Check out the following strategies and tips for ensuring that your paragraphs are forming strong building blocks for your essay. 

Use the first sentence of your paragraph to establish the main idea of the paragraph and your claim about the topic; this gives the paragraph a clear focus and helps readers to find key information quickly. The rest of the paragraph (typically between five and eight additional sentences) is dedicated to supporting this topic sentence with explanations, definitions, evidence from sources, analysis, and examples. If a sentence in your paragraph is not related to your topic sentence, then it might not belong there. In this way, a strong topic sentence helps to establish unity (a paragraph should have only one main topic). 

Transitional words and phrases help connect ideas between and within paragraphs, ensuring coherence (the smooth flow of ideas). Effective transitions can be single words or phrases like “furthermore,” “in contrast” or “as a result.” More complex transitions may involve complete sentences. For example, “While solar energy has many benefits, it also faces significant challenges” serves as a bridge between the advantages (discussed at length in the previous paragraph) and addressing potential drawbacks (the topic of the new paragraph). 

The “known-new contract” is another guiding principle in connecting sentences coherently. It suggests beginning each sentence with information that is familiar (known) before introducing what is new. For example, if a sentence ends with “significant challenges,” the next one might begin “These challenges include…”.  

The last sentence of a paragraph usually highlights implications or consequences. It ties the paragraph together and shows your reader why the paragraph is important to your main argument or thesis. After writing it, check to make sure that your paragraph uses a variety of sentence lengths and structures, includes adequate support for your claim, and has transitions where they’re needed. Voila! You’ve written a paragraph!