Paragraphs are, of course, the central building blocks of an essay. We use them to organize and structure our writing, making it easy for our readers to follow our discussion. We need effective paragraphs to provide well-developed ideas and logical connections between those ideas.
Checklist for Effective Paragraphs
Let’s begin by considering the essential elements of an effective paragraph.
Does your essay:
1. Have a strong topic sentence?
We can think of a paragraph as a mini essay and the topic sentence is like a thesis, telling the reader what the paragraph will be about. Without this, the reader has no context for reading.
2. Provide enough information to be effective?
The rest of the paragraph must fulfill the expectation created by its topic sentence with adequate supporting information. Without this, the reader will not be convinced or have a clear understanding.
3. Use effective transitions?
Each paragraph needs transition language to show connections both within the paragraph and with other paragraphs in the essay. Without this, the reader will not appreciate the development of, and relationship between, ideas in the essay.
4. Present information in a logical order?
Each paragraph should be organized in a logical way to show the clear development of an idea. Without this, the reader may get lost or confused and not fully understand the meaning.
Let’s practice revising a paragraph. Our goal is a well-crafted paragraph with logical organization and a clear purpose.
Revising Paragraphs (Sample Answers)
- Technological literacy includes deep working knowledge of the tools we use to navigate and search the internet. As Melanie Pinola notes, “everyone knows how to ‘Google,’ but not everyone Googles efficiently” (2014). For example, to find useful information through Google, students need to employ its many filtering features.
Explanation: Now, as readers, we know that this paragraph will discuss one example of technological literacy – the ability to use tools for searching the internet effectively. We can expect that the rest of the paragraph will explain this idea. The quote from Pinola supports this ideas with the example of Google. - Technological literacy includes deep working knowledge of the tools we use to navigate the internet. As Melanie Pinola notes, “Everyone knows how to ‘Google,’ but not everyone Googles efficiently” (2014). For example, to find useful information through Google, students need to employ its many useful filtering features. Google can seem almost magical, linking us to millions of sources; however, we do not need millions of random sources, we need one or two quality sources. Learning to use filtering features like Google scholar, and important search codes, such as site: and filetype: are necessary to make Google useful for university students (Pinola). Students can make use of tutorial on Google research techniques, such as the one offered by Lifehacker.com to improve their technological literacy.
Explanation: The additional information uses the Google example to illustrate how difficult and yet essential it is to learn good search techniques such as filtering as an example of gaining technological literacy. - Technological literacy includes deep working knowledge of the tools we use to navigate the internet. As Melanie Pinola notes, “Everyone knows how to ‘Google,’ but not everyone Googles efficiently” (2014). For example, to find useful information through Google, students need to employ its many useful filtering features. Google can seem almost magical, linking us to millions of sources; however, we do not need millions of random sources, we need one or two quality sources. Therefore, learning to use filtering features like Google scholar, and important search codes, such as site: and filetype: are necessary to make Google useful for university students (Pinola). Students can make use of tutorials on Google research techniques – for example, the one offered by Lifehacker.com — to improve their technological literacy.