Effective Paragraph Writing: Unity, Coherence, Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development, Study notes of Biology

Download Effective Paragraph Writing: Unity, Coherence, Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development and more Study notes Biology in PDF only on Docsity! PARAGRAPH http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_sentclar.html What is a paragraph? A paragraph is a collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic. To be as effective as possible, a paragraph should contain each of the following: Unity, Coherence, A Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development. All of these traits overlap. Using and adapting them to your individual purposes will help you construct effective paragraphs. 1. Unity:  The entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus. If it begins with a one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas. 2. Coherence:  Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph easily understandable to a reader.  You can help create coherence in your paragraphs by creating logical bridges and verbal bridges. 3. A topic sentence:  A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with.  An easy way to make sure your reader understands the topic of the paragraph is to put your topic sentence near the beginning of the paragraph.  Although not all paragraphs have clear-cut topic sentences, and despite the fact that topic sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph (as the first sentence, the last sentence, or somewhere in the middle) 4. Adequate development  The topic (which is introduced by the topic sentence) should be discussed fully and adequately.  This varies from paragraph to paragraph, depending on the author's purpose, but writers should beware of paragraphs that only have two or three sentences. It's a pretty good bet that the paragraph is not fully developed if it is that short. Some methods to make sure your paragraph is well-developed: Cite data (facts, statistics, evidence, details, and others) Examine testimony (what other people say such as quotes and paraphrases) Compare and contrast Evaluate causes and reasons Examine effects and consequences Analyze the topic Offer a chronology of an event (time segments) BE CAREFUL ABOUT PLACEMENT OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES. Avoid interrupting the main clause with a subordinate clause if the interruption will cause confusion: Clear (subordinate clause at the end): Industrial spying is increasing rapidly because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information. Clear (subordinate clause at the beginning): Because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information, industrial spying is increasing rapidly. Not as clear (subordinate clause embedded in the middle): Industrial spying, because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information, is increasing rapidly. USE PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS. When you have a series of words, phrases, or clauses, put them in parallel form (similar grammatical construction) so that the reader can identify the linking relationship more easily and clearly. Clear (parallel): In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs, (2) to know what precautions to take, and (3) to decide when to seek shelter. Not as clear (not parallel): In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs. (2) There are precautions to take, and (3) deciding when to take shelter is important. In the second sentence, notice how the string of "things to be aware of in Florida" does not create a parallel structure. Also, notice how much more difficult it is for a reader to follow the meaning of the second sentence compared to the first one. AVOID NOUN STRINGS Try not to string nouns together one after the other because a series of nouns is difficult to understand. One way to revise a string of nouns is to change one noun to a verb. Unclear (string of nouns): This report explains our investment growth stimulation projects. Clearer: This report explains our projects to stimulate growth in investments. AVOID OVERUSING NOUN FORMS OF VERBS