A paragraph is a group of about 6 – 12 sentences about one topic. Every sentence in a strong paragraph is about the same topic. All the sentences are arranged logically, and are linked. A new idea is written in a new paragraph.

In academic writing, a strong topic sentence, which states the main idea in a paragraph, enables the reader to understand the development of the idea through ideas providing supporting evidence. Three common ways of developing a paragraph are giving details, giving an explanation and giving an example.