Methods of Paragraph Development

Chapters 4

A• The following student examples illustrate different paragraph

styles and techniques. Like the clothes we wear, each student paragraph fits the writing situation. That is, the form, such as moving from the general to the specific, matches the content, or what the writer wants to say. You wouldn't, after all, wear a cocktail dress to the dentist; likewise, it is necessary to pay special attention to the organization of your paragraph to make sure it "suits" the topic. While you may be able to get away with sloppy dressing in real life, in academic writing sloppy paragraphs with no organization are always a writing don't!

B

• The Wizard of Oz appeared in 1939 creating a wave of excitement because it introduced color to the previously black-and-white film medium. Synchronizing that film with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon has recently created a flurry of new attention because of the uncanny similarities of the two works. One similarity appears during the lyrics, “Balanced on the Biggest Wave,” which occur just as Dorothy is tightrope-walking the fence at Auntie Em’s farm. Likewise, when the fortune-teller is consulting the crystal ball, we hear the lyrics of “Past, Present, and Future.” A third similarity is when Dorothy arrives in the Land of Oz and Glenda the Good Witch whispers in Dorothy’s ear just as the Pink Floyd lyrics “Hello, Have You Heard” occur. Another surprise appears when the song “A Lunatic is on the Grass” is synchronized when Scarecrow appears, and “Brain damage” plays when he sings of his wish for a brain. Yet another surprising discovery is that the rhythm of several Pink Floyd songs coincide with the dance movements of the actors in the film. Finally, the sound of the cash register in “Money” occurs as Dorothy and her traveling companions enter the Emerald City to be surrounded by the color green and to be catered to by the grooming services.

C

• In many years of hiking in the East, I've happened across bears twice. Once, in Maine, I rounded a corner on a trail, and there, three feet away, as lost in thought as I had been, sat a black bear. One look at me and she dived for the bushes--total contact time, perhaps four seconds. A few years later, walking near my house with my wife, I heard a noise in a treetop, and suddenly a black bear, roughly the size and shape of a large sofa, dropped to the ground a few yards away. She glowered in our direction and then lit out the opposite way. Time of engagement: maybe seven seconds. Those were grand encounters, and they've spiced every other day I've spent in the woods--on the way up Blackberry, for instance, I sang as I waded through the berry bushes, aware that this was where any bear with an appetite would be, especially after I found fresh berry-filled scat. But if I counted as dramatic only those days when I actually saw a big fierce animal, I would think the forest a boring place indeed.Even if you did go to the woods and saw a rare animal, and somehow managed to creep up real close, chances are it wouldn't be doing anything all that amazing. Chances are it would be lying in the sun, or perhaps grooming itself, or maybe, like the duck on the pond, swimming back and forth. A lot of animals are remarkably good at sitting still (especially when they suspect they're under surveillance), and this is something TV never captures. The nature documentaries are as absurdly action-packed as the soap operas, where a life's worth of divorce, adultery, and sudden death is crammed into a week's worth of watching. Trying to understand "nature" from watching "Wild Kingdom" is as tough as trying to understand "life" from watching "Dynasty."

D

• When the players have it right, the dance at the coffee counter moves like a well-timed samba. The customer rattles off a 16-word order, and the barista has the espresso machine running and is making change without missing a beat. For novices, however, the exchange is as awkward as a junior high slow dance. Although the uninitiated can refer to the side of a Starbucks cup for instructions on how to order, here's a primer. The key is sequence.

• 1. special additions/caffeine amount

• 2. size

• 3. customization

• 4. milk type

• 5. drink type

• The simplest order is size plus type of drink. You want a small coffee? Say "tall drip." (Grande is medium; venti is large.) The name of the drink is always the last word. . . .

• Following the size come descriptions relating to syrup, milk and customization, also in that order. If you want to add a flavor like hazelnut, Irish cream, raspberry, etc., list it just after the size but before the drink name, as in "tall hazelnut drip." . . .

• Finally, any other customization you'd like, such as extra hot, 140 (as in degrees), no foam, or half Equal goes just before the drink name.

E

• By the end of the century, supersizing – the ultimate expression of the value meal revolution – reigned. As of 1996 some 25 percent of the $97 billion spent on fast food came from items promoted on the basis of either larger size or extra portions. A serving of McDonald’s french fries had ballooned from 200 calories (1960) to 320 calories (late 1970s) to 450 calories (mid-1990s) to 540 calories (late 1990s) to the present 610 calories. In fact, everything on the menu has exploded in size. What was once a 590 calorie McDonald’s meal was now 1550 calories. By 1999 heavy users – people who eat fast food more than twenty times a month… accounted for $66 billion of the $110 billion spent on fast food.

F

Effective teachers develop strategies to accommodate at least three learning styles that their students exhibit. One group of students may need to see the material presented in words, diagrams, and pictures. Students in this group are visual learners and often rely on color-coding, highlighters, illustrations, and concept maps in their notes. A second category consists of students who need to hear the material. Theses auditory learners know the lyrics of songs in their entirety, and they sometimes find it distracting to take notes. Such learners should tape lectures while taking their notes and then later play back the tape and fill in the gaps of details they may have missed. A final category is the tactile or kinesthetic learner. These students need movement or the sense of touch to help facilitate their learning. When learning about the architecture of the Great Sputa of Sanchi, for example, they might nee to make a model out of clay to focus on the details or the structure. Or they may need to move around as they read material or study for a test.

G

• You read the advertisement in the Saturday morning paper, and the deal seems too good to be true. It seems that the computer you had been shopping for is available at the local computer store for half the price you found in your search. You arrive at the store in the early morning, but you are greeted with a salesman’s disappointing reply that the store had already sold out. Still, he continues, the store can offer what you want with some upgrades for slightly more money. This tactic is called bait and switch, and it is a marketing strategy used to lure customers into the store with the purpose of pressuring them into buying more than they had originally planned.

H

• Have you noticed that purchasing a cellular phone becomes a lesson in weighing the advantages and the disadvantages presented in the fine print? First, some plans offer free phones, so that feature becomes the first enticing similarity. Likewise, some phone companies provide “bells and whistles” such as text messaging, voice mail, and caller ID. However, when scrutinizing the fine print, a consumer begins to discern some important differences. One phone plan, though slightly more expensive, offers unlimited minutes on weekends, while another charges for weekends, and its unlimited minutes are only desirable to the nocturnal who call after 9:00 p.m. during the week. Another item in the fine print indicates that one phone service is only good in some areas of the state, while another, again a slightly more expensive service, is actually nationwide. Therefore, a good consumer must be willing to read the fine print and weigh the assets and liabilities of each program.

I• Does physical appearance affect your ability to get a

job or a raise? Some people think so. In a recent study by business professors from the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the results indicate that tall people make more money. According to one of the researchers, 6-foot-tall Timothy Judge, each inch adds $783 to a salary. Most CEO’s are from 5’11 to 6’3 tall regardless of whether or not they are male or female. The results of this study, therefore, attempt to prove that the glass ceiling that appears in business is more related to height that to gender.

J

• You’ve been admonished for years to eat a balanced diet and take your vitamins. Now the consequences of following that advice indicate additional benefits. People who take care to get enough calcium in their diets have more success maintaining their desired weight or losing weight if they are on a diet. Likewise, people who take capsules containing Omega-3 mineral contained in fish oil report that they concentrate better, so that their memory improves, another effect of Omega-3, which is a mineral that promotes a healthy heart, also that some people experience relief from mild depression. Finally, the effects of taking glucosamine and chondroitin result in less joint pain, and some people give this to their ailing animals that have been diagnosed with arthritis.

K• Although Ben’s first car was a 1989 LX Ford Mustang, 25th

Anniversary model, it hardly resembled his fantasy car. Purchased from the wholesale lot of a local dealer, the car came with the driver’s seat supported by a thick, yellow telephone book instead of the plush, heated, leather seats he had conjured in his dreams. Rather than the shiny paint job with meticulous detailing most men long for, this car had a faded blue paint that revealed years of wear, as well as stains from a previous shaving cream prank. Despite the car’s flaws, Ben spent hours adjusting, replacing, tweaking, and refurbishing the car, which is now a very different version of the faded, dented cast-off it once was. Ben has fixed the seat, replacing the fender and battery, and has had the car painted a bold blue, a dazzling contrast to the previous condition. Now Ben’s car is a magnificent vehicle, completely unrecognizable from his original purchase.