2.4 Using distinct paragraphs
Within each section, you should also organise your ideas into distinct paragraphs. A paragraph is a group of sentences that deal with a particular topic or point. Moreover, those sentences work together to deal with that common topic or point in an integrated way. As you plan your document (and when you are writing and revising it), work out what the distinct ideas and issues are that you want to address and dedicate a distinct paragraph to each one. This will help present your ideas logically and clearly. Exactly how you decide what particular topics or points need distinct treatment in a separate paragraph is something to be worked out in each case; there is no fixed rule for this. You will need to think through what points you want to make and decide how best to present those points.
If your document needs to be short, then it may be that distinct sections with headings are not needed. In such cases, distinct paragraphs will be the sole key to providing your document with structure.
If your document has long passages of text without paragraph breaks, this is usually a sign that the ideas and themes are jumbled together, rather than an indication that the idea or theme you are dealing with is large and complicated. Even large and complicated ideas and themes can be broken down into smaller ideas and themes with distinct paragraphs. At the very least, it is a courtesy to your reader to break up large slabs of unbroken text into paragraphs.
To make your paragraphs clear on the page, you should start a new paragraph on a new line and either indent the first line of the new paragraph, or insert a whole line break between the previous paragraph and the new one (so that there is a whole line of white space between them). It is not enough simply to start a new line.
TIP: PARAGRAPHS SHOULD BE ABLE TO STAND ON THEIR OWN
A paragraph should be substantive enough to stand on its own. Avoid single sentence paragraphs. As a rule of thumb, aim for at least three to five sentences in a paragraph. But be flexible if the content demands a different number of sentences. Try to avoid dividing up an idea across two paragraphs when that idea should be discussed in just one paragraph.
The opening sentence of your paragraph (often called a ‘topic sentence’) should usually introduce the topic to be explored or articulate the main point to be made. It does not have to do so explicitly:
The topic of this paragraph is whether barristers’ wigs should be abolished.
Indeed, that would be rather odd. But your paragraph’s opening sentence should serve to introduce your reader to what is to come:
The debate about whether barristers’ wigs are an anachronism or a valuable link to tradition seems to recur every few years.
It can also let your reader know the position being taken:
Barristers’ wigs have become an embarrassing anachronism in our contemporary justice system.
The paragraph’s following sentences should then go further into the substance of your topic or point, perhaps explaining your position or noting the various views on the issue. Your paragraph’s concluding sentence should usually round things off but does not need to contain the substantive conclusion to the paragraph’s argument. Indeed, it will often be best to have your main point at the start of your paragraph. (See the ‘point first’ approach in section 3.3.8 in Chapter 3.)
To connect your paragraphs it is often useful to include a bridging sentence or two, either at the end of the current paragraph or at the start of the next one. A bridging sentence explains the connection between one paragraph and the next, or, indeed, explains the contrast between the paragraphs:
Not only barristers’ wigs, but also some barristers’ tendency to use anachronistic jargon when plain speaking is best has been the subject of much complaint. Such jargon … [and the paragraph then goes on to discuss jargon]
