How to Compose Paragraphs and Essays

How to Compose a Paragraph

Composing a good essay starts with knowing how to write good paragraphs. Paragraph writing can seem like a challenge but with these tips you can make it happen! We’re going to separate our paragraph writing into planning and then writing.

Planning

• Brainstorm to come up with a Main Idea

Paragraph writing is all about having a good main idea. The main idea is the major topic or umbrella theme that the paragraph is about! You will be elaborating on (describing) the main idea with all the other sentences in your paragraph. The main idea ensures that your paragraph has a good focus and is not confusing. If you are answering a question with your paragraph or essay, make sure that your main idea is related to that question.

• Do Research!

After you have your main idea, you will need to do some research on the topic so that you will have details to write in your paragraph. At this stage it is not necessary to write out full sentences. Just write out information that you will use to support your main idea. At this stage you can organize these ideas in the way you’d like to see them in your paragraph.

Writing

A good paragraph is separated into:

1. Topic Sentence 
2. Supporting Sentences 
3. Conclusion

• Topic Sentence

The first sentence of your paragraph needs to be the topic sentence. The topic sentence states your main idea. It should include the most important and relevant point you wish to make with your paragraph. All the other sentences in your paragraph will be supporting the topic sentence. 

E.g. Jamaica is the best place to take a vacation.

• Supporting Sentences

This is where the details of your research will come into play. In your supporting sentences you will really let the reader understand what you are trying to say. Therefore, make use of statistics, examples and facts to make your point strong. Also, be sure to use simple sentences that are clear and easy to understand. Finally, transition words/phrases such as; “therefore”, “such as”, “in fact”, “these include” etc. will make your paragraph flow better so always try to incorporate these.

E.g. In Jamaica any tourist will find beautiful natural attractions. These include rivers, waterfalls, beaches, forest land and botanical gardens. Therefore, there are many activities for tourists to take part in. Not to mention the warm and friendly people who live there.

• Conclusion

This sentence wraps up your paragraph. It should let the reader know once and for all what you meant to communicate. It reinforces the idea you outlined in the supporting sentences. Instead try to restate the main idea in a new way. Make sure that you don’t contradict yourself in your concluding sentence. 

E.g. Taking a vacation in Jamaica is a great decision because you’ll never run out of things to do in the beautiful landscape. 

You must know when to move on to another paragraph. Once you are discussing a new idea be sure to start a new paragraph. 

Composing a paragraph is not as hard as it looks, and it gets even easier with practice. Follow this guide and you will be fine!

How to Compose an Essay

Now that you know how to compose a paragraph, you can go ahead and learn how to compose an essay.

An essay is a combination of paragraphs, which means that many organized paragraphs talking about the same subject create an essay. It is a synonym of a story or a paper that can be either formal or informal depending on the case. 

Before knowing how to compose an essay, you must know that there exist many types of them because it is key to know the differences between them in order to provide the right information in the most effective way. Here we are going to discuss the four most common and important ones.

• An argumentative essay is the one that presents an idea based on evidence. It requires confidence when writing it because the objective is to convince the reader of our idea by defending it with a deep analysis of the evidence. They are mostly used when we want to present our position and opinions on a topic.

•  Expository essays also provide explanations of a topic, but they do not have to be original. You can include other people’s evidence here, but of course you have to use quotations and explain that it is based on others’ theories. These types of essays test your ability to organize and convey information.

• Narrative essays tell stories. They can be fictional stories or true stories based on previous experiences you’ve had. They are very personal and creative.

• Descriptive essays, as the name states, provide a detailed description of something. They are mainly about an object, place, person, or situation. 

Now that you know all this, it is time for you to know the process to compose a good and organized essay.

The first step to composing an essay is the preparation. Here you have to decide the topic, do the research, and create an outline.

Second, writing. You have to start by introducing your topic in the first paragraph, explain it all in the body (which starts in paragraph 2), and finally wrap up with the overall conclusion in the last paragraph.

The last step is to check all the content, spelling, grammar, and formatting of your essay. Make sure it is error free! There are some amazing tools online that can help you do it, Grammarly is one of them.

Remember that it is very important to use an appropriate language for each essay. Sometimes, we need to write informal essays to just explain something while other times essays are required by students or workers in order to present an idea.

You can always check our Grammar Courses to learn more about punctuation, sentences construction, and many other tips!

Author

Naomi Reitzin

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