Paragraphs and links

Paragraphs – what should they look like?

In the section on sentences, I suggested that you can also learn a lot about the length of sentences simply by being aware of what you are doing when you are writing. You can do the same with paragraphs. Have a look at your most recent essay. Do your paragraphs have wildly differing lengths – sometimes a few lines, sometimes nearly a whole page? Or are they all about the same length? If you answered ‘yes’ to the second question then you are well on your way to writing good, clear essays.

A good average length for a paragraph is somewhere between 150 – 250 or between a third and two thirds of a double-spaced A4 page. Have a look at paragraphs in books and journals to get a better sense of good paragraph length. A paragraph that is longer than this suggested length gets harder and harder to follow. A paragraph that is shorter looks scrappy, more like a note than part of a coherent, developing argument.

This does not mean that all paragraphs should be exactly the same length but it’s a good rule to follow when you first start writing essays.

Paragraphs – what should be in them?

Each paragraph should represent a new stage in the argument and structure of your essay. A good way to think about the content of paragraphs is the ‘Rubin method’ which says that paragraphs should contain a subject or topic and a series of statements that make clear what the writer thinks is important or pertinent about the subject or topic.

Some people find it useful to think about each paragraph of the essay as a separate component which gets linked with all the others later. Other people find it easy to move from one paragraph to the next.

Some things paragraphs can do

• Divide writing into easily manageable sections.

• Signal a change of direction in an argument: “However, when we apply Professor X’s model to the recent performance of Marks & Spencer we can see…”

• Signal the introduction of a new idea.

• Be containers for separate points in your argument.

• Summarise what’s been said so far before moving on to the next stage of an argument.

Paragraph links

Now you’ve written clear sentences and arranged them into clear paragraphs you need to make your essay flow smoothly. You make this happen by linking everything together. Here’s an example from a book about Chinese business practices:

…By using family titles to name their colleagues, Chinese employees shape their business relations in terms of the well-known conventions and roles of the family and social structure.
Interaction between employers and employees also finds a basis in family-centered codes of behaviour.