Graduate Writing: Paragraphs

A paragraph represents one point or idea in an essay, and so it is an important building block. If you struggled with writing well-composed paragraphs in Graduate Writing I, we recommend the writing exercise below.

Analyzing your own writing can help you identify what's missing. In Graduate Writing I, you learned about the MEAL Plan for paragraphs, meaning that every academic paragraph should have a Main Idea, Evidence, Analysis, and a Lead-Out. For this exercise, you will examine one of your own paragraphs to determine if you've included all the components. 

1. Locate one of your assignment submissions from Graduate Writing I or another course you have taken.

2. Select a paragraph at random.

3. Read through the paragraph, highlighting each sentence to indicate what role it plays in the paragraph. Is it the paragraph's main idea? Does it include evidence (information, statistics, study findings)? Is it your own analysis and explanation of the evidence? Or does it summarize the paragraph in a lead-out? (Note: You might have more than one sentence of evidence, or evidence and analysis might come in the same sentence.)

4. Look over the highlights. Is there a component missing? Is there enough analysis to fully explain the evidence and its importance? 

5. Edit the paragraph to add the missing component or strengthen weak components. 

6. Repeat as needed for other paragraphs in your assignment.

Tip: You can use this same highlighting method to examine others' writing. This might help you determine the main points and details of your selected journal article, for instance.