Improving Paragraphs
for Academic Writing
UAB
UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER
Basic Features of Strong Paragraphs
 Clarity – the focus of the paragraph is clear, not
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ambiguous; content is unified
Concise – each sentence in the paragraph has
purpose and power; no unnecessary repetition
Coherent – the paragraph is clearly connected to
the rest of the essay and to the thesis
Emphasis – the paragraph is situated within the
essay in a way that clearly indicates its degree of
importance within the essay
Engaging – the paragraph keeps the reader
interested in the content
Topic Sentences – the paragraph mini-thesis
 Importance:
 Establishes unity
 Key to coherence
 Must be clear
 Function –
 Explicitly states the focus of the paragraph: the specific
subpoint extension of the main thesis to be developed in the
paragraph
 Placement –
 Often the first sentence of the paragraph
 May follow a transitional sentence
 Occasionally delayed until end of paragraph
Developing Body Paragraphs
 One Basic Format:
 Topic sentence that states focus/mini-claim or states a
synthesized concept
 Sentence that expands or explains focus/mini-claim/synthesis
 Sentences that support the explanation/mini-claim/synthesis
(cited research)
 Commentary on the cited research
 Wrap-up sentence that connects research to overall focus of
essay or next paragraph
Strategies to Improve Overall Coherence
Repeat key terms or phrases
2. Reinforce key concepts by using synonyms
3. Use words that express the relationships between
paragraphs and among sentences within the
paragraphs
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Ex. Additionally, researchers have found that the production
of biofuels may actually improve soil quality, rather than
deplete it.
Ex. However, opponents of biofuels argue that grain-based
biofuels may be detrimental to under-developed countries who
rely on grains to offset food supplies.
Improve Coherence through Parallelism
 Parallelism: Related ideas or ideas joined in a list
should be presented in the same grammatical
structure (i.e. nouns, phrases, clauses)
 Not parallel: The study participants were asked
about how much weight they had gained recently,
exercising habits, current health status and history,
and if they had seen a medical doctor recently.
 Parallel: The study participants were questioned
about current weight fluctuations, exercise habits,
health status, health history, and recent doctor visits.
Improve Engagement through Variety
 Purposefully, vary sentence length within a
paragraph. For example, contrasting several long
sentences with a short sentence creates emphasis
and draws attention to the point made.
 Underline the sentence openers. Vary occasionally.
 Vary the sentence patterns used within the
paragraph: simple, compound, complex, compoundcomplex.
Basic Sentence Patterns
 Simple – one subject and one verb. Over-used
produces choppy and often bland style. Very
straightforward; often preferred in medical writing
 Compound – two simple sentences combined by a
conjunction (i.e. and, but, therefore) or a semicolon.
 Complex – a simple sentence combined with one or
more dependent clauses; preferred in humanities
 Compound-complex – two or more joined simple
sentences combined with one or more dependent
clauses; frequently used in academic writing
Creating Emphasis through Paragraph Order
 Some paragraph order is constrained by the
discipline/genre, i.e. sciences, social sciences
 In other disciplines, writers are generally expected to
create a logical framework that readers can follow:
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General to specific (deductive reasoning)
Specific to general (inductive reasoning)
Old information to new information
Least important to most important (or vice versa)
Chronological sequences
Cause/Effect
Warrant, Reason, Claim