Guides: Paragraphs: Overview

Learning objectives

This resource will help you:

Develop your understanding of how to plan and structure an effective paragraph for academic writing.
Identify the functions of different sentences within an academic paragraph.

Paragraph writing

A paragraph is a segment of writing that discusses one idea or main point. It will have several sentences and each sentence in the paragraph has a particular purpose.

The TEEL paragraph structure is a good way to help you to write excellent paragraphs.

TOPIC - In your topic sentence describe the main idea that will be explored in your paragraph.
EXPLANATION - In your second sentence begin to develop, define, and further explain the main idea. Remember to use citations as evidence to support your point.
EVIDENCE - In your next sentences support your explanation with evidence or examples, using citations. Remember to draw connections between the evidence presented, using linking words (however, in contrast, additionally).
LINK - In your last sentence, summarise the main idea of your paragraph. If appropriate, link to the next paragraph.

Developing effective topic sentences

A clear topic sentence that describes the paragraph's main idea is essential to a strong paragraph. This video (4:26 min) provides an overview of paragraph structure and offers examples of effective topic sentences.

Note: You can enable captions for this video by pressing the closed caption button () at the bottom right side of the video.

Top tips for excellent paragraphs

Include one key idea per paragraph and describe it clearly in your topic sentence.
Keep your paragraph length to between 4 and 7 sentences.
Ensure each sentence relates clearly to the key idea of the paragraph.
Read widely to ensure you are using the best examples and citations in your paragraph.
Present the information and evidence in a logical order, using transition signals to link your sentences.

Transition Signals in Writing
This resource from UNSW will help you understand how to incorporate transition signals into your paragraph writing.

Here is a body paragraph. Identify the TOPIC, EXPLANATION, EVIDENCE, and LINKING sentences.

(Hint - there might be more than one sentence for each letter of the TEEL structure).

Then click on the following tab to check your responses.

One factor within the team that seems to be more important than the leader is the notion of team cohesiveness. Team cohesiveness enables a diverse group of individuals to work towards a common goal. Although there must be some minimum amount of cohesiveness if the team is going to continue to function as a team, Allen (2017), states that highly cohesive teams "are more motivated and effective in attaining goals when they have set these for themselves" (p. 48), and thus, achieve higher levels of member satisfaction. Further, team dynamics, particularly in teams with high team morale, is more important in terms of team effectiveness and productivity than the team leader (Park, 2017; Taylor, 2018). In this way the productivity of any group of employees is influenced by their ability to effectively work together so that their specialised skills and capabilities are maximised.

(Paragraph adapted from RMIT Learning Lab Writing paragraphs)

Topic sentence.

One factor within the team that seems to be more important than the leader is the notion of team cohesiveness.

Explanation sentence.

Team cohesiveness enables a diverse group of individuals to work towards a common goal.

Evidence sentence.

Although there must be some minimum amount of cohesiveness if the team is going to continue to function as a team, Allen (2017), states that highly cohesive teams "are more motivated and effective in attaining goals when they have set these for themselves" (p. 48), and thus, achieve higher levels of member satisfaction.

Example and further evidence sentence.

Further, team dynamics, particularly in teams with high team morale, is more important in terms of team effectiveness and productivity than the team leader (Park, 2017; Taylor, 2018).

Linking/Summary sentence. Remember this sentence can also be used, where appropriate, to link to the following paragraph. Additionally, where appropriate it can be used to link the topic of this paragraph to the main topic of the essay or report.

In this way the productivity of any group of employees is influenced by their ability to effectively work together so that their specialised skills and capabilities are maximised.

Additional resources

Academic Phrasebank (The University of Manchester)
Get some ideas for high quality sentence starters from the Academic Phrasebank.
Writing cohesively (RMIT)
This resource will help you find out how to establish cohesion within a paragraph.
Writing strong paragraphs: What are linking words? (The University of Newcastle)
Learn more about different types of paragraphs and linking words.

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Services and support (UniSC)
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Paragraphs: Overview