Many students ask, “What exactly is a paragraph?” The chapter provides a clear academic definition.Which description best defines a paragraph in academic writing?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

A paragraph develops a single main idea and supports it with connected sentences.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Unity: all sentences in an academic paragraph relate to one central idea (often introduced by a topic sentence).
- Development: supporting sentences provide evidence, explanation, examples, or analysis that expand the main idea.
- Coherence: sentences are ordered and linked so the paragraph reads logically (transitions, pronoun reference, repetition of key terms).
- Typical structure: topic sentence → supporting details (examples, facts, analysis) → concluding or transition sentence.
- Length is flexible; clarity and development matter more than sentence length or number of examples.

2. Step-by-step reasoning
- Identify what a paragraph must achieve in academic writing: present and develop one idea clearly.
- Match each option against that requirement:
  a. “A section with examples only” — examples are only one type of supporting detail, not the whole function of a paragraph.
  b. “A summary of sources” — summarizing sources describes a task (literature summary) rather than the structural definition of a paragraph.
  c. “A group of sentences focused on one main idea” — directly states unity and focus, matching the core definition.
  d. “A group of long sentences” — sentence length is irrelevant; short or long sentences can form a paragraph as long as they develop one idea.

3. Intermediate steps (illustrative)
- Topic sentence: “Recent studies show exercise improves cognition.”
- Supporting sentences: cite evidence, explain mechanisms, give an example.
- Concluding/transition sentence: “Therefore, integrating regular exercise can benefit academic performance.” This shows one idea developed across sentences.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
Option c captures unity and focus — the defining features of an academic paragraph. It does not restrict paragraph content (examples, summaries) or form (length).

5. Why other options are incorrect
- a is too narrow (examples alone do not define a paragraph).
- b describes a writing task, not the structure of a paragraph.
- d focuses on sentence length, which is not a defining characteristic.

6. Conclusion
The best definition is c. A group of sentences focused on one main idea, which matches the provided correct answer.

Many students ask, “What exactly is a paragraph?” The chapter provides a clear academic definition.Which description best defines a paragraph in academic writing?单项选择题

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