Entry #5 - Paragraph organization

Source: from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClvwNCja3aXxqiFrsKC1DPQ

Last visited June 5th 2020.

Any well written paragraph should have a:

1.       Topic sentence

             A)     It will tell what you are talking about

             B)      You should pick an interesting topic and give your opinion on it

             C)      Do not give details

2.       Body

             A)     It will give the supportive details and arguments

             B)      You can order the sentence by importance or chronology

3.       Closing sentence

             A)     It will re-state the topic sentence in a different way

             B)      It should keep your audience thinking

     

     Some examples: 

     (topic sentences)

     

     There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (from Debra Blank, "The Eternal Quest" [edited])

We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline. (from H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).

Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations. In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

      Source: University of Ottawa Writing Centre. Retrieved from:https://www.uottawa.ca/en. Available at: https://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/writing-paragraphs/review-topic-sentences. Last visited: June th, 2020.

      Examples of Topic Sentences and How to Write Them – Summary 

      Source:  https://blog.udemy.com/examples-of-topic-sentences/   Last visited June 10th, 2020

      

      The Topic Sentence is a crucial part of writing. The TS is used at the beginning of a paragraph. It tells your readers what that paragraph is going to be about. It works in a similar way as a thesis statement. The importance of the TS relies on the fact that it leads the readers into the points you will make without leaving them confused.

      Here are a few qualities that make for a good topic sentence:

•     Brevity
•     Clarity
•     Precision 

     Don'ts 

•     Don't use facts as topic sentences.
•     Don't just talk about the "what"(include the "why")
•     Don't say "I am going to tell you..." or "I am going to speak about..."
  

    Metacognitive analysis

        Learning and knowing how to properly write in an organized way is helpful not only for academic writing, but for writing in general. Regarding who our reader will be, with an organized and clear text we assure ourselves that our message will be, most probably, understood.  It is necessary to always keep in mind the important role cohesion and coherence play whenever we write, and not only pay attention to them when writing for academic purposes. I believe that if we use the tools we learn or we acquire in order to fulfill a task in our personal writings we could turn them into habits, increasing the level of our academic productions as a result. 

On another topic, I truly enjoyed working with this kind of “tutorial” videos. I personally use them a lot when I have trouble understanding something. They tend to be very clear and concise, which makes them really helpful. And the options to pause and review are extremely useful. Thus, the possibility of coming back to the video whenever it is necessary.