Paragraphs

A group of related sentences set off by a beginning indention or sometimes, extra space Paragraphs give you and your readers a breather from long stretches of text and they indicate key steps in the development of your thesis.

Unity “ An effective paragraph develops one central idea- in other words, it is unified.”

Coherence: “When a paragraph is coherent, readers can see how it holds together : the sentences seem to flow logically and smoothly into one another.”

Paragraph organization General to specific: “…a downshift from more general statements to more specific ones.” Climactic: “Sentences increase in drama or interest, ending in a climax.”

Paragraph Organization: Spatial: “Sentences scan a person, place, or object from top to bottom, from side to side, or in some other way that approximates the way people actually look at things.” Chronological: “ Sentences present events as they occurred in time ; earlier to later.”

Parallelism: Parallelism helps tie sentences together with the use of similar language structures. I came. I saw. I conquered.

Repetition and Restatement: “Repeating or restating key words helps make a paragraph coherent and also reminds readers what the topic is.”

Consistency: Be consistent in person and number with pronoun usage and verb tense.

Transitional Expressions: Transitions forge specific connections between sentences and paragraphs. They form a bridge between what has been said and what is going to be said.

Paragraph Development: Narration : retells a significant sequence of events, usually in the order of their occurrence ( that is, chronologically).” Storytelling.

Description : Description details the sensory qualities of a person, scene, thing or feeling using concrete and specific words to convey a dominant mood, illustrate an idea or achieve some other purpose.”

Illustration or support : Use of several specific examples Providing reasons for stating a general idea

Definition: “ Defining a complicated, abstract or controversial term often requires extended explanation.”

Division or Analysis: Separation of a subject into its elements to provide an analysis through examination of its parts.

Classification: Sorting items or ideas into specific groups.

Comparison and Contrast: Illustrating similarities and differences.

Cause and Effect: Explanation for the reason something happened or for what did or may happen. What led to an event. The reason- the “Why?”

Process Analysis: Analysis of how something is done or how something works.

Source: Aaron, Jane E., The Little Brown Compact Handbook, New York: Pearson, 2010.