Paragraph Writing for Top Students – Become an Expert With These Hands-on Tips (Classes 6 to 10)

Last updated on March 11th, 2023 at 01:28 pm

Paragraph writing at high school level is a common academic composition exercise that teachers give to their students.  This is one of the best instruments to test students’ writing skill. It tests a student’s imagination, knowledge, writing ability, grammar and punctuation.

Here you get to write a paragraph in English in a limited number of words and time. Students who can think logically and reasonably and can write correctly score better. Besides, the structure of your paragraph plays an important role in the process of good paragraph formation.

In this guide, you will get to learn paragraph writing from absolute basics. In a step-by-step manner, I will take you towards writing a perfect paragraph.

As you concentrate more and more on my techniques and apply it repeatedly, you will be writing wonderful paragraphs. To understand the method completely, read the article to the end and answer an exercise or two given at the end.

Opening Image by Augusto Ordonez from Pixabay

What is Paragraph Writing in Academia

Paragraphs constitute essays, stories, letters and almost all kinds of writing pieces. In fact, paragraphs, consisting of words and sentences, are the structural lumps of all the versions of writing.

In the context of this article, paragraph writing means a writing exercise your teacher gives you to check your ability of thinking and writing on a given topic.

You get a theme with an instruction to write a paragraph in about 150-200 words. The length of the paragraph may vary as per the scope of the test.

Good Practices to Follow in Paragraph Writing

If you have choice, go for the topic wherein you have good knowledge and the one in which you are deeply interested.

Read the subject carefully. First, you need to understand well the central idea that is supplied.

Brainstorm the topic for a while and make a plan as to how you will be able to write a good paragraph in the available time and word limits.

Think before writing every sentence because in a pen-and-paper test you can make a correction only by striking through which makes your paper untidy.

Ponder with reason and try to maintain the logical flow of writing in one direction. That means, from a time earlier to the present or from a point distant to a near one or from poverty to a state of richness and the like.

Avoid wordiness, i.e. use of redundant words, unnecessary information and repetition of facts.

Maintain your style and tone of writing. Each student has a different way and attitude of writing. Compose in your own unique style.

As paragraph writing is a short span writing exercise grammatical correctness is more important than anything else. Scrutinize your writing for this after you have completed.

Do not fall short of or exceed upon the word count much. For this, you need to know beforehand how many sentences on average you write for completing a certain count of words.

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How to Write a Perfect Paragraph

To master writing a paragraph completely, proceed step-by-step along the following lines:

Read the subject carefully to understand the supplied central idea.

Make a plan in your mind as to how will you compose the paragraph with respect to the given word and time limits.

Quickly note down a set of points that reflect your thoughts on the topic.

Arrange the thought-points in a logical order. You should do this separately in a ‘rough work’ area. This list will serve as your source of expansion.

While finally writing the paragraph in the answer sheet

• Start composing 2-3 sentences under each outline. Take care to include all your thoughts concisely.
• Once you have completed filling under each of the outlines, conclude with two of your best sentences. These could be summing up of the paragraph or shape of things to come in the next paragraphs (which you need not write but imagine only,)
• Check if you are near the word or time limit. Limits permitting, you could supplement the deficient looking portions.
• In the end, revise your paragraph for spelling and grammar errors.

Following these steps will ensure that you write a perfect paragraph. You can apply this paragraph writing method with the help of a paragraph writing format. I have discussed the same in the last of the paragraph examples below.

Paragraph Writing Examples

I will give you three paragraph writing examples in the following section. I will also teach you the application of the method in the last paragraph example. Let’s dive in straight away:  

Q1. Write a short paragraph in about 200 words on the following topic:

Your performance in the last annual examination

Ans.

My Performance in the Last Annual Examination

My performance in the last annual examination has been my personal best till date. It was not easy. I desperately wanted to improve my rank in class and it made me toil hard. A senior student advised me to prepare and follow a daily study routine. This helped me a lot. I used to take rest every day after the school hours. After that, I had four hours at my disposal for self-study on the weekdays. Apart from that, I had the full weekend. Allotting time to the subjects in which I had fared badly earlier and giving regular spots in the time-table to revision proved to be my game changers. To conclude, there is still ample scope for improvement in my study. Performance of toppers is a shade better than mine. The need is to find out points of weakness in my daily study pattern and remove them.

Q2. Write a paragraph in about 150-200 words on the following topic:

Life during the lockdown period in the times of Corona virus outbreak

Ans.

Life During the Lockdown

After we encountered the Corona outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, life changed. Thanks to the vaccination and other measures, life has slowly returned to normalcy. The questions we need to ask ourselves are why it happened and whether we made any mistake. We have always discussed that science is a boon when used under control but could be a curse if misused. An accident took place in the laboratory of a China town and the entire humanity paid the price. Lockdown snatched our freedom to move and act freely. Recreation, fun and frolic, work-outs, dining in the open, mass gatherings and all similar activities were curtailed by governments all over. However, there were positives too. Air pollution was at historic low, once-busy workers got to spend time with families and household costs went down. Overall, the lockdown was a good time to introspect and reform by correcting our mistakes.

Q3. Write a paragraph in about 150 words describing how we can change our bad habits.

Ans.

Changing Our Bad Habits

Changing bad habits is not an easy task but not impossible either. It simply means replacing bad habits with good ones. When we get rid of a bad habit, we immediately find a blank space and need to fill it with something. It is a good idea to first identify a few of our bad habits and jot them down on paper. Then we can vow to change them within a certain time limit. In the next step, we should try to fill the gap caused by removal of the bad habit. For instance, if one gets rid of getting up late in the morning, she or he may revise their lessons in the morning hours. Having changed some bad habits, one may focus on other ones. This is the right way to get rid of bad habits one by one. Further, doing so makes one happy.

How I Used a Paragraph Writing Format to Write the Above Paragraph

The following is a paragraph writing template which will help you to write a beautiful short paragraph easily and quickly. Check the last column to understand how I composed the third example paragraph using this format.

Sl.No.	Format Element	Element Purpose	Execution (Look inside the paragraph)
1	Opening sentences(2-3)	Introduction, what you are going to present	Changing bad habits ….. with something else.
2	Supporting sentences (4-5)	Develop the paragraph story	In the next step ….. the morning hour.
3	Pre-closing sentences (1-2)	Almost put an end to the paragraph	Having changed some ….
4	Closing sentences (1-2)	Formal closing and Transition, Glimpse of the scenes to come	This is the right way …

Paragraph Writing Exercises

I am giving below some paragraph writing exercises for practice:

Practice Will Produce Your Best

I know a student who laughs loudly whenever he happens to have a look at his old paragraphs. But why does he laugh?

Well, he has been writing a paragraph or two daily for the last one and a half months. At this moment, his paragraphs appear to be drafted by an expert. That is why he laughs at his own paragraphs of the past when he was a novice in the art.

The moral of the story is that you must write, compare, correct and improve regularly in order to become an expert in crafting short paragraphs. Practice only can make your paragraph writing flawless.

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Write a Short Paragraph in the Comments Box

Start your practice here itself. Write your comment in the comments box in the form of a short paragraph containing 2-3 sentences and I promise to reply. I request the parents who read this post to send suggestions for improvement.