Open your paragraph with a straightforward topic sentence. This opening sentence is important because it sets the tone for the sentences to follow. It doesn’t have to be artistic or complex; in fact, sometimes simple topic sentences are better because they give writers something to build upon. For example, let’s say you wish to write about your first day of school. Your topic sentence might say: “I had high hopes for my first day of school.”
Begin building the supporting details for your paragraph; they belong in sentences two, three and four. If you alluded to “high hopes,” you also suggest that your high hopes were dashed in some way. If this is the case, begin explaining how in sentence two. For example, you might say: “But as my luck would have it, I not only forgot to set my alarm, I missed the bus, too.”
Review your prewriting notes; chances are, many events took place on your first day of school. You have only two sentences left to amplify your topic sentence, so focus on the most interesting, dramatic or humorous events that took place in your day. Or you might choose to play on the unexpected. For example, you might say: “I was sweating more than I do during volleyball practice when I saw that some of my classmates had forgotten either their lunch, a book or their pens and pencils. Suddenly, I didn’t feel quite as badly.”
End your paragraph by pointing forward -- not by reiterating what you just said. Remember that another paragraph -- look at it as a hill rather than as a mountain -- awaits you after this one. For example, you might say: “Given this start, I have even higher hopes for the second day of school, and my classmates do, too.”
Review the five sentences as a whole -- a paragraph. Each sentence should flow effortlessly into the next one. Remember that someone is going to read your paragraph, so it should contain a mix of active and passive voice and independent and dependent clauses. Constructing every sentence with the subject-verb-object formula -- as in, “I did this” and “I did that” -- is easy to follow but also rather dull.
Test your paragraph for relevance. Each sentence should directly relate to the topic sentence. Proofread and edit your paragraph. If you’re not absolutely certain about the correct spelling of a word, look it up.