Writing Good Paragraphs

Greetings again. Recently someone requested advice on writing good paragraphs in journal articles. Others also might like advice on this topic, and so it’s the subject of this blog post.

In general, effective paragraphs in journal articles have 2 main characteristics: (1) All sentences in the paragraph are about the same subtopic. (2) The paragraph contains a topic sentence, which states the main subject or main point of the paragraph.

In planning a journal article, writing an outline can help. Commonly, each subtopic in the outline should be the focus of a paragraph. All sentences about the subtopic should go in the paragraph. The paragraph shouldn’t include sentences about other subtopics.

In an article for an English-language international journal, a paragraph generally should begin with a topic sentence. By reading the topic sentence, people know what the main subject or point of the paragraph will be.

Using topic sentences, and placing them at the beginnings of paragraphs, might seem strange to authors from cultures in which communication usually is indirect. However, doing so can help suit an article for an international journal.

For more advice on writing paragraphs, resources include

• The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. (Please see sections 9 and 10.)
• “Paragraph Construction”, from the Texas A&M University Writing Center
• Chapter 3, “Paragraph Structure”, in Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers, by Mimi Zeiger (Part of this chapter appears in the preview of this book in Google Books.)

Wishing you a good week— Barbara