, and it’s called the “topic sentence.” It should represent the overall idea that governs the rest of the paragraph’s content. It’s the sames as your essay introduction leads into your essay. All the sentences that follow will contribute to this topic sentence. For example, in this paragraph, I began by telling you that the paragraph starts with a topic sentence. Now I am telling you what it is for, and how it relates to the other sentences in the paragraph. If you do this well, you’ll achieve the first of our characteristics: unity.

Contributing Sentences

Your contributing sentences must lead logically to the concluding one. This means you need to present it in some kind of order. Will you choose chronological order, order of importance, or relate each successive sentence to the other using logic? That depends on what you are writing about, but your aim is to make your paragraph easy to follow from point A to point B to point C. Finally, you want to tie all your points together to underline the point you are trying to get across. Order helps to convey the sense of what you are saying. If you confuse your reader, you have not written a clever paragraph.

Order Should Bring Coherence

Have you ever listened to someone talking, and it sounds like they’re just babbling and not making any sense? They are speaking incoherently. When a person speaks coherently, each thought follows neatly from the previous one, and it is easy to understand what they are saying. Although it’s not a must, using transition words helps to show how one thought relates to another. There are many such words and phrases which include:

  • Because
  • In addition
  • By contrast
  • Next
  • Afterward
  • Accordingly
  • No doubt
  • Of course
  • On the other hand
  • Naturally
  • Also
  • After
  • Before

Another important trick to remember is to keep all your sentences in the same verb tense. It just makes it so much easier for your reader to follow your thoughts.

Your Concluding Sentence

Don’t leave your reader wondering “So… what?” at the end of your paragraph. Pull your threads together into a concluding sentence. It should support your introductory sentence while acknowledging what you have discussed in the supporting sentences. This helps your reader to see how the supporting information relates to the topic. You may think it is obvious, but your reader may not!

Practice

Writing a really good paragraph is something of an art, but like any skill, you can learn it through practice. That’s why teachers will set paragraph writing tasks for their students. But if you love writing, or just want to improve your writing skills, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t set yourself a few tasks. Choose from a list of paragraph writing prompts, or make up a list of your own.

Here are some ideas:

  • Why I enjoy my hobby so much
  • My favorite winter activity
  • My opinion on _________ (Choose anything you like)
  • Why I hope to become a ___________
  • I think the most important thing about a person is __________
  • Why I admire my best friend
  • My favorite season is ___________
  • My most embarrassing moment was when_________
  • The thing I’m most scared of
  • What I dreamed last night

Remember, keep it to one paragraph! After you’ve written it, leave it for a while because it’s hard to evaluate your own work right away. Later, go and look at your exercise. Ask yourself:

  • What is my opening sentence?
  • Do my other points support it?
  • Did I reach a conclusion, and does it match the opening sentence and the supporting ones?
  • Have I presented my information in a logical way? Could I have done it better?

Writing a paragraph isn’t all that difficult, but you can’t just run at it like a bull at a gate. If you think things through, you’ll find yourself naturally falling in with the rules we’ve discussed here. Thoughtful work is usually good work, so engage your grey matter and get writing!

How to Write a College Admissions Essay

How to write a college admission essay

Writing a college admissions essay has become a prerequisite for entry to many universities. It’s an opportunity for the selection committee to get to know more about you. Writing such an essay tends to be stressful for most applicants. Many will delay writing it, while others will spend days, if not weeks, perfecting their personal statements.

It certainly is a challenge summarizing seventeen years of one’s life or more into a mere 600 words. You will want to come across as being intelligent and the best candidate without being perceived as arrogant. This post will provide you with valuable advice to help you to make a good impression when writing your college admission essay.

The Importance of Your Introduction

An important thing to remember is that the admissions officers are under a lot of pressure. They will have literally thousands of applications to go through. With limited time available to them, it’s crucial to immediately grab their attention and engage them.

One of the best ways to do this is to begin with a personal anecdote. By sharing a moment, you will be able to set the scene. You can reveal how the experience impacted your life and how it helped shape you into the person you are today. Explain how the memory has impacted on your life and explain why it made you choose the study direction in which you wish to proceed.

Think Like an Admissions Officer

Universities and colleges want candidates who will graduate and go on to become successful people. Having alumni who are making great strides in the world reflects positively on the college’s image. If the majority of students failed and dropped out of their college, this would not be a good advertisement for the educational institution.

With this in mind, you’ll want to show that you are a determined individual. You should convey the image of being driven, someone who is passionate, motivated and hungry for success. You need to let them know that you’re resourceful and willing to make sacrifices in order to reach your goals.

Tone it Down

Yes, you want to make an impression. That said, keep it simple. One of the worst mistakes you can make on the admissions essay is to use too much flowery language. Verbosity has its place, but a college admissions essay is not it. Throw away the thesaurus and write using everyday vocabulary. Remember, you are not Shakespeare nor do you need to be.

Colleges are flooded with examples of applicants’ achievements. There is nothing wrong with being proud of your accomplishments, but do bear in mind that this approach tends to be boring. Think outside the box and show some creativity. Blowing your own trumpet too much can make you come across as conceited and arrogant. If your achievement illustrates why you would succeed in your future studies or be a credit to the college, try to mention it in an understated way.

Be Yourself

The quickest way to spot a fraud is when they are writing about something they have no interest in. You won’t impress the selection committee if you fake it. Doing so will fail to show authenticity and original thinking. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never climbed Mount Everest or gone sky diving. What’s far more important is you being able to honestly express your feelings and discoveries. In fact, being able to show this side is likely to be far more impressive to the admission officers than any individual claim you make. That is, it’s not reaching the top of a mountain that’s important, but being able to honestly detail the process, obstacles and what you learned along the way.

Make your essay personal. Show your passion and let your own unique personality shine through. In doing so, you’ll stand a far greater chance of being accepted than if you ramble on about a topic in which you have little experience or zero personal interest.

Be Controversial

Being controversial may seem like a double-edged sword but it doesn’t have to be. Colleges are on the lookout for people who can take an intellectual position and argue points according to reason. This does not mean you should simply choose an argument and spout off your own opinions.

Don’t pretend that your line of thinking is absolute and unquestionable. Provide reasons as to why you think this way. Give examples with references to statistics and facts. Include the opinions of recognized intellectuals and above all, never, ever take the side of an extremist radical. There’s a vast difference between an intelligent albeit controversial individual, and being an absolute nut-job who has been brainwashed with hype and propaganda.

Fonts and Formats

If there are any guidelines provided, then it’s advisable to stick to them. If you can’t follow instructions for an essay, how will you be able to write a dissertation one day? Keep your font selection clean and easy to read (remember, the admission officials will be reading hundreds of these). Use one standard font throughout.

Separate various sections by making use of clearly identifiable headings. These should be in bold with major sections identifiable through means of a larger, underlined font size.

Last, but not Least

You may have written a phenomenal piece. It could contain the very essence of what your admissions officer is looking for. Have you checked it for spelling or grammatical errors? have you made sure you’re not using the same words too much?

As mentioned previously, admissions officers are under pressure to read numerous applications. In a hypothetical situation, let us assume your application gets reviewed toward the end of a long, rough day. The first thing the officer sees is three spelling mistakes and poor sentence construction in the first paragraph. Chances are your application will be immediately sent to the “Declined” pile.

Make sure you proofread your application. Give it to a teacher or parent to read. Spell check it. Make sure it is worthy of you and the time and effort you put into it.

(Photo courtesy of Jinx!)

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