The skill of paragraph writing, and the conventions of paragraph structure are common to many genres of written English. Letters (personal or business), articles (in newspapers or magazines), stories (short stories, novels) and essays (discussing, comparing, arguing) all depend on paragraphs to give them structure. Learning to structure a paragraph correctly will assist you in writing all or any of these longer pieces in the future.

Paragraphs are usually between 2 and 8 sentences. They are not simply a collection of sentences on the same topic, but have a clear structure, as in the sample paragraph below.

Many people enjoy the excitement of city living, however, life in large cities such as New York, Seoul or Tokyo is bad for our physical and mental health. To begin with, the pollution affects us badly. Dirt in the air causes coughs, sore throats and respiratory disease. In addition, many people suffer from skin irritations and dry eyes, especially if they have to travel underground by subway each day. Moreover, the crowded streets, small apartments and lack of space add to our stress levels. Even in the larger parks, it is difficult to find a quiet place to relax and be alone in the city. Further, the higher crime rates of big cities can make us feel paranoid and unsafe in our homes, and nowadays it is common for people to install alarm systems or bars on their windows. Despite the advantages, life in the city is not always better than life elsewhere.

In the following paragraph, check you can find:

• The topic sentence.
• The supporting examples
• The transition signals
• The sentence that DOES NOT belong
• The closing sentence

Travel in foreign countries can be a difficult experience, and shock is a very normal reaction for many people. Firstly, travellers may have to adjust to a completely different climate and time zone when they arrive. Travelling from the middle of a Korean winter to an extremely hot Australian summer in only nine hours, or changing time zones by eight hours from Korea to Europe can be a big shock to our bodies. Further, the food, water and times of day for eating may be very different from home and this can cause problems for your digestion. If you travel to a developing country where the food is not clean it is common to have some stomach problems, or if you travel to Europe you might miss a traditional Korean breakfast. Many people in Korea eat a western style breakfast of cereal or bread nowadays. Finally, the culture may be difficult to understand. In some countries, service is not as friendly as others, in others different religions may require both men and women to dress a certain way in order to be respected, and in many places the crime rate is much higher than in Korea. For these reasons, travellers need time to adjust to the many challenges of being in a new country.

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Travel in foreign countries can be a difficult experience, and shock is a very normal reaction for many people. Firstly, travellers may have to adjust to a completely different climate and time zone when they arrive. Travelling from the middle of a Korean winter to an extremely hot Australian summer in only nine hours, or changing time zones by eight hours from Korea to Europe can be a big shock to our bodies. Further, the food, water and times of day for eating may be very different from home and this can cause problems for your digestion. If you travel to a developing country where the food is not clean it is common to have some stomach problems, or if you travel to Europe you might miss a traditional Korean breakfast. Many people in Korea eat a western style breakfast of cereal or bread nowadays. Finally, the culture may be difficult to understand. In some countries, service is not as friendly as others, in others different religions may require both men and women to dress a certain way in order to be respected, and in many places the crime rate is much higher than in Korea. For these reasons, travellers need time to adjust to the many challenges of being in a new country.

The order that ideas come into your mind is not always the best order to write them in. Treat the different ideas as if they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Note them all down, but experiment by moving them around until you find the best way to put them together. You can use arrows on a piece of paper to do this if you are handwriting, or ‘cut and paste’ with scissors and glue. If you are writing directly onto the computer, learn to use the ‘cut and paste’ editing tools.

We often have great ideas that are not really well connected to our topic. Be strict with yourself, and don’t include anything that is not really relevant.

Check if your paragraph fits the plan below, if not, what is missing?