2020-11-06 11:50 am
I start to study the week 2 of the course. I will past some useful courseware here.
In this course, we are going to focus on academic writing. In this type of writing, paragraphs often have three parts: a topic sentence, one or more body sentences supporting the topic sentence, and a concluding sentence that transitions to the next paragraph (or ends the essay).
Look at these two paragraphs. Can you tell which paragraph is an example of academic writing?
Paragraphs are the building blocks of papers. Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc. In reality, though, the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences is what constitutes a paragraph. A paragraph is defined as “a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit” (Lunsford and Connors 116). Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long. Ultimately, a paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea. In this handout, we will refer to this as the “controlling idea,” because it controls what happens in the rest of the paragraph.(Source: University of North Carolina Writing Center Opens in new window)
How can we develop our paragraph?
In academic essay writing, a good paragraph is organized so that makes sense to the reader. Each sentence leads logically to the next, and is connected through transition words or other connecting words. In addition to a topic sentence and a main idea, an effective paragraph is coherent and develops its idea.
Coherence
Coherence makes a paragraph understandable to a reader. You can help create coherence in your paragraphs by using logical and verbal connections. You can develop logical connections by making sure that each sentence in a paragraph relates in some way to the topic sentence. You can also create these connections through the use of words ("verbal connections"). For example, you can:
1.Repeat key words
2.Use synonyms for key words
3.Use pronouns to link sentences together
4.Link sentences with transition words
Development
Development refers to the support you have for your topic sentence. A well-developed paragraph should have an adequate number of sentences to support the main idea. What's an "adequate number"? That depends on the idea, and how much development it needs. Here are some ways you can make sure your paragraphs are developed. You can:
1.Use examples
2.Give data (for example, statistics, data, information, examples)
3.Quote others, either directly or through paraphrasing
4.Tell a story
5.Define your key words
6.Compare or contrast ideas
7.Examine causes and effects
Of course, there are other ways to do this. Can you think of others?
How should I organize all the paragraphs?
You probably know that the introduction comes first and the conclusion comes last in your essay, but how do you organize the paragraphs that come between the introduction and the conclusion?
The answer to this is complicated, and often depends on the type of essay you are writing. Here are some general principles, but keep in mind there are many different approaches.
- Background information first. Think about what your reader needs to know about your topic to understand the rest of your paper. If your topic is about overpopulation in a specific city, you should provide data about the population as well as your definition of overpopulation.
- The points of your argument, one per paragraph, often in increasing importance. In other words, each paragraph presents part of your evidence and argument. Choose the most important piece of evidence and build towards that.
- A concession. A concession is a statement that shows you have considered other opinions, but you still believe, from the evidence, that your opinion is correct. Here is an example concession sentence:
While Jones (1999) argues that overpopulation does not have serious effects on the environment, it is clear that overpopulation puts excessive demands on the water supply and on public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, with traffic problems happening as a result.
Note that a good concession does not simply say "some people disagree." It gives details about who disagrees, and why. It then goes on to detail why your research or argument is still the correct outcome. Concession paragraphs or sentences can come in different places in your argument -- you can decide, based on where it fits best.
Here are some transitions you can use with a concession paragraph: although it is true that, certainly, despite, granted that, however, indeed, granted, I admit that, in fact, in spite of, it may appear that, nevertheless, sometimes, still, yet
the photo below from Edx can prove that I have finished week2
checks indicate complement
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