organizing information topic sentences and paragraphing adapted from: 1) turner, dorothy. writing...
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Organizing information
Topic sentences and paragraphing
Adapted from: 1) Turner, Dorothy. Writing Topic Sentences. University of Ottawa.2) Academic Writing in English website (http://sana.tkk.fi/awe) 3) Johnson-Sheehan, Richard (Dr.), Purdue OWL, ppt. How to Achieve Coherence at a Micro level (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/ppt/2008_Micro_727.ppt#259,1,How to Achieve Coherence at a Micro Level)
CONTENT• Topic sentences
• Analysing a topic sentence
• Developing and building paragraphs
• Presenting information
TOPIC SENTENCES• A topic sentence (or a focus sentence)
organizes an entire paragraph.
• Works in two directions simultaneously:– relates the paragraph to the essay's thesis,
acting as a signpost for the argument of the paper as a whole
– defines the scope of the paragraph itself.
Analyzing a topic sentence
1. Topic sentence = #1 (but not always!)2. general statement
– wider in its scope than the rest of the sentences in that paragraph.
– should be general enough so that it can be supported by specific details in later sentences.
3. Topic sentences should always contain both a topic and a controlling idea.
The topic typically occurs before the verb and is what the paragraph is about, while the controlling idea is what you want to say about the topic.
4. The controlling idea should be repeated (preferably, in subject position) in each of the sentences that follow the topic sentence
The topic sentence…
• …introduces a new topic, – The Finnish higher education system consists of
universities and polytechnics
• enumerative (listing) paragraph – There are a number of good reasons for
immigrating to Finland.
• or a claim of some sort. – Finnish is an easy language to learn
What’s the topic sentence here?
Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents oneach side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Betweenthese two arguments are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context.
For more information on topic sentences…
http://sana.tkk.fi/awe/cohesion/topsen/index.html
Developing paragraphs• Paragraphs can be used to narrate, describe, compare
and contrast or analyze information• A paragraph is well-structured when every sentence
develops the point made in the topic sentence.• It must have a single focus and it must contain no
irrelevant facts. • Every sentence must contribute to the paragraph by
explaining, exemplifying, or expanding the topic sentence.
• "What main point am I trying to convey here?" (topic sentence)
• "Does every sentence clearly relate to this idea?"
Building paragraphs
• There are several ways in which you can build good, clear paragraphs: – Constant pattern – progressive pattern – hypertopic pattern– Split pattern
Constant
This is the most common and easiest formof paragraph development: you simply expand on a general topic sentence using examples or illustrations.
Progressive
• Process description often follows a chronological sequence
HypertopicThis is used when giving more specific subtypes of the main subject. Could replace a list.
superordinate
subordinate
Split topicSplit topic method can be used - one point for
A, then 1 point for B
Example – what kind of development?
Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents oneach side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Betweenthese two arguments are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context.
Hypertopic?
Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents oneach side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Betweenthese two arguments are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context.
Superordinate
subordinate
Presenting information in a paragraph 1
• ’givennew’ principle– Introduction to physics or Quantum physics?– Familiar information or new information?
• The brain responds to ’old’ information first. It is easier to process the ’new’ information based on the ’old’ information.
Example – can you find the given-new?
Business school professors perennially debate over whether maintaining an old employee is more costly than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents oneach side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and orientation. However, management gurus insist that having the right person in the right position increases the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Betweenthese two arguments are the economists who study new hiring practices in a company-specific context.
Notice the Given-New structure
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.
new information = red old information = blue
Presenting info 2
• ’light before heavy’ = short simple subject first.
• Nouns building blocks of a sentence.
• Noun phrases one head noun + a lot of stuff defining it.– These can be veeerrrrrrryyyyy long.
• 7+2 principle – we can’t remember much past the 9th word of a sentence
What’s wrong with this sentence?
• 1Numerous government agencies have requested new technologies for use in government-certified Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) that screen checked luggage for aircraft 2 We have shipped the Enivironmental Protection Agency's National Homeland Security Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio an EDS system.
New and improved…
We have shipped an EDS system to
the Enivironmental Protection
Agency's National Homeland
Security Research Center in
Cincinnati.
How do I know when to start a new paragraph?
You should start a new paragraph :• when you begin a new idea or point. • to contrast information or ideas. • when your readers need a pause. • when you are ending your introduction
or starting your conclusion.
Taken from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/01/
Back to the reference article
Switch papers with the person sitting next to you. Choose a paragraph and try to:
1. Identify the topic sentence.
2. Which method was used to develop the paragraph (Detail? Compare/contrast? Process? Combo?)
3. Check how the information is organized in each sentence. Do they follow the givennew, light before heavy principles?
Homework
• Pick 3 paragraphs in your reference article and go through it for things we looked at today.
• Hand them in for the next class (scan/original)
• Text book reading – – Chapter 1.10 Organizing paragraphs– Chapter 2.10 Academic Style– Chapter 3.2 Academic Vocabulary