A paragraph is an ordered sequence of sentences that develops an idea. It should therefore always have an identifiable main point. Often, however, this is not directly stated but rather emerges from the paragraph as a whole. The main point is often quite complex and not the same as the relatively simple topic. The topic is essentially the idea to be developed in the paragraph. It should be made explicit by a so-called topic sentence that should (and almost always does) begin the paragraph. Frequently the topic sentence implies a question to which the main point can be seen as an answer.

Typically there are between three and seven sentences in a paragraph. Sometimes paragraphs need to be longer, but there must be a very good reason for a paragraph of more than ten sentences. There is probably a better structure that would present the information more coherently in two or three paragraphs.

Based on these principles, you may like to assess the five paragraphs again.

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