PRIVATE: METHOD OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT

Paragraphs are the building blocks of essays. Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc. In reality, though, the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences are what constitutes a paragraph. A paragraph can be defined as a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit. Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long. Ultimately, a paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea.