A paragraph is a unit of writing in a larger body of work. A paragraph expresses a particular topic or theme and remains focused on that specific theme or topic throughout.

The purpose of a paragraph is to express a speaker’s thoughts on a particular point in a clear way that is unique and specific to that paragraph. In other words, paragraphs shouldn’t be mix thoughts or ideas.

Functions of Paragraphs:

1) Paragraphs are organizational tools. They "chunk" similar ideas together and separate them from dissimilar ideas,

2) Paragraphs help the reader. They help readers follow the writer's line of thinking. Paragraphs also give readers a break because the end of every paragraph allows the reader to relax before starting the new paragraph. Paragraph breaks also make the reading material seem less intimidating because there are breaks.

3) Paragraphs help the writer stay on topic. Because there is a topic and structure to each paragraph, the writer can more easily focus and not stray off-topic when writing paragraphs.

With every choice you make while writing paragraphs, always remember that paragraphs are organizational tools that o help your reader follow your line of thinking (and help you stay on topic).

Details on paragraphs:

1) Start new paragraphs in your writing for the following reasons:

a) There is a significant shift in time. By significant, I mean, you decide the importance. For example, if you are writing about the events in a year, you may decide to divide the events by season:s "Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer" Or you may decide to divide the evens by School Year and Summer. It would be your choice, but a time shift is an important enough change to indicate the need for a new paragraph.

b) There is a significant shift in location. Again, you decide the significance. However, because paragraphs are organizational tools for the reader, starting a new paragraph when you begin discussing events or issues that occur in a different place than in the previous paragraph will help the reader follow your line of thought.

c) There is a change or shift to a new topic, subtopic, or idea. If you discuss a new idea or a new topic in your essay or if you shift into a related subtopic, you need to start a new paragraph. For example, let's say you are writing an essay about mammals for a science class. You might begin your essay with a definition of mammals in general and then shift first to a discussion on land mammals (new paragraph), and shift again to a discussion of sea mammals like dolphins and whales. Because a paragraph is an organizational tool to help your reader follow the line of thinking in your, a new paragraph for each of these subtopics of mammals is necessary.

d) There is a change of voice. This means that you start a new paragraph if the tone or perspective of your writing or discussion changes, you need to start a new paragraph. For example, if you start an essay with a summary of a news article or definition, and then you shift to a discussion of your personal opinion on the article or the issue described in the article, you need to start a new paragraph when you shift into your opinion. Your opinion has a different voice and perspective than in the summary of the news paragraph.

1) To indicate the start of a new paragraph for academic writing, indent five spaces. This means to hit the space bar on your computer five times and after the fifth space, start typing. Do not skip lines between paragraphs in academic writing. Just indent five spaces. Do not indent more than 5 spaces. Often a student may think the "tab" key on his or her computer is for paragraphs, but you should make sure you set your tab to show five spaces. The "tab" key isn't automatically set at five.

If you are handwriting an essay in a face-to-face class or writing a rough draft by hand, start your new paragraphs by indenting the width of your thumb, which should equal about five spaces.

2) In an academic essay or for most relatively short pieces of writing, the paragraphs should be roughly the same length. This is because paragraphs that are shorter than the others seem to have fewer details and are more memorable. In contrast, paragraphs that are significantly longer than the others are intimidating to read. Also, longer paragraphs probably have several shifts or changes within them that would easily accommodate the start of a new paragraph. We will discuss this at length in a later lesson in editing and proofreading paragraphs. .

3) The proofreading sign for "new paragraph" is called a "Pilcrow" and it looks like this (but smaller):

In this way, paragraphs are organizational tools.