Paragraph Development
Elements of a Paragraph
A paragraph is more than just several sentences
grouped together. In an essay or research paper,
paragraphs present points and elaborate on them.
This presentation deals with body paragraphs as part
of argumentative or informative writing for academic
work. Other types of writing can have paragraphs that
are structured much differently.
The simplest way to begin constructing a paragraph is
to think in terms of a topic sentence and support.
Topic Sentence
 A topic sentence establishes the subject of a
paragraph. It can also contain transition words or
phrases.
 Example: Another great 19th century leader was
Abraham Lincoln.
 This example states an idea about Abraham Lincoln.
The reader knows what the paragraph will discuss
and the writer knows what claim he or she will need
to support.
 Topic sentences are often, but not always, the first
sentence of a paragraph.
Questions as Topic Sentences
 Example: How can we ensure that our education
system does not fail special needs children?
 The question clearly establishes the topic of the
paragraph, making it a topic sentence.
 Warning: This technique is useful to vary your
sentence and paragraph structure, but don’t overuse
it. Multiple paragraphs beginning with a question
can annoy readers and don’t demonstrate that you
can use a variety of structures.
Support to Prove a Claim
 It is not enough to state a claim in a topic sentence. You
must demonstrate to the reader why that claim is true.

Another great 19th century leader was Abraham Lincoln. During the
Civil War, Lincoln never faltered in his commitment to restore a
unified United States of America. In addition, through the
Emancipation Proclamation, he set many Americans free and gave a
nobler purpose to the bloody fighting.
 The supporting sentences provide reasons (commitment
to a unified country, the Emancipation Proclamation)
why readers should believe Lincoln was a great 19th
century leader.
Support Also Explains
 Support informs as well as argues. Even in an
informative paper, a topic sentence must be
supported by additional information.
 Supporting sentences provide the reader a reason to
trust your authority and deepen the reader’s
understanding of the fact presented in the topic
sentence.
Complicated Points
If you think you have a point that is so complicated
that it would require a very long paragraph, you can
break that point up into sub-points and assign a
paragraph to each one. Create an introductory
paragraph to your main point and organize sub-point
paragraphs after that.
Organization
 Support sentences must be organized logically within
the paragraph.
 Some common methods of organization:
chronological, cause and effect, process (steps of a
human-made or natural process), general to specific
or vice versa
 There are many different ways to organize a
paragraph. Make sure that you think through the
order of your supporting sentences.
Short and Long Paragraphs
Watch out for one or two sentence paragraphs. You are
likely to have stated a claim, but provided little or no
support. You may also have provided support for a
claim in another paragraph. Read through areas with
one or two sentence paragraphs. Do these short
paragraphs really belong to other paragraphs?
Long paragraphs (nearly a page or more) are
problematic too. Determine whether you are making
one point and supporting it or putting multiple points
in one paragraph.