Paragraphs
When to Break a Paragraph
What a paragraph is
A paragraph is a group of sentences that belong together because they share one focus. The break tells the reader that something has shifted, or that they should pause before going on.
Paragraphs do two jobs:
- Organize thought. Each one is a single unit: an idea, a moment, a speaker, a fact.
- Guide the reader's eye. White space gives readers a place to rest and re-enter.
The "shift" test
Start a new paragraph when something changes:
- Topic or idea: you've finished one point and are moving to the next
- Time: "The next morning…" / "Years later…"
- Place: the scene moves
- Speaker: in dialogue, every new speaker gets a new paragraph
- Perspective or tone: from description to reflection, or from calm to tension
- Emphasis: you want a sentence to land with weight
How it works by genre
Analytical writing: One paragraph, one main claim. Break when that claim is supported and you're ready for the next. Paragraphs run longer here because reasoning needs room.
Fiction and creative nonfiction: Breaks control pacing. Short paragraphs speed things up and build tension; longer ones slow things down for description or reflection. A one-line paragraph can be a punch.
Newspaper writing: Paragraphs are very short, often one or two sentences, because columns are narrow and readers scan. Each carries one fact, and a new quote usually gets a new paragraph.
Oral history (Terkel): In Working, Terkel cut his questions, so each chapter reads as a monologue. The breaks in these pieces mostly mark where the speaker’s thought turns: a shift from describing the job to a memory, from pride to frustration, or a pause before an admission. They work like a breath.
Two common mistakes
- The wall of text: no breaks, so the reader can't tell where one idea ends and another begins.
- The chopped-up page: a break after every sentence, so everything feels equally important and nothing feels connected.
Practice
Here is a copy of an interview essay from Working with the breaks removed.
- Mark where you would break it.
- Next to each break, write a few words naming the shift (topic, time, emotion, emphasis).
- Compare with a partner, then with Terkel's original. Where you differ, ask what each choice does to the speaker's rhythm and emphasis.