4 Ways to Write Paragraphs Readers Will Read

The problem with long paragraphs is that they look hard to read. And because they look hard to read, people don’t read them.

That’s right: Readers skip long paragraphs.

So if your paragraph is too long, then you might as well stamp on it in red ink, “Don’t bother reading this. Our lawyers made us add this stuff. We formatted it this way on purpose so you’d skip it.”

The solution? Write short paragraphs.

But how short?

How long is too long?

So, how long should your paragraphs be? Here are four targets that have been proven in the lab. To get your paragraphs read, keep them to:

1. One to two sentences 

   People read further into a piece if the paragraphs are short, according to The Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack III study.

How short? One to two sentences, according to the news industry’s think tank on how to write to get read.

The Neilson Norman Group agrees. According to their research, people tend to read only the first two sentences in a paragraph.

So why write a third?

2. Four or five lines

Another way to measure: Pass the 1-2-3-4-5 Test, a creation of the Medill School of Journalism’s Jon Ziomek. That is, your paragraph should contain:

• 1 idea, expressed in
• 2 to 3 sentences (now updated to 1 to 2, but that doesn’t sound as good! Read More