How to organize your paragraphs into a good structure

Good paragraph structure can be the difference between a good article and a great article.

When making an article, one of the most important things to consider is your structure. A big part of article structure is the order and content of your paragraphs. Nonfiction writing typically begins with an introductory paragraph and end with a concluding paragraph. In the middle, your ideas are developed through body paragraphs.

Your first paragraph is your introduction. It should start with a compelling first sentence to hook people into reading your article. Then you should identify the main topic and transition to explain what your thesis (your main idea) is and give some more information on it. The information you give will later be expanded into a paragraph. An example of a good first paragraph is in the article “Ubisoft’s strategy and how it saved Rainbow Six Siege”. It begins with the following hook: “Ubisoft is infamous for being one of the more inconsistent companies in the gaming world but in reality they are one of the smartest.” It continues immediately to the thesis: “By using a series of free weekends to get players to try Rainbow Six Siege they managed to not only save it from near death but also made it grow into a popular game long after its release.”

The body paragraphs in your article will elaborate on your thesis. They start with a topic sentence (identifying the main focus of the paragraph) and then continue to elaborate on that idea using different methods of development such as examples such as descriptions, definitions, or comparisons. The way you arrange your body paragraphs is mostly up to you. If you are doing an article with specific dates you could do it in chronological order. Another way to order your paragraphs is in order of importance. Also if you are doing a review, you might start with what you didn’t like about the thing you’re reviewing and put what you liked afterwards. Use transition phrases to show how one paragraph relates to the previous. It is also common to end a body paragraph by circling back to the main topic again.

The concluding paragraph should restate your thesis and then summarize your main ideas without sounding too repetitive. If you have learned something interesting you could talk about that here. A good way to develop and end your conclusion to to try to broaden your topic to show its wider significance. When finishing make sure the kicker–the last sentence–is impactful.

The difference paragraph structure makes in an article is tremendous. Paragraph structure can be used in things other than just writing. You could even use it in public speaking. If you remember the points listed in this article when making your own you should have a very well-written article.