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Here are two versions of the same excerpt from “4 Telltale Signs of a Liar”. Which one uses paragraphs in the right way?

Version 1

Nonverbal cues occur in what is called a “gesture cluster” – a group of movements, postures and actions that reinforce a common point. Trying to decipher body language from a single gesture is like trying to find narrative meaning in a single word. However, when words appear in sentences or gestures come in clusters, their meaning becomes clearer. For example, if you're talking with someone who begins fidgeting, it may not mean much by itself. But if that person is also reducing eye contact and pointing his feet toward the door, there’s a very good chance that he's finished with the conversation and wants to leave.

Version 2

Nonverbal cues occur in what is called a “gesture cluster” – a group of movements, postures and actions that reinforce a common point.

Trying to decipher body language from a single gesture is like trying to find narrative meaning in a single word. However, when words appear in sentences or gestures come in clusters, their meaning becomes clearer.

For example, if you're talking with someone who begins fidgeting, it may not mean much by itself. But if that person is also reducing eye contact and pointing his feet toward the door, there’s a very good chance that he's finished with the conversation and wants to leave.

By the time you get to the bottom of this page (assuming that you read it and check out its links), you'll be able to answer this question yourself.

All over the web we find it said that a typical paragraph is built like this:

• Topic sentence
• Supporting sentences
• Concluding sentence

If you’re not sure what these topic, supporting, and concluding sentences are, here’s one explanation. Here’s another on page 2 of this pdf. If you read both explanations, it should start to sink in.

It’s not bad advice.

We can build clear, convincing, informative paragraphs when we construct all our paragraphs that way. But it does have its limits.

It can make your writing style, your voice, pretty standard. Perhaps monotonous. Because it repeats again and again.

In fact this is a paragraph and it doesn’t follow the advice at all. Nor do the two paragraphs before this one.

If we were to follow the advice, what’s written above would look like this instead:

All over the web we find it said that a typical paragraph is built like this: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. If you’re not sure what these topic, supporting, and concluding sentences are, here’s one explanation. Here’s another on page 2 of this pdf. And let’s not forget the BBC’s Bitesize. If you read the explanations on all four of those sites, you’re doing a good thing for your writing. It’s not bad advice. 

We can build clear, convincing, informative paragraphs when we construct all our paragraphs that way. But it does have its limits. It can make your writing style, your voice, pretty standard. Perhaps monotonous. Because it repeats again and again. In fact this is a paragraph and it doesn’t follow the advice at all. Nor do the two paragraphs before this one. that follows that advice. So does the one before this one.

For college level essays, teachers often ask for the “Balanced: Bigger” style. It doesn’t mean that all the paragraphs need to be exactly the same size.

• Each idea in the body should be roughly as developed as the others.
• Each idea is often fully developed in one paragraph.

The “Varied” style is more typical of online content where the goal is to make reading easier (because paragraphs are smaller) and more engaging (because changes in paragraph size create changes in rhythm and impact).

• Each idea is usually developed in two or more shorter but successive paragraphs.
• If we were to squish these smaller paragraphs into one bigger paragraph, it would look like a paragraph from the “Balanced: Bigger” style.

The “Varied: With Headings” style uses headings to make it even easier for readers to understand the text’s structure and more rapidly find the information they want.

The only style that is rarely good to use is the “Intimidating” style. It forces readers to absorb a lot of information before giving them a break to digest it a little.

• Shorter paragraphs give readers more time to digest what has just been said.

It depends on who our typical reader is. If we figure that out we can determine which style has a better chance of keeping them reading our texts. It depends on what the reader is looking for and is willing to read.

Regardless, keep in mind that what readers want most of all from a series of paragraphs is this:

• clear ideas that are well developed one at a time.

Yes.

Check out these sources for their recommendations on paragraph length:

• OWL
• Plainlanguage.gov
• BBC’s Bitesize