Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

If necessary, adjust paragraph length
Writing paragraphs
A process for writing

Most effective paragraphs range between one hundred and two hundred words. Shorter paragraphs can require too much starting and stopping, and longer ones can strain the reader’s attention span. There are exceptions to this guideline, however. Paragraphs longer than two hundred words frequently appear in scholarly writing, where writers explore complex ideas. Paragraphs shorter than one hundred words occur in business writing, in news articles, and on websites, where readers routinely skim for main ideas, and in informal essays to quicken the pace.

In an essay, the first and last paragraphs will ordinarily be the introduction and the conclusion. These special-purpose paragraphs are often shorter than other paragraphs in the essay. Typically, the body paragraphs will follow the essay’s outline: one paragraph per point in short essays, several paragraphs per point in longer ones. Some ideas require more development than others, however, so it is best to be flexible. If an idea stretches to a length unreasonable for a paragraph, you should divide the paragraph, even if you have presented comparable points in the essay in single paragraphs.

Paragraph breaks are not always made for strictly logical reasons. Writers use them for all of the following reasons.

REASONS FOR BEGINNING A NEW PARAGRAPH

✵ to mark off the introduction and the conclusion

✵ to signal a shift to a new idea

✵ to indicate an important shift in time or place

✵ to emphasize a point (by placing it at the beginning or the end, not in the middle, of a paragraph)

✵ to highlight a contrast

✵ to provide readers with a needed pause

✵ to break up text that is too dense

Beware, however, of using too many short, choppy paragraphs that read like a list. Readers want to see how your ideas connect, and they become irritated when you break their momentum by forcing them to pause every few sentences. Here are a few reasons you might have for combining some of the paragraphs in a rough draft.

REASONS FOR COMBINING PARAGRAPHS

✵ to clarify the essay’s organization

✵ to connect closely related ideas

✵ to bind together text that looks too choppy