How Long is a Paragraph?
How do you know when “enough is enough”—when do you have enough information in one paragraph and so should start a new one? If you’ve ever asked a writing teacher this, you might have gotten a response like “how long is a piece of string?” That infuriatingly philosophical response means that paragraphs should go on for however long they need to get their point across. Knowing when to end a paragraph will come with experience.
For academic writing, a good rule of thumb is that paragraphs should be 3-7 lines on a typed page and at least three sentences. That’s a pretty wide range of lengths—and no one is going to call the paragraph police if you end up going longer. Why lines and not sentences? Because some sentences can be short. Whereas others, like ones that include long quotations or complex structures, sort of like this one that you’re reading right now, can go on and on and on.
Remember, context also matters when creating your paragraphs. Think about your text messages. You don’t send paragraphs over text, do you? (Maybe you do. No judgement.) Here on the OWL, we try to keep our paragraphs short because that’s easier for people to read online. With a college-level essay, your paragraphs can be a little longer, because that’s the expectation of the format.
Sometimes, it’s easier to deal with paragraphs as part of the revision step in the writing process. Find places where the information shifts in focus, and put paragraph breaks in those places.
Let’s grab one of our topic sentences from above and expand it into a paragraph.
The above paragraph introduces one key piece of evidence that supports the thesis, it sticks to the main idea, it presents key evidence, and it ends with a closing sentence.
You can find more information about APA References here and MLA Works Cited here.
| Transition Words | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Place | Idea | Summarizing |
| Before long | On the patio | Another reason | Finally |
| Later that day | In the kitchen | Also | In conclusion |
| Late last night | At the cottage | In addition | To conclude |
| The next day | In the backyard | For example | To summarize |
| After a while | When we went to the store | To illustrate | In summary |
| Meanwhile | Nearby | For instance | To sum up |
| Sometimes | Adjacent to | Likewise | In short |
| Following | Wherever | However | As you can see |
| Subsequently | Opposite to | In contrast | For all of those reasons |
Transitions
In our sample paragraph above, you might have noticed our use of phrases like ‘over time’ and ‘as a result.’ Those are transitions. They’re the small words and phrases that help us move from sentence to sentence, or paragraph to paragraph.
On the right, you’ll see a table of transitions that you might have encountered when reading. Some of them might be more appropriate for fiction or personal essays, but should still give you an idea of how much work these transitions do in our writing.
Transitions indicate linkages in ideas. When writing, you need to lead your readers from one idea to the next, showing how those ideas are logically connected. Transition words and phrases help you keep your paragraphs and groups of paragraphs logically connected for a reader.
Here are some example transitions for academic writing to help as you move both within paragraphs and from one paragraph to the next.
| Transition Word / Phrase: | Shows: |
| and, also, again, in addition | More of the same type of information is coming; information expands on the same general idea. |
| but, or, however, in contrast, contrary to | Different information is coming, information that may counteract what was just said. |
| as a result, consequently, therefore | Information that is coming is a logical outgrowth of the ideas just presented. |
| for example, to illustrate | The information coming will present a specific instance, or present a concrete example of an abstract idea. |
| particularly important, note that | The information coming emphasizes the importance of an idea. |
| in conclusion | The writing is ending. |
Coordinating conjunctions (the FANBOYS—for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) can often act as transition words within a sentence. You might deploy a fanboy to connect two short thoughts, or to break up what would otherwise be a run-on sentence. [link] At some point, many students are taught never to begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, particularly ‘but’ or ‘and.’ But this is not actually a rule. (If you don’t believe us, take it up with Merriam-Webster.) However, do note that beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions can give your writing a more conversational tone, which might not be desirable for certain kinds of writing assignments.