write a two paragraph essay that employs imagery brainly

• Place order

Can an Essay be 2-Paragraphs? And how to write it

Even though writing essays can be challenging, writing a two-paragraph essay becomes even more complicated. It is always a challenging form of academic writing assessment that gives students stress.

Many wonder how do they do it? Does it even count as an essay? And what if you have too many points to fit in just two paragraphs for an essay?

Unlike the three-paragraph essay or the 5-paragraph essay , where one has many words to spare, the lack of words to waste makes a two-paragraph essay a mainstay for brevity, conciseness, and specificity. It is an essay that you write to address a topic with only 250 to 300 words, nothing more, nothing less.

To write an essay with two paragraphs, your organization and presentation skills must be top-notch. You will be recruiting and using the skills you use to write the longer essays, only that you must condense the content.

In this comprehensive short essay guide, you will learn what a two-paragraph essay looks like, the steps to take when writing one, the length and time it takes to write, and some of the best tips to use. By the time you are done, you will have a knack for writing a 2-paragraph essay.

Let us dig right into it!

What is a two-paragraph essay?

An essay can be two paragraphs. A two-paragraph essay is a brief or short written piece explaining one or two ideas in a few sentences and two paragraphs. It is a typical writing assessment for short-answer essay-based questions during examinations.

It is a condensed version of a traditional essay, but it needs you to explain the details or compress the content to fit within two paragraphs. A two-paragraph essay is about 8-16 sentences long. Its word count is between 250 words and 300 words. Therefore, it must be straightforward, brief, and concise. Like a one-paragraph essay, you must be highly mean or economical with words but spend your words writing about your topic.

When assigned to write a two-paragraph essay, knowing how to write an essay with one paragraph can come in handy.

A two-paragraph essay can have anything between 10-28 sentences, depending on how long such sentences are. The premise is based on the fact that a one-paragraph essay can be as long as 10-14 sentences long.

Outline for a two-paragraph essay

Writing and maintaining a suitable structure with only two paragraphs for content and other parts of an essay might be challenging, but not when you have an outline . On the other hand, it is advisable to stick to an outline when writing short essays. In this case, the outline limits and restricts the scope of your essay, ensuring that you wholly and briefly address the main point (s).

Paragraph 1

• Opening sentence/statement. Should introduce the first main point.
• First main point
• Supporting information to the first main point
• Concluding sentence that includes transition

Paragraph 2

• Topic sentence. Transitions from the first main point to the second one. Introduces the second main point. You can use transition words such as in addition, on the other hand, likewise, etc.
• Second main point. A sentence that details the second point of your essay. It should relate to your topic and thesis statement.
• Supporting information for the second main point. These sentences introduce evidence to illustrate, explain, expound on, and provide examples that support the main point. You should also have a sentence that comments on the evidence or the commentary to present the evidence in your own words. Again, you should use transition words to ensure the flow of ideas.
• Concluding sentence for the second main point . This sentence summarizes the entire work, offers closure to the whole essay, and wraps up the paper.

Structure of a Two Paragraph Essay

Since your essay consists of two paragraphs, it must have a thesis statement, topic sentences, supporting sentences, and concluding sentences. Then, assuming you have already settled on a topic, you must research. And after the research and outlining are done, here is how to organize or plan your essay to discuss ideas in the two paragraphs.

Note that when writing such an essay, you must select two strong points that stand a high chance of directly answering the question or prompt. So, what does a two-paragraph essay look like?

Just like a standard academic essay, ensure that you have a title page. The title page bears the title of your essay, name of your institution, name of your professor/instructor, course code and name, date of submission, etc. The title pages vary depending on your chosen formatting style, i.e., MLA, APA, Harvard, or Chicago. Remember, never underline the headline of your essay. And if you have to bold the title, only do it if the formatting style allows you to do so.

Topic statement

The topic sentence is the mini-thesis of your paragraphs. When writing a two-paragraph essay, the topic sentence captures the content of the sentences within a paragraph. It answers the main title and is a logical explanation of the claims presented within the header. Ensure that your topic sentences are brief, cogent, and relatable.

Supportive points

After the topic sentences (two in this case) comes a series of supporting sentences that contain details about the points raised in your opening sentence. This is the series of sentences in the paragraphs where you integrate evidence, use factual data, provide examples, and illustrate the ideas to prove the validity of the topic sentence. In a two-paragraph essay, you could have up to five or four supporting sentences to back up the thesis of your essay.

Concluding statement

Just like you opened the paragraph, you must close it. Having a closing sentence in the body of your essay does the trick. It winds or wraps up the paragraph and transitions it to the next. The closing sentence affirms to your readers the reason the topic statement was valid, given the facts presented in the supporting sentences.

You can only use the transition sentence in the closing sentence of the first paragraph for a 2-paragraph essay. The second closing sentence winds up the entire essay and offers closure so that the writer is in a complete loop of information. It is a conclusive statement for the whole of the essay.

To avoid plagiarism, you must integrate evidence from scholarly sources into an essay . The only best way is to have in-text citations and a list of references (works cited, bibliography, or references page). Then, ensure that the work is referenced appropriately, following your professor's formatting and citation style.

Related: How to structure paragraphs effectively.

How do you write an Essay in 2 Paragraphs? The Steps

You are being tested for your comprehension, critical thinking, creativity, analytical, and organization skills; that’s the purpose of assigning you to write a two-paragraph essay. In addition, a two-paragraph essay must show that you can be specific in deciding the best material and evidence to put forth when handling a topic and discarding unwanted or irrelevant information.

Like the one-paragraph essay, you will take the skills that a longer essay needs and condense the ideas and steps to achieve the same objective. Here is how you can write a perfect essay in just two paragraphs.

Step 1: Choose a topic

It is a cliché in most of our articles and an essential step. However, choosing a good topic for an essay delineates a successful and a failing student. When writing an essay, your first step is to select a topic before brainstorming for ideas. Then, if you have a specific question or topic provided, you can jump to the next step. Otherwise, select a topic that is relatable, interesting, easy to find information about, and one you enjoy writing about.

Step 2: Brainstorm for Ideas

With the topic knowledge, research widely, take notes, and brainstorm the ideas you wish to include in your essay. As you research and brainstorm, organize the relevant and valid sources for later use. Sometimes, you do not need sources if it is part of an exam. Then, all you need to do is develop related ideas and write a short two-paragraph essay answer.

Step 3: Narrow down your thesis

Like other short essays, a two-page essay is a condensed version of the longer ones. Because you understand what is required of you, come up with a brief, declarative, and informative statement describing your essay's gist. This is your thesis statement , which is presented in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the two-paragraph essay.

Step 4: Outline your ideas

Quickly write an essay outline where you define what goes where and in what sequence. The outline should be the backbone of your essay when it comes to the writing stage. You can do this faster to ensure that no time is wasted or that you do not derail when writing. Next, outline the paragraphs to determine the tone of the topic sentences and the supporting and closing sentences.

Step 5: Write the essay

To write the essay, which can take 20-30 minutes, start by writing the first topic sentence. The first topic sentence bears a condensed version of the thesis and serves as an attention grabber for your readers. It should be outstanding, short, and sweet. Next, present the examples, illustrations, facts, and elaborations as your supporting sentences. Cite as you write to ensure that you correctly cite the information. Finally, conclude the first paragraph by wrapping up the paragraph and transitioning to the second paragraph.

Repeat the steps you did in the first and second paragraphs, only that the last sentence wraps up the entire essay. Lastly, sum up the two paragraphs and close the essay.

Step 6: Proofread, edit, and submit

As a final step, which takes approximately 5-10 minutes, address all your essay's errors, mistakes, and omissions. Ensure that you proofread your essay well before submitting it for assessment. Also, ensure that your essay is submitted within the recommended deadline and in the correct format (PDF or Word document).

The above techniques, approaches, or steps can save time writing a two-paragraph essay. The two-paragraph essay rule applies to short college essays, personal statements, leadership, nursing philosophy, and brief narrative essays. Sometimes, there is no need for sources. Nevertheless, maintain the structure we have discussed above.

Tips to Make an excellent two-paragraph essay

Let’s assume that you are sitting for an exam and would like to write a two-paragraph essay that answers the short essay-based questions. You can use these tips to spice up your writing, conclusively answer the question, and win the heart of the markers, professor, or instructor.

1. Be brief

Being economical with words will save you the trouble of truncating ideas when done. It also helps save time. Instead, use loaded sentences that capture the main ideas you want to communicate. Besides, avoid using too many words to explain something when you can use a word or two. When explaining concepts, be thorough, composed, and brief to avoid confusing the readers.

2. Keep it romped up

Your essay must grab the attention of the readers. Remember, your first or first opening sentence is your thesis statement. Therefore, you can begin with a hook as a thesis statement for this short essay. Just like in the one-paragraph essay . Besides, ensure that every body paragraph focuses on the idea mentioned in the topic sentence. Keep your relevance, validity, and authenticity by citing any information borrowed. Your choice of words should also be top-notch.

3. Maintain a good organization

Ensure that your two-paragraph essay is well-organized. For example, have the two body paragraphs with distinguishable topic sentences, supporting sentences, and closing sentences. As well, plan your essay well before writing. A good organization will help you avoid wasting words and reduce the chances of unnecessary repetition.

4. Use transitions

Use linking words, signals, and sentences to ensure a smooth flow of ideas in your essay. Making good use of transitions always carries the day. Ensure that you do not overuse the transitions or that you don’t use the wrong transitions for the sake of it.

6. Proofread and edit well

There are high chances of your professor being keen on your essay, given that it is short. Therefore, you have to limit the chances of them awarding a poor grade just because of a few errors and mistakes. Therefore, follow our self-editing checklist and edit, proofread, and polish the 2-paragraphs of your essay. Remember to assess and correct the grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Also, check whether your essay has a good choice of words; replace the complex vocabulary if you can. The simpler your essay is to read and understand, the higher the chances of a good grade.

Related Reading: How to write an analytical essay .

Wrapping Up

An essay can have two paragraphs if you are requested to fulfill writing a given number of words on a given topic in two paragraphs. Majorly, a two-paragraph essay is between 250 and 300 words.

It contains two well-balanced paragraphs that expound on a narrowed-down thesis. Two-paragraph essays have a slightly different structure from conventional essays.

And now, with the steps, tips, and explanations, we have the best writers if you want to hire someone to write your 2-paragraph essay. Our essay service has some of the finest writers you will ever meet.

You can use the model of two-paragraph essays to revise, learn how to write, and understand how to organize short essays.

Need a Discount to Order?

15% off first order, what you get from us.

Plagiarism-free papers

Our papers are 100% original and unique to pass online plagiarism checkers.

Well-researched academic papers

Even when we say essays for sale, they meet academic writing conventions.

24/7 online support

Hit us up on live chat or Messenger for continuous help with your essays.

Easy communication with writers

Order essays and begin communicating with your writer directly and anonymously.

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, using imagery in college essays: tips and importance.

As I start drafting my essays for college applications, how crucial is it to include imagery, and does anyone have strategies for incorporating it effectively without overdoing it?

Imagery can be a powerful tool in your essays, creating an immersive experience for the reader and showcasing your writing abilities. It's important to use it to bring your story to life, painting a vivid picture of experiences, settings, emotions, or actions. However, the key is balance. You want to enhance your narrative without detracting from your message or making the prose feel forced.

One strategy is to choose moments where detailed descriptions will add value, perhaps when setting the scene or emphasizing a pivotal moment in your story. It's often more impactful to illustrate one memorable instance in detail than to use flowery language throughout.

For example, instead of describing a general passion for nature, you could describe the intricate patterns of frost on leaves during an early morning hike. This paints a picture while telling something meaningful about your appreciation for detail and beauty. Keep it natural, and let your own voice shine through. Best of luck with your applications!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

11 Rules for Essay Paragraph Structure (with Examples)

How do you structure a paragraph in an essay?

If you’re like the majority of my students, you might be getting your basic essay paragraph structure wrong and getting lower grades than you could!

In this article, I outline the 11 key steps to writing a perfect paragraph. But, this isn’t your normal ‘how to write an essay’ article. Rather, I’ll try to give you some insight into exactly what teachers look out for when they’re grading essays and figuring out what grade to give them.

You can navigate each issue below, or scroll down to read them all:

1. Paragraphs must be at least four sentences long 2. But, at most seven sentences long 3. Your paragraph must be Left-Aligned 4. You need a topic sentence 5 . Next, you need an explanation sentence 6. You need to include an example 7. You need to include citations 8. All paragraphs need to be relevant to the marking criteria 9. Only include one key idea per paragraph 10. Keep sentences short 11. Keep quotes short

Paragraph structure is one of the most important elements of getting essay writing right .

As I cover in my Ultimate Guide to Writing an Essay Plan , paragraphs are the heart and soul of your essay.

However, I find most of my students have either:

• forgotten how to write paragraphs properly,
• gotten lazy, or
• never learned it in the first place!

Paragraphs in essay writing are different from paragraphs in other written genres .

In fact, the paragraphs that you are reading now would not help your grades in an essay.

That’s because I’m writing in journalistic style, where paragraph conventions are vastly different.

For those of you coming from journalism or creative writing, you might find you need to re-learn paragraph writing if you want to write well-structured essay paragraphs to get top grades.

Below are eleven reasons your paragraphs are losing marks, and what to do about it!

Essay Paragraph Structure Rules

1. your paragraphs must be at least 4 sentences long.

In journalism and blog writing, a one-sentence paragraph is great. It’s short, to-the-point, and helps guide your reader. For essay paragraph structure, one-sentence paragraphs suck.

A one-sentence essay paragraph sends an instant signal to your teacher that you don’t have much to say on an issue.

A short paragraph signifies that you know something – but not much about it. A one-sentence paragraph lacks detail, depth and insight.

Many students come to me and ask, “what does ‘add depth’ mean?” It’s one of the most common pieces of feedback you’ll see written on the margins of your essay.

Personally, I think ‘add depth’ is bad feedback because it’s a short and vague comment. But, here’s what it means: You’ve not explained your point enough!

If you’re writing one-, two- or three-sentence essay paragraphs, you’re costing yourself marks.

Always aim for at least four sentences per paragraph in your essays.

This doesn’t mean that you should add ‘fluff’ or ‘padding’ sentences.

Make sure you don’t:

a) repeat what you said in different words, or b) write something just because you need another sentence in there.

But, you need to do some research and find something insightful to add to that two-sentence paragraph if you want to ace your essay.

Check out Points 5 and 6 for some advice on what to add to that short paragraph to add ‘depth’ to your paragraph and start moving to the top of the class.

• How to Make an Essay Longer
• How to Make an Essay Shorter

2. Your Paragraphs must not be more than 7 Sentences Long

Okay, so I just told you to aim for at least four sentences per paragraph. So, what’s the longest your paragraph should be?

Seven sentences. That’s a maximum.

So, here’s the rule:

Between four and seven sentences is the sweet spot that you need to aim for in every single paragraph.

Here’s why your paragraphs shouldn’t be longer than seven sentences:

1. It shows you can organize your thoughts. You need to show your teacher that you’ve broken up your key ideas into manageable segments of text (see point 10)

2. It makes your work easier to read.   You need your writing to be easily readable to make it easy for your teacher to give you good grades. Make your essay easy to read and you’ll get higher marks every time.

One of the most important ways you can make your work easier to read is by writing paragraphs that are less than six sentences long.

3. It prevents teacher frustration. Teachers are just like you. When they see a big block of text their eyes glaze over. They get frustrated, lost, their mind wanders … and you lose marks.

To prevent teacher frustration, you need to ensure there’s plenty of white space in your essay. It’s about showing them that the piece is clearly structured into one key idea per ‘chunk’ of text.

Often, you might find that your writing contains tautologies and other turns of phrase that can be shortened for clarity.

3. Your Paragraph must be Left-Aligned

Turn off ‘Justified’ text and: Never. Turn. It. On. Again.

Justified text is where the words are stretched out to make the paragraph look like a square. It turns the writing into a block. Don’t do it. You will lose marks, I promise you! Win the psychological game with your teacher: left-align your text.

A good essay paragraph is never ‘justified’.

I’m going to repeat this, because it’s important: to prevent your essay from looking like a big block of muddy, hard-to-read text align your text to the left margin only.

You want white space on your page – and lots of it. White space helps your reader scan through your work. It also prevents it from looking like big blocks of text.

You want your reader reading vertically as much as possible: scanning, browsing, and quickly looking through for evidence you’ve engaged with the big ideas.

The justified text doesn’t help you do that. Justified text makes your writing look like a big, lumpy block of text that your reader doesn’t want to read.

What’s wrong with Center-Aligned Text?

While I’m at it, never, ever, center-align your text either. Center-aligned text is impossible to skim-read. Your teacher wants to be able to quickly scan down the left margin to get the headline information in your paragraph.

Not many people center-align text, but it’s worth repeating: never, ever center-align your essays.

Don’t annoy your reader. Left align your text.

4. Your paragraphs must have a Topic Sentence

The first sentence of an essay paragraph is called the topic sentence. This is one of the most important sentences in the correct essay paragraph structure style.

The topic sentence should convey exactly what key idea you’re going to cover in your paragraph.

Too often, students don’t let their reader know what the key idea of the paragraph is until several sentences in.

You must show what the paragraph is about in the first sentence.

You never, ever want to keep your reader in suspense. Essays are not like creative writing. Tell them straight away what the paragraph is about. In fact, if you can, do it in the first half of the first sentence .

I’ll remind you again: make it easy to grade your work. Your teacher is reading through your work trying to determine what grade to give you. They’re probably going to mark 20 assignments in one sitting. They have no interest in storytelling or creativity. They just want to know how much you know! State what the paragraph is about immediately and move on.

Suggested: Best Words to Start a Paragraph

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing a Topic Sentence If your paragraph is about how climate change is endangering polar bears, say it immediately : “Climate change is endangering polar bears.” should be your first sentence in your paragraph. Take a look at first sentence of each of the four paragraphs above this one. You can see from the first sentence of each paragraph that the paragraphs discuss:

When editing your work, read each paragraph and try to distil what the one key idea is in your paragraph. Ensure that this key idea is mentioned in the first sentence .

(Note: if there’s more than one key idea in the paragraph, you may have a problem. See Point 9 below .)

The topic sentence is the most important sentence for getting your essay paragraph structure right. So, get your topic sentences right and you’re on the right track to a good essay paragraph.

5. You need an Explanation Sentence

All topic sentences need a follow-up explanation. The very first point on this page was that too often students write paragraphs that are too short. To add what is called ‘depth’ to a paragraph, you can come up with two types of follow-up sentences: explanations and examples.

Let’s take explanation sentences first.

Explanation sentences give additional detail. They often provide one of the following services:

Let’s go back to our example of a paragraph on Climate change endangering polar bears. If your topic sentence is “Climate change is endangering polar bears.”, then your follow-up explanation sentence is likely to explain how, why, where, or when. You could say:

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing Explanation Sentences 1. How: “The warming atmosphere is melting the polar ice caps.” 2. Why: “The polar bears’ habitats are shrinking every single year.” 3. Where: “This is happening in the Antarctic ice caps near Greenland.” 4. When: “Scientists first noticed the ice caps were shrinking in 1978.”

You don’t have to provide all four of these options each time.

But, if you’re struggling to think of what to add to your paragraph to add depth, consider one of these four options for a good quality explanation sentence.

>>>RELATED ARTICLE: SHOULD YOU USE RHETORICAL QUESTIONS IN ESSAYS ?

6. Your need to Include an Example

Examples matter! They add detail. They also help to show that you genuinely understand the issue. They show that you don’t just understand a concept in the abstract; you also understand how things work in real life.

Example sentences have the added benefit of personalising an issue. For example, after saying “Polar bears’ habitats are shrinking”, you could note specific habitats, facts and figures, or even a specific story about a bear who was impacted.

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: Writing an ‘Example’ Sentence “For example, 770,000 square miles of Arctic Sea Ice has melted in the past four decades, leading Polar Bear populations to dwindle ( National Geographic, 2018 )

In fact, one of the most effective politicians of our times – Barrack Obama – was an expert at this technique. He would often provide examples of people who got sick because they didn’t have healthcare to sell Obamacare.

What effect did this have? It showed the real-world impact of his ideas. It humanised him, and got him elected president – twice!

Be like Obama. Provide examples. Often.

7. All Paragraphs need Citations

Provide a reference to an academic source in every single body paragraph in the essay. The only two paragraphs where you don’t need a reference is the introduction and conclusion .

Let me repeat: Paragraphs need at least one reference to a quality scholarly source .

Let me go even further:

Students who get the best marks provide two references to two different academic sources in every paragraph.

Two references in a paragraph show you’ve read widely, cross-checked your sources, and given the paragraph real thought.

It’s really important that these references link to academic sources, not random websites, blogs or YouTube videos. Check out our Seven Best types of Sources to Cite in Essays post to get advice on what sources to cite. Number 6 w ill surprise you!

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: In-Text Referencing in Paragraphs Usually, in-text referencing takes the format: (Author, YEAR), but check your school’s referencing formatting requirements carefully. The ‘Author’ section is the author’s last name only. Not their initials. Not their first name. Just their last name . My name is Chris Drew. First name Chris, last name Drew. If you were going to reference an academic article I wrote in 2019, you would reference it like this: (Drew, 2019).

Where do you place those two references?

Place the first reference at the end of the first half of the paragraph. Place the second reference at the end of the second half of the paragraph.

This spreads the references out and makes it look like all the points throughout the paragraph are backed up by your sources. The goal is to make it look like you’ve reference regularly when your teacher scans through your work.

Remember, teachers can look out for signposts that indicate you’ve followed academic conventions and mentioned the right key ideas.

Spreading your referencing through the paragraph helps to make it look like you’ve followed the academic convention of referencing sources regularly.

Here are some examples of how to reference twice in a paragraph:

• If your paragraph was six sentences long, you would place your first reference at the end of the third sentence and your second reference at the end of the sixth sentence.
• If your paragraph was five sentences long, I would recommend placing one at the end of the second sentence and one at the end of the fifth sentence.

You’ve just read one of the key secrets to winning top marks.

8. Every Paragraph must be relevant to the Marking Criteria

Every paragraph must win you marks. When you’re editing your work, check through the piece to see if every paragraph is relevant to the marking criteria.

For the British: In the British university system (I’m including Australia and New Zealand here – I’ve taught at universities in all three countries), you’ll usually have a ‘marking criteria’. It’s usually a list of between two and six key learning outcomes your teacher needs to use to come up with your score. Sometimes it’s called a:

• Marking criteria
• Marking rubric
• (Key) learning outcome
• Indicative content

Check your assignment guidance to see if this is present. If so, use this list of learning outcomes to guide what you write. If your paragraphs are irrelevant to these key points, delete the paragraph .

Paragraphs that don’t link to the marking criteria are pointless. They won’t win you marks.

For the Americans: If you don’t have a marking criteria / rubric / outcomes list, you’ll need to stick closely to the essay question or topic. This goes out to those of you in the North American system. North America (including USA and Canada here) is often less structured and the professor might just give you a topic to base your essay on.

If all you’ve got is the essay question / topic, go through each paragraph and make sure each paragraph is relevant to the topic.

For example, if your essay question / topic is on “The Effects of Climate Change on Polar Bears”,

• Don’t talk about anything that doesn’t have some connection to climate change and polar bears;
• Don’t talk about the environmental impact of oil spills in the Gulf of Carpentaria;
• Don’t talk about black bear habitats in British Columbia.
• Do talk about the effects of climate change on polar bears (and relevant related topics) in every single paragraph .

You may think ‘stay relevant’ is obvious advice, but at least 20% of all essays I mark go off on tangents and waste words.

Stay on topic in Every. Single. Paragraph. If you want to learn more about how to stay on topic, check out our essay planning guide .

9. Only have one Key Idea per Paragraph

One key idea for each paragraph. One key idea for each paragraph. One key idea for each paragraph.

Don’t forget!

Too often, a student starts a paragraph talking about one thing and ends it talking about something totally different. Don’t be that student.

To ensure you’re focussing on one key idea in your paragraph, make sure you know what that key idea is. It should be mentioned in your topic sentence (see Point 3 ). Every other sentence in the paragraph adds depth to that one key idea.

If you’ve got sentences in your paragraph that are not relevant to the key idea in the paragraph, they don’t fit. They belong in another paragraph.

Go through all your paragraphs when editing your work and check to see if you’ve veered away from your paragraph’s key idea. If so, you might have two or even three key ideas in the one paragraph.

You’re going to have to get those additional key ideas, rip them out, and give them paragraphs of their own.

If you have more than one key idea in a paragraph you will lose marks. I promise you that.

The paragraphs will be too hard to read, your reader will get bogged down reading rather than scanning, and you’ll have lost grades.

10. Keep Sentences Short

If a sentence is too long it gets confusing. When the sentence is confusing, your reader will stop reading your work. They will stop reading the paragraph and move to the next one. They’ll have given up on your paragraph.

Short, snappy sentences are best.

Shorter sentences are easier to read and they make more sense. Too often, students think they have to use big, long, academic words to get the best marks. Wrong. Aim for clarity in every sentence in the paragraph. Your teacher will thank you for it.

The students who get the best marks write clear, short sentences.

When editing your draft, go through your essay and see if you can shorten your longest five sentences.

(To learn more about how to write the best quality sentences, see our page on Seven ways to Write Amazing Sentences .)

11. Keep Quotes Short

Eighty percent of university teachers hate quotes. That’s not an official figure. It’s my guestimate based on my many interactions in faculty lounges. Twenty percent don’t mind them, but chances are your teacher is one of the eight out of ten who hate quotes.

Teachers tend to be turned off by quotes because it makes it look like you don’t know how to say something on your own words.

Now that I’ve warned you, here’s how to use quotes properly:

Ideal Essay Paragraph Structure Example: How To Use Quotes in University-Level Essay Paragraphs 1. Your quote should be less than one sentence long. 2. Your quote should be less than one sentence long. 3. You should never start a sentence with a quote. 4. You should never end a paragraph with a quote. 5 . You should never use more than five quotes per essay. 6. Your quote should never be longer than one line in a paragraph.

The minute your teacher sees that your quote takes up a large chunk of your paragraph, you’ll have lost marks.

Your teacher will circle the quote, write a snarky comment in the margin, and not even bother to give you points for the key idea in the paragraph.

Avoid quotes, but if you really want to use them, follow those five rules above.

I’ve also provided additional pages outlining Seven tips on how to use Quotes if you want to delve deeper into how, when and where to use quotes in essays. Be warned: quoting in essays is harder than you thought.

Follow the advice above and you’ll be well on your way to getting top marks at university.

Writing essay paragraphs that are well structured takes time and practice. Don’t be too hard on yourself and keep on trying!

Below is a summary of our 11 key mistakes for structuring essay paragraphs and tips on how to avoid them.

I’ve also provided an easy-to-share infographic below that you can share on your favorite social networking site. Please share it if this article has helped you out!

11 Biggest Essay Paragraph Structure Mistakes you’re probably Making

1.  Your paragraphs are too short 2.  Your paragraphs are too long 3.  Your paragraph alignment is ‘Justified’ 4.  Your paragraphs are missing a topic sentence 5 .  Your paragraphs are missing an explanation sentence 6.  Your paragraphs are missing an example 7.  Your paragraphs are missing references 8.  Your paragraphs are not relevant to the marking criteria 9.  You’re trying to fit too many ideas into the one paragraph 10.  Your sentences are too long 11.  Your quotes are too long

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

4 thoughts on “11 Rules for Essay Paragraph Structure (with Examples)”

Hello there. I noticed that throughout this article on Essay Writing, you keep on saying that the teacher won’t have time to go through the entire essay. Don’t you think this is a bit discouraging that with all the hard work and time put into your writing, to know that the teacher will not read through the entire paper?

Hi Clarence,

Thanks so much for your comment! I love to hear from readers on their thoughts.

Yes, I agree that it’s incredibly disheartening.

But, I also think students would appreciate hearing the truth.

Behind closed doors many / most university teachers are very open about the fact they ‘only have time to skim-read papers’. They regularly bring this up during heated faculty meetings about contract negotiations! I.e. in one university I worked at, we were allocated 45 minutes per 10,000 words – that’s just over 4 minutes per 1,000 word essay, and that’d include writing the feedback, too!

If students know the truth, they can better write their essays in a way that will get across the key points even from a ‘skim-read’.

I hope to write candidly on this website – i.e. some of this info will never be written on university blogs because universities want to hide these unfortunate truths from students.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Regards, Chris

This is wonderful and helpful, all I say is thank you very much. Because I learned a lot from this site, own by chris thank you Sir.

Thank you. This helped a lot.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *