Paragraphs & Essays
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide to Grammar & Composition
Practice various strategies for developing well-organized paragraphs and essays that keep readers interested and informed.
Develop Effective Paragraphs
How to find a topic, discover supporting details, and arrange sentences clearly and logically.
- Composing a Descriptive Paragraph
- Model Place Descriptions
- Revising a Place Description
- Making Paragraphs Coherent
- Composing Topic Sentences
- Paragraph Unity
- Coherence With Transitional Expressions
- Coherence With Repetition
- Coherence Exercise: Building and Connecting Sentences
- Composing a Character Sketch
- Writing a Narrative Paragraph
- Making the Grade: Evaluating a Narrative Paragraph
- Revision Checklist
Develop Effective Essays
How to organize paragraphs into various kinds of essays: those that explain, compare, analyze, classify, and argue. Our goal is to create informative and persuasive compositions that keep our readers interested.
- Composing a Personal Essay
- Composing a Profile
- Composing a Letter of Complaint
- Tips for Composing Exam Essays
- Ten Tips for Composing a Successful Essay for the SAT or ACT
- How to Write a Passing Essay for a Standardized Test
- How to Catch River Crabs: A Process Analysis Essay
- How to Make a Sand Castle: Evaluating a Process Analysis Essay
- Watching Baseball, Playing Softball: A Comparison and Contrast Essay
- Shopping at the Pig: A Classification Essay
- Learning to Hate Mathematics: A Cause and Effect Essay
- Preparing an Argument
- 400 Writing Topics
- Classic Essays and Speeches
- Revision Checklist
- Editing Checklist
- Self-Evaluation of Essays
Readings & Resources for Writers
One of the most effective ways to improve our own writing is to spend time reading the best writing of others. Also, learn more about grammar and composition from the best reference works, online writing labs, ESL sites, editors' blogs, Q&A; pages, and much more.
- Classic British and American Essays and Speeches
- Reading Quizzes
- 60 Essays
- A Scrapbook of Styles
- Readings on the English Language
- Archive of Grammar & Composition Blogs
- Choosing a Style Manual and Documentation Guide
- 100 Major Works of Creative Nonfiction
- E.B. White's Drafts of "Once More to the Lake"
- The Lighter Side of Language
- Top 10 Reference Works for Writers
- Top Five ESL Sites
Writing Advice
Professional writers have much to tell us about the writing process, from overcoming writer's block to revising and editing.
