copyright laraine flemming 2009 chapter 8: beyond the paragraph: reading longer selections from this...

Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

Chapter 8: Beyond the Paragraph: Reading Longer Selections

From this chapter, you’ll learn 1.how to apply what you know about

paragraphs to longer readings.2.when longer, multi-paragraph readings do or

do not require a strategy completely different from the ones used for paragraphs.

3.how longer readings sometimes imply the main idea in much the same way paragraphs do.


8.1 What are the similarities between reading individual paragraphs and longer, multi-paragraph selections?

1. Both single and multi-paragraph readings generally focus on one central idea.

2. Both move back and forth between general and specific levels of thought.

3. Both make use of introductions that pave the way for the main idea.

4. Both sometimes restate the main idea at the end.5. Both employ transitional devices that help readers follow the

author’s train of thought.6. Both sometimes imply rather than state the overall main idea.


8.1 What are the Differences?

1. Thesis statements govern longer readings in much the same way topic sentences do, but thesis statements can extend beyond a single sentence.

2. Because a writer can tackle more complex material with more space, major details are entire paragraphs rather than single sentences.

3. Longer readings often have titles, and the titles frequently introduce the topics.

For sample thesis statements

http://laflemm.com/RfR10/QuizThesisStatements.html


8.2 The Key Difference: The Importance of Developing Double Vision• The major difference between reading a single

paragraph and a longer, multi-paragraph selection is this: With multi-paragraph readings, you have to keep an eye on how the overall main idea is developed paragraph by paragraph. However, you also have to understand each individual paragraph in its own right.

• Put another way, you have to figure out how the overall main idea controls the individual paragraphs and how the individual paragraphs develop the main idea of the entire reading.


8.2 Reading with Double Vision Let’s look more closely at an essay,

paragraph by paragraph, in order to illustrate how maintaining double vision works. Here’s the opening paragraph of an essay on the influence of fictional heroine Nancy Drew. Note how the title already gives you a strong clue to the main idea:


8.2 Reading a Multi-Paragraph Essay

At Eighty Plus Nancy Drew Is Still a Role ModelWhen Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2009, she was widely quoted for a number of reasons. Not the least among them was her reference to Nancy Drew mystery stories as a source of inspiration for her while she was growing up poor, diabetic, and fatherless in New York City. The fictional Nancy Drew, who first appeared in print in 1930, apparently made the young Sotomayor think she could overcome any obstacle if she set her mind to it. As it turns out, this is a lesson that more than one famous woman learned from the intrepid heroine of Caroline Keene’s mystery series. The writer and feminist icon Gloria Steinem has cited Drew’s influence as has the mystery writer Nevada Barr and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Now it appears that a new generation of girls are being inspired by the adventures of Nancy Drew.

Paragraph 1


8.2 Paragraph Analysis• In the opening paragraph, there are two major clues

that signal what overall main idea governs or unifies the paragraphs that follow:

1. The title suggests that the reading will focus on the current influence of Nancy Drew books.

2. The last sentence picks up on the immediacy of the title to suggest that Nancy Drew’s influence continues into the present.

This is a three-paragraph reading, so if paragraph 2 continues the train of thought begun in the last sentence of paragraph 1, we can be sure that that last sentence expresses the main idea of the entire reading.



In 1995, Megan Gaiser, now CEO and president of Her Interactive, decided to make computerized, interactive adventure games for girls. Gaiser was convinced that girls were not, as many in the media claimed, “computer-phobic.” From Gaiser’s point of view, what girls needed were computer games pitched to their interests and experiences. The Nancy Drew crime series seemed a natural for Her Interactive, and Gaiser went on to develop an award-winning line of PC games that featured Nancy going around the world to fight crime. Gaiser’s instincts were apparently on target, and Nancy Drew games have become so popular, Her Interactive has launched another series called Nancy Drew Dossier.

Paragraph 2


8.2 Paragraph Analysis• Paragraph 2 develops its own main idea—that Megan Gaiser

guessed correctly when she assumed girls would play computer games if the content appealed to them. Because the content she chose were mystery stories featuring Nancy Drew, we can see that the second paragraph’s main idea dovetails nicely with the overall main idea of the reading: Even today, Nancy Drew exerts an influence over girls.

• Given what we know about the main idea of the entire reading and the main idea of paragraph two, we can also make a prediction about paragraph 3: It will explain how interactive games featuring Nancy Drew further develop girls’ self-esteem much as the Nancy Drew novels of the past did.



What’s interesting about the success of Nancy Drew even in the age of the computer is the response young girls of today have to the series’ heroine. Like the young fans of the past, girls today are taken with Nancy’s fearless spirit and lust for adventure. Her independence and ability to overcome obstacles inspires them in much the same way that they inspired the young Sonia Sotomayor. In a poll taken by Her Interactive, three quarters of the young girls who responded (about 850 were polled) said they liked the Nancy Drew games because Nancy was so smart, resourceful, and independent. These are precisely the qualities mentioned by women in their fifties and sixties, who read the Nancy Drew series at a time when interactive computer games had barely found their way to the drawing board. Somehow Nancy’s appeal, at least among girls, has survived for generations.

Paragraph 3


8.2 Paragraph Analysis

What’s the main idea of paragraph 3?a. Girls today admire Nancy Drew even more

than young girls of the past did.b.Popular with young girls for more than three

generations, Nancy Drew still exerts a strong influence over young female fans.

c. In the end, when time is taken into account, Nancy Drew may prove more popular than Harry Potter.



When it comes to a multi-paragraph essay, though, you’re not done when you understand the main idea of a single paragraph. You still have to figure out what that paragraph contributes to the overall main idea of the reading. So what does paragraph 3 contribute?


8.2 Making Connections Between Paragraphs

Now it appears that a new generation of girls are being inspired by the adventures of Nancy Drew.

Like the young fans of the past, girls today are taken with Nancy’s fearless spirit and lust for adventure.

Like the young fans of the past, girls today are taken with Nancy’s fearless spirit and lust for adventure.

Paragraph 3 more specifically explains how girlsare being inspired.


A Word to the Wise

Once you understand not just the overall main idea of the reading but also how the main ideas of the individual paragraphs lead back to that controlling main idea, you’ve understood the reading. Reading longer, multi-paragraph passages requires you to grasp the same reading from two perspectives: (1) understand how the overall main idea, expressed or implied, dictates the content of the remaining paragraphs and (2) see how those remaining paragraphs work to develop or prove the overall main idea.


8.3 Implied Main Ideas in Longer Readings

While textbook readings are very likely to state the main idea controlling the entire reading, the same is not true for essays or editorials, where writers often make their point implicitly, by means of suggestion, rather than explicitly, or directly. If by the third or fourth paragraph* you don’t find a statement that seems to be developed beyond a paragraph, you need to think about inferring one.

*If the reading is a good deal longer than seven or eight paragraphs, then the thesis statement might be delayed as well. This suggestion applies mainly to shorter readings.


Do you really want to look for romance on Craigslist?

Pretty much everyone who uses it agrees. Craigslist, the free Web classifieds offering everything from used bikes and laptops to apartment rentals and antiques, is a godsend. There’s nothing that can’t be found on Craigslist, and that even includes romance. Scan the “Missed Connections” section, for instance, and you’ll spot ads like these: “I was wearing a black suit and a blue tie. You were walking along West 45th. I told you you had the legs of a dancer. You smiled at me but said you were in a hurry. Your last words were, ‘Too bad, I can’t chat.’ If you meant what you said, can you get in touch with me here?” And who knows, maybe the guy in the black suit and blue tie did get the response he wanted. For him at least, posting on Craigslist may have been the right thing to do.

8. 3 Here’s the first paragraph of a five-paragraph reading. Which sentence or sentences look as if they could function as a thesis statement?


Certainly, many people insist that using Craigslist to date is a modern and efficient way to make new contacts. Their advice is simple: Be smart about how you go about it. For instance, meet initially in public places. Don’t give out all your contact information right away, and start off by letting a friend or two know where you are when you meet someone you’ve met through a Craigslist posting. In other words, just take care, and you’ll find what you’re looking for. As a contributor to a web site called “The Frisky” wrote, “I met a perfectly respectable guy on Craigslist. He’s a corporate lawyer with great manners and a varied background. You certainly can meet nice people through Craigslist. Just don’t be an idiot about how you go about it.”

8. 3 Does this paragraph continue the same train of thought? Paragraph 2


Paragraph 3

8. 3 What about this next paragraph? Is the reading going in the same direction or switching gears? If your answer is no, where does the reading start to shift?

Like the woman who found a “corporate lawyer with great manners,” many others think it’s safe to use Craigslist to look for dating partners. In fact, there are numerous tip lists on the web explaining, step by step, how to use Craigslist to find the guy or gal of your dreams. Yet while looking for romance via Craigslist may have supporters, there are others who insist there’s just no “safe” way to use Craigslist for dates. Those wary of using Craigslist for romantic encounters point to the murders of George Weber and Julissa Brisman, both of whom met their killers through Craigslist ads. Weber and Brisman were far from idiots, but they lost their lives anyway.


While many of the men or women answering ads may be perfectly delightful people, the murders of Brisman and Weber highlight the fact that Craigslist does not vet any of the people who submit or respond to ads. Thus it’s perfectly possible for a psychopath to slip through the safety net, because, in point of fact, no safety net exists. It’s also true that those who are mentally disturbed enough to commit murder don’t have the word “murderer” written on their forehead. Sure, meet them for a drink or coffee in a public place before you go out, but it’s unlikely that they will give themselves away in one short meeting, and when they do reveal themselves, it just might be too late.

Paragraph 4

8.3 Where do you see the author’s train of thought going now?


One of the most successful serial killers of all time, Ted Bundy, was smart, charming, well-mannered, and well- spoken. He also confessed to thirty murders and estimates of his true victims run as high as one hundred. When Bundy was trolling for victims, Craigslist didn’t exist, but if it had, he most likely would have used it. Consider that the next time you are thinking about looking for love through Craigslist.

8. 3After reading the final paragraph of the selection, can you answer this question: What’s the author’s implied message or point?

Paragraph 5


A Word to the Wise

In longer readings where the main idea is implied, the opening paragraphs may differ strikingly from the ones ending the selection. However, it’s the later paragraphs, rather than the earlier ones, that usually decide the author’s message.


Finishing Up: Beyond the Paragraph: Reading Longer Selections

You’ve previewed the major concepts and skills introduced in Chapter 8.

Take this quick quiz to test your mastery of those skills and concepts, and you are ready to read the chapter.



1.With longer readings, what does the title usually do?2.Should readers expect longer readings to focus on several

key ideas rather than one? 3.Why do you need double vision when reading a multi-

paragraph selection?



4. How are topic sentences and thesis statements similar? How are they different?

5. At what point should you start considering the need to infer an implied main idea for a multi-paragraph reading?


Brain Teaser Challenge


Here’s a scratch outline for a brief paper. Of the main ideas shown for the paragraphs supporting the thesis statement, which two would you eliminate and why?

Thesis statement: A new study suggests that happiness can be contagious. In other words, if we are around people who are happy, we start to feel happy too.

1. An additional study reveals that pet owners experience less anxiety and live longer than non-pet owners do.

2. In the study, American researchers tracked close to 5,000 people to answer this question: “Does your happiness depend on your actions and thoughts or the actions and thoughts of others?”

3. The study showed that being around happy spouses was important but being around happy friends of the same gender was even more important.

4. Money did not seem to play as significant a role in making people happy as being around other happy people did.

5. Almost every study on the effect of children on marriage suggests that the arrival of a child does not enhance marital happiness.

Supporting Main Ideas:

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