Stop asking how many sentences are in an essay and start asking this instead

[Zara]

I would literally write "sentence 1, sentence 2, sentence 3" in my head while writing and it made my essays so robotic and boring. My friend who's a writing tutor finally sat me down and was like "you're asking the wrong question."

Instead of how many sentences are in an essay she said ask "how many claims am I making?" and "how much evidence do I have for each claim?" . Because if you think about it, a paragraph is really just one main claim with supporting evidence and analysis. The number of sentences depends on how much you have to say about that claim.

So for a simple claim with one piece of evidence you might have 3-4 sentences. For a complex claim with multiple sources you might have 8-10 sentences . It's not about the count it's about fully developing the idea before moving on. She showed me that when I stopped counting and started developing my paragraphs actually got better and my word count went up naturally without me forcing it.

Now I outline by listing my claims first and then deciding how much evidence each needs. Way better than the old way. Anyone else try this approach??

 

[MattFlarr]

Hi Zara! Your friend is absolutely right and I'm stealing this explanation for my tutoring sessions.

The "how many sentences" question comes from a place of anxiety—students want a formula because formulas feel safe. But good writing doesn't follow formulas, it follows LOGIC.

One framework I teach is PEEL:

• Point (your claim)
• Evidence (quote, data, example)
• Explanation (what does this evidence mean?)
• Link (how does this connect to your next point or thesis)

Sometimes you need multiple pieces of evidence for one point. Sometimes the explanation takes multiple sentences. Sometimes the link is obvious and you can move on quickly. The structure adapts to your argument, not the other way around.

Your friend gave you gold. Hold onto her.