JRNL 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Ugi Corporation, Republic Services, Newsprint
Document Summary
Paragraph length, as well as sentence length, varies from publication to publication. Paragraphs in scholarly writing might run for 10 or more sentences, but news stories often have one-sentence paragraphs. Similar to the words that form sentences, the sentences that form paragraphs should flow together, logically combining similar thoughts or ideas. Another reason for using short paragraphs in news stories is that large, gray blocks of type on newsprint, a computer screen or a mobile device discourage readers. So reporters divide stories into bite- sized chunks that are easy to read and understand. The common practice in journalism is to start a new paragraph with each shift in topic, no matter how slight. But ideas that are related or belong together should not be artificially separated just to create shorter paragraphs. If you needlessly separate ideas, you risk producing choppy writing.
