Constructing Paragraphs
Use paragraphs to your advantage!
They're your opportunity to let your readers know where they are in the course of your paper and to draw their attention to important threads of your discussion and pieces of evidence that are shaping your thinking.
Remember the hamburger paragraph?
Top Bun: Topic Sentence
The first sentence of your paragraph conveys the central point or main claim to be explained in the paragraph. Every burger has a top bun (otherwise it'd be an open-faced sandwich).
Lettuce: Elaboration
After the topic sentence is the place for any explanation of terms or plot points required before you move deeper in the paragraph. Not every burger has or needs lettuce.
Burger Patty: Evidence Information that demonstrates the basis on which you are making the claim (in the topic sentence). The nature of this information will vary depending on the subject matter and discipline area. It could be anything from facts and figures to direct quotations from a novel. Every hamburger has a burger patty!
Ketchup: Interpretation & Analysis
Before moving on to the next paragraph & claim, spend some time helping your reader understand the evidence you've presented here. What does it mean and how does it support that claim you've made in the topic sentence. A hamburger would seem a bit sparse if it didn't have condiments.
Bottom Bun: Conclusion & Transition
The last segment of the paragraph involves a brief conclusion that ties this thread of the discussion back to the purposes and goals of the paper and moves the discussion forward with a transition to the next paragraph. Every hamburger requires a bottom bun.
> Activity: Do you conflate paragraphs with sections?
If you tend to write lengthy paragraphs, you might be conflating sections with paragraphs.
Look at the essay outline below. How might it be re-organized into sections with multiple paragraphs? Consider how the first sentence of each paragraph might be used to communicate the structure of the paper to the reader.
Paper title: Street Smarts: Adaptive Strategies of Homeless Youth
Paragraph 1: Introduction. When considering responses to the flow of weapons and violence among homeless youth in Toronto, police and policy makers must account for the variety of adaptive strategies that homeless youth use to keep themselves safe.
Paragraph 2: Context & background info. Size of the homeless youth community in Toronto & info about the issues of weapons and violence in this community & info about how street violence affects homeless youth as well as the surrounding community & (failed/ineffective) efforts by police to respond to the violence & (failed/ineffective) efforts of policy makers to respond to the violence.
Paragraph 3: Behaviour analysis. Who are Toronto's homeless youth and how do they try to keep themselves safe (results from study)? Info about adaptive strategies & how this context hasn't been accounted for in police & policy makers' responses to street violence.
Paragraph 4: Recommendations. What changes to police & policy makers' responses to violence among homeless youth would actually help homeless youth feel safer on Toronto's streets? Is there a reason why police & policy makers might be opposed to this perspective? Do recommendations need to include advocating for compassion for homeless communities?
Paragraph 5: Conclusion. An analysis of the adaptive strategies that homeless youth use to keep themselves safe suggests that police and policy makers need to shift their responses to violence among homeless youth from x to y. ...
Enhance flow with connector words
To create flow and enhance coherence in your paragraphs, use connector words to show relationships between sentences and ideas.
Consider the addition of connector words in the example paragraph below. Does the revised paragraph flow better?
Enhance cohesion with the known-new contract
Have you been told that the connections from one thought to the next are difficult to follow? If so, your writing might lack cohesion. The easiest way to improve cohesion is to begin each sentence as a continuation of the previous one. Look at this example:
Homeless or "street youth" report trying to protect their safety using a number of strategies: moving regularly, carrying their possessions with them at all times, altering their appearance to look tougher or more menacing, carrying weapons to defend themselves, etc. These reported strategies are adaptive responses to the realities of homelessness. Adaptive responses are actions that respond to information from the environment in an appropriate and successful manner. The use of successful adaptive responses indicates that homeless youth ...
Notice how the beginning of each sentence (after the first) mentions information that was introduced in the previous sentence? This creates logical progression of ideas from one sentence to the next. The rhetorical effect for readers is that they feel supported, as though you're taking them by the hand and walking them through your paper.
Here are some additional materials that further explain this writing strategy for improving cohesion: