Paragraph Focus as Signposting

“When is a paragraph?” Arthur Stern asked this question in his 1976 article. To answer it, he removed the paragraph breaks from a passage, presented it to over one hundred English teachers, and asked them to identify the paragraphs. Only five chose the same paragraph breaks as the original. Because of this, we learned that writers are making a rhetorical choice when they decide to break paragraphs at certain points and not others. These rhetorical choices convey meaning, because they're not just about following rules or adhering to conventions. When you end one paragraph and start the next one, you're signaling something about your ideas to your readers.

Paragraph breaks, topic sentences, and closing sentences are all examples of signposting, or textual ways of telling your reader how your ideas fit together. Traditionally, a paragraph tells readers that the ideas within it share a common purpose or function within the text. It tells the reader that the ideas are more connected to one another than those in other paragraphs or that you’ve completed one thought and are moving on to the next.

What does paragraphing tell readers? How does paragraphing work in academic papers?

• The blank space between paragraphs, like the period at the end of a sentence, gives your reader a chance to think about what they've read so far, and consider how the ideas you presented might continue developing.

• When writing with limited space, as both public persuasive writers and scholars often do, each paragraph tends to have a particular function within the essay. Often, paragraphs add to arguments by telling the reader something new and why it matters.

• A paragraph's function goes beyond its topic:

  • A paragraph's function relates to the message of the essay overall: the paragraph contributes to that message, and that contribution is its function.

  • The topic, usually introduced by a topic sentence, is what the paragraph is about and why it's there, but beyond introducing the topic, readers need to know the “So what?” What does the topic, idea, or argument mean in this context?

  • Generally, a paragraph's function might be:

    • To establish an idea that others have talked about; to explain a problem; to analyze a particular piece of data; to explain a method; to introduce a key idea, source, or text (including non-written texts, like film or artwork).

• Academic paragraphs are usually at least 5 sentences: a topic sentence that introduces the function of the paragraph, two or three sentences that establish ideas (for example, one sentence each for three sources that say something about the major idea of the paragraph; another example, one sentence with data such as a quote, and two or three sentences explaining the significance of that data to the claim in the topic sentence and also the essay's argument) and a closing sentence.

• Academic paragraphs in the Humanities are usually between 100 and 250 words long; in the sciences and social sciences, they tend to be shorter, concisely addressing one specific ide and staying under 100 words (often 50-75 words)

What's the deal with topic sentences?

• Both public and scholarly writing (including business writing) often use topic sentences, though sometimes public writing leaves the topic sentence out—the message of the paragraph is implicit, rather than explicitly stated in one or two sentences you can point to.

  • Topic sentences usually come at the beginning or end of a paragraph, in academic writing, it is most common for a topic sentence to occur in the first or second sentence of a paragraph, to introduce the paragraph's topic and function. 

• The topic sentence functions as a mini-argument for your paragraph. It previews the argument and evidence for the paragraph. By proving topic sentences, you prove your main argument bit by bit.

• The topic sentence need not be the first sentence of the paragraph, but for formal analytic writing, it is customary for it to be within the first one to three sentences of the paragraph.

• The topic sentence should clearly articulate a part of the argument. One way to think about this is to imagine your reader's hypothetical question "Why are you telling me this?" after reading the paragraph, and using the topic sentence to answer.

• The topic sentence should ideally transition from the previous paragraph's argument with a minimum of mental whiplash, connecting the ideas from the previous paragraph to the progression of the argument in the current paragraph.

• Once you have a topic sentence, you should filter every idea in the paragraph through the goals expressed in the topic sentence, to make sure the paragraph's ideas all coherently develop and/or support the topic sentence and, through the topic sentence, support the main argument.

• It can be helpful to use an argument list (list of points you need to prove to prove your main argument) to determine what information should be in topic sentences.

• You may also lind a post-draft outline (brief summary of the ideas covered in each paragraph) helpful for determining the focus of a paragraph and how it fits Into the main argument: you can then use that information in your topic sentence.

Do I need closing sentences, too?

• Closing sentences are also common in public and scholarly writing, to summarize the message of the paragraph before the reader moves to the next one.

• In the absence of an opening topic sentence, the closing sentence states the message of the paragraph, and could be called the topic sentence. This strategy is more common in public writing than in scholarly writing, though it can be found in both areas.

• If there is an opening topic sentence, usually the topic sentence connects to the thesis, while the closing sentence connects the paragraph ideas to the larger context of the main argument (the “so what” of the thesis).

• The closing sentence synthesizes the ideas of the paragraph into one neat package.

• The closing sentence gives the opening sentence of the new paragraph a place to connect, since both usually will connect to the main argument—so, closing sentence connects to argument connects to topic sentence—helping with transitions and flow between paragraphs.

' Stem, A. (1976). When is a paragraph. College Composition and Communication, National Council of Teachers of English. Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 253-257. hite//www.astoco.ra/stable/357044