The Uneven U

"The Uneven U" method is a detailed guide to formatting your paragraphs. This guide will help you build an effective paragraph and identify its "shape." A paragraph is a single idea of your overall argument and therefor should focus on that singular idea as it relates to the whole. Every sentence has a role to play in communicating the main idea. One way to think about these roles -or "jobs"- is how close each sentence is to a big idea and how close a sentence is to a piece of evidence. Big idea sentences are used to introduce or conclude a concept, while sentences containing analyses, explanations, and direct evidence will support the big idea.

5 - abstract, general; oriented toward the implications or conclusions of your overall topic/focus as a whole

4 - less general - but still abstract and a big idea. This sentence pulls together the ideas that will be in the paragraph.

3 - is interpretive or analytical - draws together two or more pieces of evidence, introduces a broad example, or provides important context for evidence.

2 - description of evidence in a plain or interpretive summary: "establishing shot" or paraphrasing.

1 - direct, unmediated evidence (a quote from the text; an image that you are discussing, etc)

Consider the following example:

[S1] 4 - less general - but still abstract and a big idea. This sentence pulls together ideas that will be in the paragraph.

[S2] 3 - is interpretive or analytical - draws together two or more pieces of evidence, introduces a broad example, or provides important context for evidence.

[S3] 2 - description of evidence in a plain or interpretive summary: "establishing shot" or paraphrasing. 

[S4] 1 - direct, unmediated evidence (a quote from the text; an image that you are discussing, etc)

[S5] 3 - is interpretive or analytical - draws together two or more pieces of evidence, introduces a broad example, or provides important context for evidence.

[S6] 4 - less general - but still abstract and a big idea. This sentence pulls together the idea that will be in the paragraph.

[S7] 5 - abstract, general; oriented toward the implications or conclusions of your overall topic/focus as a whole.

Below is a sample paragraph to help you visualize the "Uneven U" in action:

[L4] At its core, Anne Lamott's essay addresses how writing is as much about managing emotions as it is about getting words down on paper. [L4] Her idea of the "shitty first draft" - a draft in which writers allow themselves to write imperfectly - is a tool for both prgamatically producing writing and for working through writing anxiety. [L3] She proceeds by debunking the "myth" of perfect, elegant writing, emphasizing how writing is often a painful process for even the best of professional writers. [L2] The shitty first draft, she suggests, is essential to the process because writers can give themselves permission to simply produce, and tangibly progress, without judgement. Progress occues because it was preceded by shittyness: [L1] "There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know that you're supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go - but there was no way to get this without first getting through the first five and half pages" (LaMott 93). [L3] Lamott illustrates the helpful role of the "shitty first draft" in her own writing process by walking her readers through the way shitty first drafts of her food reviews helped her get from pain and panic to completed pieces of professional writing. [L4] The idea of the "shitty first draft" - or "child's draft" foregrounds writing as a process of growth in which you make mistakes, and in doing so, you discover where you want to be. [L5] This message makes the essay especially appropriate for a collection entitled Readings for College writers: while an audience of college students may at first balk at the idea of a "child's draft," the idea cuts through the damaging pressures of perfectionism to which so many students subject themselves. 

Remember: it's a toolset - not a formula!

Keep in mind that as you gain confidence in your ability to identity and shape the "job" each of your sentences in doing in relation to the others in your paragraphs, you will be able to more purposefully & creatively "break" this common pattern. Make this toolset your own!

Come in for a session at the Writing Center to talk about your rhetorical options around paragraph structure!