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Paragraph Cohesion

Paragraph Cohesion. Dr. Heather Blain Vorhies hblain@umd.edu Office of Writing Initiatives The Graduate School. What is a Paragraph?. One-Minute Essay Using only one side of the index card, describe what makes a paragraph.

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Paragraph Cohesion

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  1. Paragraph Cohesion Dr. Heather Blain Vorhies hblain@umd.edu Office of Writing Initiatives The Graduate School

  2. What is a Paragraph?

  3. One-Minute Essay Using only one side of the index card, describe what makes a paragraph. In other words, what makes a paragraph different from a bunch of sentences grouped together? Label this side of the index card #1.

  4. Unity A paragraph treats one controlling idea.

  5. A paragraph must have unity. Each sentence within the paragraph contributes to one controlling idea. • Readers need to be able to easily discern what this controlling idea is and how all other ideas relate to it. What is the controlling idea?

  6. Glossing the controlling idea

  7. All sentences contribute to the controlling idea. Paragraph Structure

  8. Organization Paragraphs show hierarchies of ideas.

  9. Paragraph Organization General  Specific

  10. It can be useful to think of your paragraphs as needing a claim, evidence, and analysis. Not every paragraph will have this structure, but most should. Claims/evidence/analysis

  11. Cohesion Making sentences family.

  12. This is also referred to as the Known/New contract or as the Topic/Comment pattern. • The first sentence of the paragraph sets up the pattern. Old  New Information Flow

  13. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble creates a black hole. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways An example from Williams

  14. Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers. End sentences with information readers cannot anticipate. From Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace Alexander Bain How to Revise

  15. Old  New No information flow Up to the time of Darwin, the only biologist to develop a theory of organic evolution in extensive fashion was Lamarck. The last chapter demonstrated how much a failure was this scientific theory. • Up to the time of Darwin, Lamarck was the only biologist to develop a theory of organic evolution in extensive fashion. Its failure as a scientific theory was discussed in the last chapter. An example from Gopen

  16. Re-write a paragraph of your own, revising for the old  new information flow. Revision Practice

  17. Sample Text

  18. Glossing • Work template sentences into your writing • Keep in mind that most template sentences from They Say/I Say will need to be adjusted for your field and for the graduate level • What’s best is to build your own template sentences from literature in your field (“Prior work on X has been reported by Y…”) Some Other Revision Techniques

  19. A Few Good Resources Campus, Web, and Print Resources

  20. One-on-One Writing Consultation for Graduate Students www.gradwritingfellows.umd.edu Writing Fellows

  21. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab • University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center Website • University of North Carolina Writing Center Website • Helen Sword’s The Writer’s Diet • Anthony Melchiorri’sThe Science of Science Writing workshop Web Resources

  22. The Sense of Structure: Writing From the Reader’s Perspective (George D. Gopen) • Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Joseph Williams and Joseph Bizup) • Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your Writing (Joe Glaser) • The Science of Scientific Writing (In your articles module) • The Art of Science Writing (In your articles module) Print Resources

  23. Using the back side of your index card, write a one-minute essay to the same question with which we began this workshop. What makes a paragraph a paragraph? Label this side #2. Be sure to give me the index card on your way out. One-minute Essay

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