Paragraph Structure

As a beginner at writing an essay, the biggest problem is what a paragraph should be like.

Understanding Paragraph Structure

An effective paragraph typically consists of three key components:

1. Topic Sentence:

   This introduces the main idea of the paragraph. It should be clear and concise, setting the stage for what follows.

   • In general, a topic sentence emphasizes the reason behind the evidence or the influence beyond a certain group.
   • Example: “Coffee manufacturers promote coffee using selective evidence and logical fallacies in pursuit of sales and profits.”
2. Concept Explanation:

   You may want to do one of the following:

   • Introduce the main concept you will discuss in this paragraph
     • Example: “The black-or-white fallacy occurs when two alternative states are presented as the only possibilities, even though more options exist.”
     • If you’re using difficult to understand terms, they must be defined for the reader.
   • Give a general idea of what you will discuss
     • Example: “There are ongoing debates regarding coffee’s effects on disease.”
   • Further explain the topic sentence in detail
     • Example: “Despite the hype, the health advantages of coffee remain elusive.”
3. Transition: (may skip if nothing to say)

   You may want to link your example with your topic sentence first.

   • Example: “Coffee manufacturers deliberately use logic flow, though.”
4. Supporting Evidence:

   These provide evidence, examples, or explanations to support the topic sentence. However, you should always know that directly using quotations or talking about facts without introduction is somewhat abrupt. Therefore, the following is a suggested example:

   • Leading in: In this sentence, you will give the audience an overview of the background or other basic information of the quotations or facts.
     • Example: “When it comes to promoting coffee, manufacturers often transform ambiguous arguments with words like “likely” and “not significant” into unequivocal statements.”
   • Quotation and Evidence: You should quote or describe the example here.
   • Leading out: Point out the specific thing that you want to discuss and prepare for analysis
     • Example: “This poster lists 51 reasons attempting to prove that coffee is entirely healthy, but some of these reasons are nonsensical.”
5. Analysis:

   The most important part of your whole essay. Your writing skill will be showcased mostly in this part. So how to analyse? From my perspective, I encourage you to think about the following things:

   • Superficial Content: Why do you choose this example and what you want to prove?
     • Example: “For instance, the poster claims that ‘coffee keeps you hydrated’, yet coffee is a diuretic, which means it can not hydrate people like most beverages do.”
   • Reason Behind the Example: Why did this thing happen? What is the logic behind this thing?
     • Example: “Coffee manufacturers have consistently used selective evidence and logical fallacies to maximize profits and entice more customers into the coffee trap.”
   • Influence: Why is this thing significant? How will this influence people, specific groups, even the whole society?

   However, the most important thing here still is that you should focus on the topic sentence.

6. Concluding Sentence:

   This wraps up the paragraph, reinforcing the main idea and transitioning smoothly to the next paragraph.

   • Example: “This demonstrates that renewable energy can play a pivotal role in achieving global sustainability goals.”
7. Transition:

   Showcasing you have finished one topic and you will begin another topic. It will be better if you can explain the relationship between two paragraphs in this sentence.

   • Example: “Coffee’s benefits for human overall health are vague, and its relation with disease is also ambiguous.”
   • Example: “In contrast to the promoted health benefits, the side effects have long been disturbing coffee consumers.”

Building a More Complex Paragraph

In the structure above, we just focus on one thing and one example. When it comes to more examples and flexible concepts, what should we do? The answer is that we should build an inner logic between the examples and perspectives.

1. Coordinate Construction:

   If you want to use coordinate construction, you should have a series of examples for one specific idea or you should divide the topic into 2-3 parallel subfields. Therefore, you can use a series of examples to support one idea strongly or explain one thing from more perspectives to showcase an entire understanding.

2. Progressive Construction:

   It will be better if you want to dig into the essence of the topic. You can write more about your discovery in the topic and the example. However, please always pay attention to the topic sentence because you will be so eager to express your own discovery that you talk too much and fail to emphasize the topic sentence.

Tips for Improving Paragraph Organization

1. Stick to One Idea Per Paragraph: Avoid introducing multiple unrelated ideas. If you find yourself doing this, break the content into separate paragraphs.
2. Use Transitions: Words like “however,” “therefore,” and “in addition” guide the reader and connect your ideas logically.
3. Balance Detail and Brevity: Include enough detail to support your argument, but don’t overload the paragraph with unnecessary information.

You will encounter different kinds of articles in the future and you will gradually know how to arrange a paragraph flexibly. This article is still not that perfect as I’m just a sophomore in JI with not too much writing experience. But if you are still at the beginning and wondering what a typical paragraph should be like, I think you will learn a lot after reading all the above things. The following is a paragraph I wrote in ENGL2000J. It’s not perfect, but you can take it as an example.

Coffee has a range of side effects, while its benefits remain minimal. Despite the hype, the health advantages of coffee remain elusive. Though global coffee consumption is supposed to increase by 1% ~ 4.1%, consumers’ beliefs in the health benefits of coffee are unclear. Among them, only 16% of U.S. consumers know about coffee’s health benefits and 49% of European consumers believe that coffee has negative health effects (Samoggia and Riedel 1). This data highlights that coffee promotions pay off, yet these so-called benefits fail to firmly take root in customers’ minds, as coffee manufacturers selectively choose research studies to support their fragile promotional arguments. The promoted benefits cannot be experienced in real-life coffee consumption, which is the reason why most customers don’t fully believe in coffee’s health benefits. From a more scientific perspective, a research reviewed the past 159 studies and concluded that though the global view on the impact of coffee on health has shifted towards a likely beneficial profile, it must be stressed that much still needs further verification (Cano-Marquina 18). Extensive literature exists mentioning possible or proposed health implications of coffee consumption, but there is very little sound evidence either for harm or benefit. Coffee’s benefits for human overall health are vague, and its relation with disease is also ambiguous.