The Structure of a Paragraph

Paragraphs are made up of 4 basic parts that help you explain your ideas clearly:
  • Topic Sentence/Introductory Sentence: This is the first sentence in your paragraph. Use it to make a clear statement about the argument you are making. A good trick is to rephrase the question so that your answer to the question is clear.
  • Main Points/Supporting Points: These are the points you will use to support or explain the main idea mentioned in your topic sentence. A good paragraph will have 2-3 main points.
  • Evidence and Examples: Evidence and examples are the information you use to explain or illustrate your main points. You should be able to back up each of your points with at least two pieces of evidence. You should also include some analysis that shows how your evidence supports your main points and/or connects to your topic sentence.
  • Concluding Sentence: This is the last sentence of your paragraph. Use it to summarize the information in your paragraph and explain how this information proves the argument from your topic sentence.

While some people devote separate sentences to each part, it is also okay to combine some parts into the same sentence. Many writers will mention their main points in their topic sentences, and it is easy to combine main points, supporting evidence and analysis in the same sentence.

Memory Aids to Help You Write Better Paragraphs

Try one or more of these strategies to help you remember how to write detailed paragraphs that properly explain your main idea or effectively defend your argument. You can use them to write single paragraph answers or to create effective body paragraphs for essays.

An example of how to put everything together:

Let’s say you have been given this writing topic: Explain how Renaissance art differed from medieval art.

If you are still learning how to write a good paragraph or if you have a lot of time to complete the assignment, it is a good idea to outline your ideas first to figure out what you want to say and how you are going to say it. 

An outlined response to this topic might look like this:

The final paragraph might then look something like this:

               Renaissance art was very different from medieval art because it was more realistic and it focused on different themes. Medieval artwork, like the Bayeux tapestry, looks flat with figures that are not to scale. Renaissance artists developed new techniques, such as perspective and proportion, that helped make their work look more realistic. Leonardo da Vinci used these techniques when painting the Virgin of the Rocks, a painting where the human figures have realistic proportions. He used perspective to give his painting depth by making the figures in the foreground much larger than objects on the horizon. While art in the Middle Ages focused on themes of war, religion and death, Renaissance art was more optimistic. Renaissance artists still created works with religious themes, but they also focused on classical themes, beauty and human perfection. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is an excellent example of a painting where these three themes are present. The differences between Renaissance art and medieval art would be immediately clear to anyone who compared pieces from each era.

Topic sentence
Main Point 1
Evidence to Support Main Point 1--Note how analysis is provided to show how it supports the point
Main Point 2
Evidence to Support Main Point 2--Note how analysis is provided to show how it supports the point
Concluding Sentence