To effectively develop a paragraph, you need to know the basic structure and purpose of paragraphs. Each paragraph should have one main idea, called the thesis, that the rest of the paragraph supports. Your thesis should be something you can state in one sentence. To develop the thesis, you can use the rest of the sentences in your paragraph to provide arguments, description and examples.
If there are reasons your readers may disagree with your thesis, you should spend at least part of the paragraph offering supporting arguments for it. Logical arguments start with two or more true premises and use valid logic to arrive at a conclusion. In most cases you won’t need to lay out a formal logical argument, but the arguments you provide should still be logically sound. Providing evidence from studies, anecdotes or personal experience is another way to argue your case.
In many cases it is important to describe some aspect of your subject in more detail. Remember that most readers will not be as familiar with your topic as you are since you have spent time researching and composing the writing. You can determine the appropriate level of detail for your descriptions by thinking through what your reader needs to know to understand your argument and what the average member of your intended audience will know before she starts reading your essay. Use description to fill the gap.
Depending on the topic and style of your expository writing, examples may range from relevant excerpts of a piece of literature to stories of your own or others’ experiences. Examples enrich both arguments and descriptions by making them concrete, demonstrating that they hold true or have relevance in reality. One or two examples per paragraph is usually enough. A good rule of thumb is to give one example for each important point or argument you make.