Students Tend to Define Paragraphs in Terms

¶ … students tend to define paragraphs in terms of length where a paragraph can be half a page long or a group of at least five sentences. However, a paragraph is developed through the rationality and unity of ideas across sentences as length and appearance don't verify whether a section of an essay is a paragraph. This is largely because certain writing styles, especially the journalistic style can allow a paragraph to be just a single sentence. Therefore, a paragraph can be regarded as a group or unit of sentences that support a similar idea or concept.

How Paragraphs Fit Into An Essay:

The determination of the content and topic of an essay is a necessary measure that precedes the determination of the composition of a specific paragraph. This is an important step because the information in every paragraph will be related to the idea or topic being discussed in the essay. Paragraphs can be organized in various ways depending on the controlling idea including narration, description, process, classification, and illustration.

The topic of the essay can also be regarded as the working thesis that functions like the seed for the development of the paper. The working thesis is the foundation with which all ideas expressed in the paragraphs will grow and support the content of the paper. As part of the general format of the written essay, every paragraph should be unified, coherent, well-structured, and clearly linked to the thesis or overall topic.

The main way with which paragraphs fit into the overall format of the written essay is through their development process. There are five major steps in the process of developing a paragraph as explained below:

Development of Controlling Idea and Topic Sentence:

The process of developing a paragraph begins with the formulation of the controlling idea which appears in the form of a topic sentence ("Paragraphs," n.d.). This is a critical step because the controlling idea or topic's sentence directs the development of the essay.

Explanation of the Controlling Idea:

After the formulation of a topic sentence, the next step in this process is an explanation of the rationale, which directs how readers should interpret the presented information.

Provision of Example(s):

The writer proceeds in the paragraph development process by providing examples(s) that support the idea and its preceding explanations.

Explanation of the Example(s):

An explanation of the provided examples is the next step since it demonstrates the relevance of the examples to the topic sentence and rationale.

Completion and Transition to the Next Paragraph:

The final step in the process of paragraph development is the completion of the paragraph and simple transition to the next paragraph. While the completion of a paragraph may include reminding the reader of the relevance of the information, it can also include simple transition.