100 Writing with Style

Attach clauses. You can experiment with both relative and dependent clauses (see Section 9d) at the ends of sentences, compounding them and keeping them roughly parallel.

Mo ther Theresa was a woman who gave her life to the poor and gained the admiration of the world for her service.

The astronaut argued that Americans need to return to the moon because our scientific explorations there have only begun and because we need a training ground for more ambitious planetary expeditions.

As the lengthy example earlier from Jack Kerouac demonstrates , you can combine different kinds of modifiers to extend a sentence considerably.

The Kennedys had a spark and Jack Kennedy had grown into a hand­some man, a male swan rising out of the Billy the Kid version of an Irish duckling he had been when he was a young senator.

-Stanley Crouch, "Blues for Jackie"

Shaping Effective Paragraphs

Paragraphs are groups of sentences that work together to make a point. They occur in all kinds of written media, from one-sentence units in newspaper articles to blocks of type on Web pages. They have several key functions .

They break up a piece of writing into chunks that let readers absorb content a little at a time. They focus on one point at a time to show readers what thoughts go together logically. They usually add white space, making pages or screens look easier to read.

In all these ways, paragraphs serve readers. Still, paragraphs are not natural units of writing in the way that sentences

are. We can break up our ideas at different points to suite different audi­

ences or formats : newspapers and newsletters use brief paragraphs; academic reportS and arguments tend ro develop paragraphs (and ideas) at greater length . So writers need to need to make an effort to appreciate the art of paragraphing.

101

102 103

Shaping Effective Paragraphs

12a Writing Unified Paragraphs

A paragraph shouldn't sprawl, its individual senrences going offin differenr directions. Rather, it should have unity, with each senrence connecting with the others to form a chain or web that keeps the reader focused on a cenrral idea.

Consider this example of a sprawling paragraph.

No longer do college graduates automatically plan on moving behind a desk as soon as they get their diplomas. Some are going inro mills and factories. As technological expertise becomes increasingly important in today's factories and production planrs, a high school education is no longer sufficient for many entry-level jobs. Today, the jobs are not always there for all college graduates who expect to start on the execu­tive ladder at a corporation or industry. Beginning salaries in many white-collar jobs come as a shock to new college graduates, who often leave college owing tens of thousands of dollars for school loans.

Although a reader senses some kind of connection running through this col­lection of senrences, the cenrral poinr isn't focused. In the revised version that follows, the supporting details more clearly refer to the opening sen­tence, which states the topic.

A surprising number of today's college graduates are heading for mills and factories where they are finding well-paid jobs that require sophisticated, high-tech knowledge. For instance, with bonuses and incenrive pay, an engineer starting on the factory floor at Gallatin Steel in Kenrucky can now earn close to $50,000 in a good year, considerably more than the pay in a white-collar managemenr trainee program. Jobs in industry are especially attractive ro young graduates who leave school owing tens of thousands of dollars for school loans.

The next sections describe strategies for unifYing your paragraphs.

• 1 Use topic sentences. A topic sentence states the poinr of a para­graph and predicts the ideas or supporting examples to come. It doesn't have to be the first senrence in a paragraph, although it often is. In the next twO

examples, from professional writers, the topic senrences are boldfaced.

The [Soviet] society in which I had grown up was one that offi­cially proclaimed sexual equality and made it a point of great pride, yet stereotyped men and women in ways reminiscent of the American fifties. At school, we had mandatory home economics for girls and shop for boys, a practice no one thought of challenging. At

Writing Unified Paragraphs

the music school where my mother taught, to say that someone played "like a girl"-pleasandy, neady, and without substance-was a commonly used put-down; in literary reviews, the highest compli­menr to be paid a woman writer or poet was that she wrote like a man.

-Cathy Young, "Keeping Women Weak"

As you see, Cathy Young begins with her topic senrence, then develops it with details. In the next example the writer lays Out his details, then sums them up in a general statemenr that acts as his topic senrence.

This kind of [wandering) life offers an un precedenred sense of freedom and mobility: tied down to nowhere, we can pick and choose among locations . Ours is the first generation that can go off to visit Tibet for a week or meet Tibetans down the street; ours is the first generation to be able to go to Nigeria for a holiday to find our toots-or to find that they're not there. At the lowest level, this new internationalism also means that I can get on a plane in Los Angeles, get off a few hours later in Jakarta, check inro a HiltOn, order a cheeseburger in English, and pay for it all with an American Express card. At the next level, it means that I can meet, in the Hilton coffee shop, an Indonesian businessman who is as conversanr as I am with Michael Kinsley and Magic Johnson and Madonna. At a deeper level, it means that I need never feel estranged. If all the world is alien to us, all the world is home.

-Pico lyer, "Home Is Every Place"

Not all paragraphs have tOpic senrences, nor do they need them. But using topic sentences to focus your paragraphs works particularly well with reports and arguments. Other similar ways to provide focus are ro pose a question and then answer it or to make a claim and then illustrate it. Even the ropic line in an email posting can provide the focus for a short message.

~ 2 Use transitions. Words and phrases that show connections are called tramitions. Here is a paragraph tied together by adverbs that indicate a sequence.

One can hardly open a newspaper these days without reading prescrip­tions for health. First on the list is "Don't smoke!" Second is "Eat a low-fat, high-fiber diet." Next is "Exercise, exercise, exercise." Finally, and probably the most difficult to carry out, is "Avoid stress."

The following paragraph uses several terms of similarity and contrast as transitions.

If one lives in an affluenr suburb or around a large university, it's easy to get the impress'ion that the American population is healthy. In such

104 105 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

places, walkers and bicycle riders abound, and restaurams featute low­fat en trees. The truth is, however, th at many Americans are no t

healthy. Thirty percem are seriously overweight, alcoholism is a prob­

lem, and an increasing number of teenagers are smo kin g. Moreover, obesiry amo ng children is increasing.

In this paragraph, however is especially imporram because it tells teaders th at a shift in d irection is about to occur.

C ommon transitional terms appear in Chart 12.l.

Transitional Te rms

RELATIONSHIP ADVERBS

aJ though, consequently, however, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, similarly, ye t

SIMILARITY AND CONTRAST TERMS

altho ugh, in addition, likewise, moreovet, similarly, such, yet

SEQUENCE ADVERBS

after, before, Fi nally, Fi rst, henceforth , later, next, now, subsequently, then

CAUSATION ADVERBS

as a result, because, co nseq uently, for, since, therefore, thus

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

that, where, which , who, whom

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

tha t, these, th is, those

3 Repeat key words and phrases. Inexperienced writers some­

times think that words should never be repeated , but a key wo rd or phrase repeated throughout a paragraph ca n be a powerful unifier.

It's hard to talk about western Dakota without memio ning Jell-O. A

salad, in local parlance, is a dish made with Jell-O: lime Jell-O with Cool-Whip and sliced bananas; cherry Jell-O with fruit cocktail and

miniature ma rshmallows; lemon Jell-O with grated carro ts, celery, sliced gteen olives, and waJnuts for a fancy touch .

-Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography

4 Use parallel structures. Parallelism , which es tablishes repeated

grammatical pattern s, is a fo rceful device for achieving unity. Here it is combined with repetitio n of a key tenD. (For m o re on paralleli sm, see Section 11 b.)

Writing Well-Structured Paragraphs

To the ancient Chinese, snakes embodied both good and evil , but

scorpions sy mboli zed pure wickedn ess . To the Persians , scorpions

were the devil 's minions, sem ro destroy all life by attacking the testi­

cles of the sacred bull , whose blood should have fertilized th e uni­

verse. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew King Rehoboam threa t­

ened to chas ti se his peopl e, not w ith o rdin a ry whips, but with

scorpions-dread scourges tha t sting like a scorpion's tail. The Greeks

blamed scorp ions fo r killing Orion , a lusty giant and celebrated

hunter. -Natalie An gier, "Admirers of the Scorpion"

.5 Use linking pronouns. A series of pronouns can wo rk well to tie a

paragraph to gether. In the following paragraph , the writer a lso us es the

numerous pronouns-as well as shorr semences-to give the paragraph a

rhythm ro match the focu s on simplifying one's life.

She and her husband, Wolcott Gibbs, Jr. , a writer, decided ro simplify.

She gave up real estate. They threw away masses o f stuff. They moved

from their sprawling 3 ,OOO-square-foot ho use imo a 600-square-foot

condominium. They sropped their junk mail and gave up their news­

papers . Ms. Sr. James cropped her hair ro save the time needed fo r

blow-drying. She dist illed her ward robe ro its current limited palette of black, gray and white. She reduced her purse to a credit card, library

card, license and mo ney. She even sropped making the bed.

- Carey Goldberg, "The Simple Life Lures Refugees from Stress"

12b Writing Well-Structured Paragraphs

Yo u want to design paragraphs that give you a framework for presenting

your ideas or organizing the evidence that helps to make a poim or substan­tiate a claim . In the foll owing first draft , the writer knows what he wam s to

say bur doesn't provide the details ro make a convincing case .

Many peo ple claim that they have the right to choose whether to wear a mororcycle helmet, but they don't co nsid er the negative effects of

their decisions on their families and the public. So mandatory helmet

laws are definitely a good idea .

In his revision, th e writer expands on his main poim, describing wha t hap­

pens when a mororcyclist doesn't wear a helmet, leading up ro a ropic sen­tence, boldfaced at the end, which makes a claim.

Many people claim that they have the right to choose whether to wear a motorcycle h~lmer. In their view, they are the ones who risk getting

106 107 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

hun, so why should anyone else care? But they don't consider the neg­ative effects of their decisions on others. First, their families will suf­fer. According ro the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , mororcyclists are about twenty times more likely ro be killed in high­way accidents than car passengers . As a result , wives and husbands of mororcyclists are more likely ro be left without spouses; children will be left without parents. In fact , if a mom and dad are riding helmet ­less rogether, a child could lose both parents in one crash. The public will suffer as well. Advocates for Highway and Auro Safety, a public­interest group, cites a study showing that taxpayers supplied more than $300,000 per person to provide long-te rm care to victims of motorcycle-related brain injuries; in 1993, mororcycle helmet laws saved the public more than $500 million in medical expenses. So in protesting mandatory helmet laws, motorcycle riders cannot argue that they're hurting only themselves.

Like this writer, you want ro find paragraph strategies that help you both develop and organize your material. The point of thinking about paragraph structure is not ro fill out a preexisting pattern, but ro generate related ideas. There are many strategies for structuring paragraphs.

1 Consider an introduction-body-conclusion pattern. You'll find this arrangement in many kinds of paragraphs (as well as in full acade­mic papers and professional projects) .

o In the introduction, you tell readers what you will cover, make a point, or state a thesis.

" In the body of the paragraph or paper, you develop your point with arguments, examples, illustrations, or other information.

() In the conclusion, you bring your ideas together and draw out the implications of your point or make connections.

This parrern is sometimes described as a "commitment and response pat­tern. " You make a promise ro readers to show or prove something and then you follow through by providing evidence ro suppOrt your claim.

Following is a formidable paragraph demonstrating this reliable parrern; it is drawn from near the end of an essay arguing that no one in a democratic society should expect protection from criticism and ridicule. The first sen­tence (boldfaced) states a clear thesis, the next three sentences present a care­fully reasoned chain of logical deductions ro suppOrt the thesis, and then the final sentence presents the implications of the author's reasoning. Each sen ­tence works rogether ro create a coherent and thought-provoking paragraph.

So in a democracy no one, however powerful or impotent, can have a right not to be insulted or offended. That principle is of particular

Writing Well·Structured Paragraphs

importance in a nation that strives for racial and ethnic fairness . If weak or unpopular minorities wish ro be protected from economic or legal discrimination by law-if they wish laws enacted that prohibit discrim­ination against them in employment, for instance-then they must be willing ro rolerate whatever insults or ridicule people who oppose such legislation wish ro offer ro their fellow voters, because only a community that permits such insult as part of public debate may legitimately adopt such laws. If we expect bigots ro accept the verdict of the majority once the majority has spoken, then we must permit them ro express their big­otry in the process whose verdict we ask them ro accept. Whatever mul ­ticulturalism means-whatever it means ro call for increased "respect" for all citizens and groups-these virtues would be self-defeating if they were thought ro justifY official censorship.

-Ronald Dworkin, "The Right ro Ridicule," New York Review ofBooks, March 26, 2006

.2 Give a description. A paragraph of description can often set the mood and rone for an essay. The trick is ro choose details that convey an

atmosphere, a flavor. Andre Dubus uses this device to begin an essay tided "Railroad

Sketches." Notice how he uses semicolons ro break a very long sentence inro

chunks.

Travel by air is not travel at all, but simply a change of location; so my wife and daughter and I went to San Francisco by train, leaving Boston on a Wednesday morning in June, then, after lunch in New York, boarding Amtrak's Broadway to Chicago. My daughter had a roomerre, my wife and I a bedroom: the couch, facing the front of the train, becomes a bed; above it is a bunk, locked into the wall, lowered at night; a narrow shoe locker has hangers for shirts; there is a bath­room with a lavarory latched ontO the wall above the roilet; you lower it ro wash and when you lift it into the wall, it drains; the room has a wide window and is air-conditioned, and a small fan over the door stirs the air above the couch, the bunks.

-Andre Dubus, Broken Vessels

a 3 Use cause and effect. This pattern is appropriate when you're writing a paragraph (or a paper) explaining why something has happened . You see what has occurred and want to explain why. In the following para­graph, the author explains how it is that the spiritual roles for women in Islam have come ro be limited ro specific places.

In the Islamic world , the mosque is primarily an arena for male activity, with litde visible participation of women in the rituals. In the major

108 109 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

mosques in Pakisran, for insrance, rhere is a small space where women

can go and pray on Friday or on religious fesrivals such as rhe Eid. In the local mohall4 mosques there is no possibility for a female to offer her ritual prayers. The domain is exclusively for male participation. Thus, the important spheres of religious and spiritual participa­tion for women are the Sufi shrines. There, women's input is visible and they are significalH participalHs in evelHs.

-Shemeem Burney Abbas, The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual p. xvii

This kind of paragraph can also state the effect firsr and then explore the causes, as in the following paragraph where rhe "effect" is framed as a question:

Why do so many of the citizens of the worlds oldest democracy not vote when they can, at a time when the struggle for democracy in Europe and throughout the rest of the world has reached its most crucial and inspiring level since 1848? Partly, it's an adminisrrative problem-the disappearance of the old party-machine and ward sys­tem, whose lasr vestige was Mayor Daley. Whatever its abuses, it gOt

people streer by street, household by household, to the ballot-boxes. Irs patronage system did help tie American people, especially blue-collar and lower middle-class ones, to the belief thar rhey as citizens had some

role to play in the tunning of rheir country from the bortOm up, ward by ward. It reinforced the sense of participatOry democracy.

-Robert Hughes, The Culture ofComplaint

.4 Give a definition. A paragraph of definition often introduces or limits a concept importanr co the wrirer's thesis. Here the paragraph explains what a "f1avorisr" is, offering several different ways of understand­ing the term.

The small and elite group of scientists who create most of the flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United Stares are called "f1a­vorists. " ... A f1avorist is a chemist wirh a rrained nose and a poeric sensibility. Flavors are creared by blending scores of different chemicals in riny amounts-a process governed by scientific principles bur demanding a fair amount of arr. In an age when delicare aromas and microwave ovens do nor easily coexisr, the job of rhe flavorisr is to con­jure illusions about processed food and , in rhe words ofone flavor com­pany's literature, to ensure "consumer likeability." The f1avorisrs wirh whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with rhe dictares of rheir trade. They were also charming, cosmopoliran, and ironic. They nor only enjoyed fine wine, bur could identify rhe chemicals rhar give each grape irs unique aroma. One f1avorisr compared his work co composing

Wriring Well-Structured Paragraphs

music. A well-made flavor compound will have a "cop nore" rhar is ofren followed by a "dry-down" and a "leveling off," wirh differenr chemicals responsible for each srage. The rasre of a food can be radically alrered by minure changes in rhe flavoring compound. "A lirrle odor goes a long way," one f1avorisr tOld me.

-Eric Schlosser, "Why McDonald's Fries Tasre So Good ," The Atl4ntic Monthly, January 200 I

Papers of definirion follow similar parrerns. See Secrion lSd-2 for a fuller discussion of arguments of definirion.

.5 Use an analogy. Wrirers ofren employ analogy to make rheir wrir­ing more vivid and powerful. This simple srructure, which involves an

exrended comparison between one objecr or idea and anorher, can provide rhe backbone for a full essay as well.

The cheetah may be a gorgeous Maserati among mammals, able to sprint at speeds approaching seventy miles an hour, yet it has not been able to run away from its many miseries. Once, rhe car ranged rhrough rhe African continent, rhe Near Easr, and into sourhern India; now ir is exrincr almosr everywhere bur in scarrered parches of rhe sub­Sahara. Farmers and ranchers in Namibia shoor rhem as vermin. On reserves, where cheerahs are ofren forced into unnatural proximity wirh orher predatOrs, rhey are ar rhe borrom of rhe mear earers' grim hierar­chy; lions will go our of rheir way to destroy cheerah cubs, while hye­nas, leopards, and even vultures can easily chase a cheerah away from irs

hard-caughr prey. -Naralie Angier, "Chasing Cheerahs"

• 6 Use classification. When you classify, you divide rhings or ideas intO caregories. Wrirers ofren srarr by introducing a c1assificarion parrern rhar organizes rhe resr of rhe paragraph-and maybe even rhe resr of rhe paper.

There are, as nearly as I can make out, three kinds of conservation currently operating. The fIrSr is rhe preservarion of places rhar are grandly wild or "scenic" or in some way specracular. The second is whar is called "conservarion of natural resources"-rhar is, of rhe rhings of narure we intend to use: soil, warer, rimber, and minerals. The rhird is whar you mighr call indusrrial rroubleshooring: rhe arrempr to Iimir or StOp or remedy rhe mosr flagrant abuses of rhe industrial sysrem. All rhree kinds ofconservarion are inadequare, borh separarely and tOgerher.

-Wendell Berry, "Conservarion Is Good Work"

• 7 Narrate a pro.cess. A narrarion-process paragraph , which relares events in chronological order, is probably rhe simplesr of all parrerns

lo.....­

110 111 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

because it tells a srory about what happens. Needless ro say, many books use this pattern of organization roo.

In a grimy and very wet warehouse, David Tallman and Bob Solomon are testing lawn sprinklers. To make their rest more pre­cise, they've dispensed with using a lawn. Instead they've covered the pi[[ed concrete floor with 229 graduated cylinders. Glued ro the rop of each is a wide plastic funnel. JUSt laying out the grid with a tape measure, string, and white paint, they tell me, took several days. Now, having let a cheap rotary sprinkler operare for exactly thirry minures, Tallman and Solomon are working rheir way down the rows, picking up cylinders, recording the warer levels, and dumping rhem our.

-Doug Stewart, "To Buy or Nor ro Buy, Thar Is the Question ar Consumer Reports"

• 8 Compare and contrast. Just as comparison and contrasr can be used ro organize an entire paper, ir can also be useful for developing a para­graph when you have ro examine objecrs and ideas in relarion to each orher. Comparison and contrasr is a partern particularly helpful when you are evaluaring or arguing. You can use one or twO basic plans, either describing rhe things you are comparing one at a rime (subject by subject) or describing rhem in an alrernating sequence (ftature by feature). Here's a brief paragraph using rhe fearure-by-feature srrategy ro examine one differ­ence between jazz icon Louis Armstrong and dancer extraordinaire Fred Asraire.

The biggest difference between Armstrong and Asta.ire was that everything stopped with Asta.ire, while Armstrong opened up a new world of individuality that made it possible for many giants to follow in his wake. Mter Armstrong came Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, Lesrer Young, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Orne[[e Coleman. Who were the giants we saw emerge after Astaire? I say none. It seemed, once upon a rime, that Michael Jackson had the charisma and the flexibiliry ro take up where Astaire had left off, but rhat soon proved ro be a naive thoughr. Jackson devolved into a nar­cissistic mannequin who, insread of dancing, might just as easily have been doing exercises before a mirror. The vast province of American elegance that Astaire opened still awaits a talent of appro­pnare sIZe.

-Stanley Crouch, "Brorhers-in-Arrs," Slate, February 23, 2006

Writing Paragraphs That Look Good

12c Writing Paragraphs That Look Good

When you're drafting paragraphs, don't worry abour how long or short rhey are. When you start ro edir, however, it's time ro pay attention ro paragraph appearance, particularly length. Since the purpose of paragraphing is to chunk your ideas into manageable blocks for the reader, use your intuirion as you adapt paragraph length ro your audience.

Most readers are PUt off by long, unbroken stretches of print, especially when they appear on screen. A full page or screen with no paragraph divi­sions shouts "I am hard to read!" You need to provide either traditional para­graphing or other visual means of breaking up your text (such as skipped spaces or bulleted lists) to make information easier for readers to digesr.

.1 Break up unusually long paragraphs when you can. Here are places where paragraph breaks seem to come naturally:

'0 Shifts in time. Look for terrns such as first, later. next, now, then .

o Shifts in place. Look for terms such as across, another, beside, beyond,

here, there.

• Shifts in direction . Look for terms such as however, on the other hand, yet.

Shifts ro a new point. Look for terms such as a/so, another, in addition,

moreover.

.2 Use one-sentence or two-sentence paragraphs seldom, if at all . A paragraph is supposed to develop an idea, and that's hard ro do in JUSt one or two sentences. Save very shorr paragraphs for specific situations where they work well. For example:

• Articles printed in newspaper or newsletter columns Copy for a brochure

'" Reading material for young readers o Transitional devices between long paragraphs

The following example illustrates the last point.

The se[[ing [of the Palo Duro Canyon) was all the more remarkable because it wasn't rhe Grand Canyon, or even New Mexico or Colorado. I was in the Texas Panhandle, rypically maligned for its harsh weather, odiferous feedlots, and dull, wind-whipped landscape-flat as a tortilla and practically treeless.

What I was looking at was nothing like thar. The canyons of the Texas Panhandle are perhaps the most underap­

preciated natural phenomena in our state. One reason is that most of the canyon lands are privately owned, and access is restricted.

-Joe Nick Paroski, "Grand Canyon"

-112 113 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

STYLE MAP 5 Understanding the Shape of Paragraphs

The length of a paragraph is determined not only by the number of words or sentences in it, but also by where it appears. We expect paragraphs in newspapers-with their narrow columns-to be brief. If they weren't, those columns would fill up quickly with unbroken rows of print that many read­

ers would find unappealing. But put those same short paragraphs in differ­ent environments , and their appearance alters too. Consider how the shapes of paragraphs change in the three following versions of the same story from an issue of USA Today.

NASA plans to put abase on the moon by 2020 4-person crews would eventually stay for 6 months

l'C;:""­lII>SI<lNC!lII-_._

.. ~bl!rUl_,..I ... -'""-_..........='.~':= '''''- ­~"·U.lt..=--. ­... ....n~lOO4ttwfW.

-.~IIa · Itftwit--:e:~'" ~.""- ... ­Im-n:-e!2': ::-..;:t

""""'OT'*_,...,,__..__... ,.......- ­"'•......".. .•_ .._-...c,_-."fI'It_ .......____"""_ ••__......._t__ :::_",tn___............._ MAt.l MlUII:T: ........ _III __

( edt: .. «bfr !6WII" -..._SpKt5rDln.chdlDlUJ~tow..n , AOXIft_\lUMIlllJlNASIII

~..::== ~::f'=t::~1tdIIIWJtI.. hw.DiII .... ~~ ....1IIlIII, ftu(1II

:.et.*:t'::'=: :r:.::..n- etp!IIIt CUI I.tN NASA h4pC. t llll'tftlt, ....... ~... m. ... SI:t~,.lW1 c'( _ Wf)'~:IWtJir:_'1I' ..............:r..:..... ___.....=."'::- .....UCU=..~ ~~~-:1: ::re===-.."a::;2T,,,,":'t.'l:..-':: t".J'.:" - _.~~ia--~"-!hrIU!JA\-5.....at. ~ ..... ' .....,..r dwlmf«1lrf: _~<I!IBIDQD, ~JldI:-Dr" cn:m.... jpIICL _bir~.dIr:-';:-:un.

~A.~== ~""'4'~8!':; r:~~~= ~~~III*r~~

M .• Ia. ........ I

NASA plans to put a base on the moon by 2020 "' f'""'I -....,._V ::r::....=:==..":.=:==::.-:::..­=.::::.-::--.:e:.-==....==-==-...:-:.:::... ---~----_ ........'--' ..... __"' ..___io ___•

::=~w.:.:-_":":_':""--..-... ---••••• ........ -~ ... - ...,.j ....--~--.--. =-~-...----- ...--.... ..,.....-.___... ______..._t_...'~ _.-....---""""-....-..----_..­:.=-.-:==.=..~c:_-.......,.,..---... :r~~"=:..=-.:..:::==.::::--..

, _,--..,..---------.,--..._-_..-------__.- . ......-..-,..._.....--.--.-~~-.-~ ........ ----._..........--"'-----.---------- ­

Which version looks the most readable and appealing to you? Why) The first (top) is from the print version of the paper, the second (bottom, left) is the same article online, and the third (bottom, right) is the version you see on screen if you select the printer-friendly version.

Writing Opening Paragraphs

12d Writing Opening Paragraphs

Good opening paragraphs will vary greatly, depending on the writer's pur­pose and medium, but an effective opening should do these things:

• Get your readers' attenrion. ~ Lead them into your main idea(s). • Set the tone of your writing.

.1 Start with a direct statement that announces your topic to the reader. This kind of opening works especially well for arguments and

reports. Such a paragraph can even open a book, drawing a reader in with new or surprising information.

In 1938, near the end of a decade of monumental turmoil, the year's number-one newsmaker was not Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hitler, or

Mussolini. It wasn't Pope Pius XI, nor was it Lou Gehrig, Howard Hughes, or Clarke Gable. The subject of the most newspaper column inches in 1938 wasn't even a person. It was an undersized, crooked­legged racehorse named Seabiscuit.

-Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

.2 Catch the reader's attention and rouse curiosity with a nar­rative or an anecdote. Such openings work especially well in personal essays, magazine articles, and human-imerest stories in newspapers .

Tabienne Rogard JUSt started a job as an executive secretary ar one of France's biggest food companies, but she is not excited. This will be her tenth job in four years, and she already knows she will be looking for work again in six months .

-Edmund Andrews, "Only Employment for Many in Europe Is Part-time Work"

.3 Ask a question. A tantalizing question raises expectations about what is to come.

What draws us to one person as opposed to another? Those who study behavior seem to agree that friendship thrives on familiarity. Thus, although "opposites attract" (heterophily) some of the time, "birds of a feather flock together" (homophily) most of the rime.

-Letty Conin Pogrebin, Among Friends

.4 State the key facts. ,Let the essay or report take off from the basic evidence you have to offer.

114 115 Shaping Effective Paragraphs

Of all the problems besetring the poor inner-ciry black communiry, none is more pressing than that of interpersonal violence and aggres­sion. It wreaks havoc daily with the lives of communiry residents and increasingly spills over into downtown and residential middle-class areas. Muggings, burglaries, car-jackings, and drug-related shootings, all of which may leave their victims or innocent bystanders dead, are now common enough to concern all urban and many suburban resi­dents. The inclination to violence springs from the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor-the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, the stigma of race, and the resulting alienation and lack of hope for the future.

-Elijah Anderson, "The Code of the Streets"

12e Writing Closing Paragraphs

A good closing paragraph will tound off your essay and give readers a sense that the piece of writing has achieved its purpose.

.1 Summarize the main points you have made. You can con­clude with a paragraph that sums up your main points, adds punch, and reminds readers of the importance of your topic. The poet and professor Nikki Giovanni achieves all these goals in the last paragraph of an essay directed to African American college students.

It's really very simple. Educational progress is a national concern; edu­cation is a private one. Your job is nor to educate white people; it is to obtain an education. If you take the racial world on your shoulders, you will not get the job done. Deal with yourself as an individual wor­thy of respect, and make everyone else deal with you the same way. College is a little like playing grown-up. Practice what you want to be. You've been telling your parents you were grown. Now is your chance to act like it.

-Nikki Giovanni, "Campus Racism, 101"

2 Make a recommendation. A recommendation can bring an issue to closure. That recommendation might be quite specific, or it may be open-ended, as in the final paragraph of Jeremy Rifkin's book, The Biotech Century:

The biotech revolution will force each of us to put a mirror to our most deeply held values, making us ponder the ultimate question of the pur­pose and meaning of existence. This may turn Out to be its most impor­tant contribution. The rest is up to us.

Writing Closing Paragraphs

3 Link the closing paragraph to the opening paragraph. This elegant strategy gives your writing a frame. Here are the first and last para­graphs of an essay about living with the Internet:

Any significant social phenomenon creates a backlash. The Net is no exception. It is odd, however, that the loudest complaints are shouts of "Get a life"-suggesting that online living will dehumanize us, insulate us, and create a world of people who won't smell flowers , watch sunsets, or engage in face-to-face experiences. Out of this backlash comes a warning to parents that their children will "cocoon" and metamorphose into social invalids ....

But the current sweep of digital living is doing exactly the opposite. Parents of young children find exciting self-employment in the home. The "virtual corporation" is an oppof(uniry for tiny companies (with employees spread across the world) to work together in a global market and set up base wherever they choose. If you don't like centralist think­ing, big companies, or job automation, what better place to go than the Net? Work for yourself and get a life.

-Nicholas Negroponte, "Get a Life?"

4 Point out directions for future research or unresolved questions. Such closings acknowledge additional issues your topic raises.

Reading the arguments about assisted suicide reminded me of a line from Bertolt Brecht's The Three-Penny Opera: "First feed the face, and then talk right and wrong." As a general rule, that statement is itself wrong, of course, but it can serve as a salutary warning. First, provide decent health care for the living; then, we can have a proper debate about the moral problems of death and dying.

-Michael Walzer, "Feed the Face"