Writing for Graduate Students: How to Write an Effective Paragraph (20 min)
Channel: Nicholas L. Cain
Date: 2021-07-26

This video provides an introduction to writing an effective paragraph. It's targeted towards graduate students in public policy, but may be of use to people writing across a wide range of nonfictional topics.

Content
Introduction: Outline and prompt 0:20
Writing a clear paragraph: 2:45
Using the PEAR approach (Point, Evidence, Analysis, Response): 3:50
Writing clear sentences: 6:47
Moving from sentences to paragraphs: 10:00
Example: Re-writing a policy paragraph using PEAR: 12:20
Moving from paragraphs to sections: 16:28

Many of the concepts come from Andrew Pennock's fantastic guide to policy writing: The CQ Press Writing Guide for Public Policy. If you are a student or professional interested in improving your writing, I highly recommend this book: http://sfrenderercontent.sagepub.com/products/the-cq-press-writing-guide-for-public-policy-2-278655

I'd also like to give a big hat tip to Thomas Lewandowski's excellent video on using the PEAR technique. His videos are targeted to high school students, but college students can certainly learn from his strategies: https://youtu.be/73OREuCo4qo

The USC library also has a really-well organized guide to writing social science papers. This guide is free and accessible to anyone with a web browser: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/academicwriting