by Robert Levine

Created on: May 28, 2008   Last Updated: May 29, 2008

A piece of writing resembles a ladder its reader must climb. Its introduction acts as its base, where the reader begins the ascent; its top is the conclusion, the reader's destination after moving through its body. That body consists of rungs that, one by one, bring the reader closer to the piece of writing's conclusion and allows him or her to arrive there on solid footing. Those rungs are paragraphs. In The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E. B. White instruct, "Make the paragraph the unit of composition." Therefore, structuring your paragraphs well contributes immensely to effective writing.

Let's start at the beginning, with the paragraph's introductory sentence-usually a topic sentence, stating a new idea in the development of your thesis or subject. The break in text created by a new paragraph's indentation announces this change. Angela Lunsford and Robert Connors elaborate in The New St. Martin's Handbook: "Remember that a new paragraph often signals a pause in thought. Just as timing can make a crucial difference in telling a joke, so the pause signaled by a paragraph can lead readers to anticipate what is to follow . . ." If what follows does not present a new idea, readers are apt to be disappointed or confused.

The new idea expressed in the topic sentence should encapsulate the content of the ensuing paragraph. "Each paragraph should make one point, and every sentence in it should relate to that one point," declare Diana Roberts Wienbroer et al. in Rules of Thumb For Business Writers. The topic sentence provides the thematic baseline around which all other sentence in the paragraph must revolve.

Wienbroer et al. give a simple reason for placing the paragraph's declaration of intent at its start: most readers in a professional setting are pressed for time and want information presented to them as quickly and smoothly as possible. Beginning a paragraph with its topic tells the reader what to expect ahead, rather than making the reader guess at where your writing is going as he or she reads along. On the other hand, Lunsford and Connors argue rightly when they say, "When specific details add up to a generalization, putting the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph makes sense." This strategy suits works relying on inductive reasoning, moving from particular points toward a larger common idea; it can also lend variety to the structural pattern of your paragraphs. With the exception of legal writing or laboratory or survey reports, however, few

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