Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Focus on a main point
Writing paragraphs
A process for writing

✵ Writing focused and unified paragraphs

✵ Common transitions

A paragraph is a group of sentences that focuses on one main point or example. Except for special-purpose paragraphs, such as introductions and conclusions (see 1e and 1g), paragraphs are units of organization that develop and support an essay’s main point, or thesis. Aim for paragraphs that are well developed, organized, coherent, and neither too long nor too short for easy reading.

2a Focus on a main point.

An effective paragraph is unified around a main point. The point should be clear to readers, and all sentences in the paragraph should relate to it.

Stating the main point in a topic sentence

A clear topic sentence, a one-sentence summary of the paragraph’s main point, tells readers what to expect. It acts as a signpost pointing in two directions: backward toward the thesis of the essay and forward to the body of the paragraph.

Usually the topic sentence comes first in the paragraph.

All living creatures manage some form of communication. The dance patterns of bees in their hive help to point the way to distant flower fields or announce successful foraging. Male stickleback fish regularly swim upside-down to indicate outrage in a courtship contest. Male deer and lemurs mark territorial ownership by rubbing their own body secretions on boundary stones or trees. Everyone has seen a frightened dog put his tail between his legs and run in panic. We, too, use gestures, expressions, postures, and movement to give our words point.

— Olivia Vlahos, Human Beginnings

In college writing, topic sentences are often necessary for advancing or clarifying lines of an argument and introducing evidence from a source. In the following paragraph on the effects of a 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the writer uses a topic sentence to state that the extent of the threat is unknown before quoting three sources that illustrate her point.

To date, the full ramifications [of the oil spill] remain a question mark. An August report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that 75 percent of the oil had “either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead, or dispersed.” However, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers reported that a 1.2-mile-wide, 650-foot-high plume caused by the spill “had and will persist for some time.” And University of Georgia scientists concluded that almost 80 percent of the released oil hadn’t been recovered and “remains a threat to the ecosystem.”

— Michele Berger, “Volunteer Army”

Sticking to the point

Sentences that do not support the topic sentence destroy the unity of a paragraph. In the following paragraph describing the switch to online learning at a high school, the information about the chemistry teacher is clearly off the point.

As a result of the emergency move to online learning, students at Lincoln High School have had to make important adjustments. Students suddenly were put in charge of their own learning and working space, sometimes having to compete with siblings for a suitable place to do schoolwork, for example. Also, students in classes with hands-on labs, such as biology and chemistry, had to adjust to learning by simulation. The chemistry teacher left to have a baby halfway through the term, and most of the students didn’t like the substitute. For students who learn better in groups, the move to online learning left them feeling disconnected and uncertain.

WRITING FOCUSED AND UNIFIED PARAGRAPHS

A strong paragraph supports a thesis, opens with a topic sentence, focuses on and develops a main point, and holds together as a unit. As you build and revise your paragraphs, ask these questions:

✵ Does each paragraph support the thesis?

✵ Does each paragraph open with a clear topic sentence?

✵ Does each paragraph focus on a main point and develop the point?

✵ Is each paragraph organized and coherent?

✵ Is each paragraph the right length for its topic?

✵ Does each paragraph contain transitions to help readers move from sentence to sentence and between paragraphs?

EXERCISE 2-1

Underline the topic sentence in the following paragraph and cross out any sentences that do not support the main idea.

Quilt making has served as an important means of social, political, and artistic expression for women. In the nineteenth century, quilting circles provided one of the few opportunities for women to forge social bonds outside of their families. Once a week or more, they came together to sew as well as trade small talk, advice, and news. They used dyed cotton fabrics much like the fabrics quilters use today. Surprisingly, quilters’ basic materials haven’t changed that much over the years. Sometimes the women joined their efforts in support of a political cause, making quilts that would be raffled to raise money for temperance societies, hospitals for sick and wounded soldiers, and the fight against slavery. Quilt making also afforded women a means of artistic expression at a time when they had few other creative outlets. Within their socially acceptable roles as homemakers, many quilters subtly pushed back at the restrictions placed on them by experimenting with color, design, and technique.