Unit 5: Writing Paragraphs 1

Units 5 and 6 deal with aspects of structure at paragraph and text level, and explain
how these help the readability of a text. They consider ways in which the writer may
achieve a sense of logical flow through the text. This enables the audience to read the
text more easily.

Paragraphs are used to separate ideas. Paragraphs are signals to the reader; they are a
way that the writer breaks up a text into manageable chunks for the reader. Academic
text usually contains complex ideas, theories, discussion etc. In order that such text is
comprehensible to its audience it needs to be well-structured; paragraphs help create
clarity.

A good writer will help the reader by making use of:

• headings, sub-headings and numbering

• paragraph breaks
• coherent paragraphs
• cohesive paragraphs.

1. Structuring a paragraph

There are certain conventions related to good paragraph writing in an academic

context.

• A paragraph deals with one topic and has a topic sentence which introduces
the main idea of the whole paragraph. This is usually the first or second
sentence of the paragraph. However, be aware when you read that experienced
writers may place the topic sentence at any point within a paragraph, or may
even omit it and imply rather than state the main idea.
• The topic sentence is followed by supporting sentences which develop the
main idea, by, for example, explaining, giving examples, giving evidence or
providing contrasting information.
• Each sentence should be linked to the previous sentence in some way. The
reader should not have to wonder what the relationship is between the two
sentences.
• A new main topic usually requires a new paragraph.
• Paragraphs should not be too short or too long. (If the paragraph is very short,
it is likely that the topic has not been sufficiently developed. If it is long, it
may be that more than one main topic has been introduced). Most paragraphs
in academic text tend to be between four and ten sentences, and 80 to 200
words.

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The following are examples of well-structured paragraphs with clearly linked ideas.
The shaded text shows the topic and the bold words show how the information is
connected.

Example:
Large IT companies are choosing Bangalore for one main reason, which is the
availability of well-educated computer-science professionals. The concentration of
such companies in the city is unparalleled almost anywhere in the world. A recent
survey shows that Bangalore has more than 150,000 software engineers. This is
slightly fewer than can be found in Silicon Valley.

Example:
Students have access to the computer room only when supervised; that is, students
may enter only if a teacher or other person responsible for the facility is present. This
policy has a number of advantages. For one, the enhanced security allows special
equipment, such as webcams and video equipment, to be left in place. A further
advantage is that the computer room can be set up for a specific purpose in advance
of a particular scheduled period. The students and teachers, therefore, can depend on
finding the facility in a ready-to-use condition at the start of each period. Another
benefit of supervised access is that the computers do not need the highest levels of
security, and hence can be used more flexibly.
Example:
It is worth noting that a number of scholars have questioned the validity of Cuba’s
health outcomes. Eberstadt (1988) and Mesa Lago (1969), for example, have drawn
attention to statistical inconsistencies in the country’s official outcomes and have
suggested the Cuban government may deliberately misrepresent statistics as a means
to promote a favourable image of the country’s socialist project. Other researchers,
including Feinsilver (1993), Santana (1988) and Waitzkin et al (1997), have affirmed
the accuracy and reliability of the outcomes. Others, such as McGuire and Frankel
(2005), agree that the country’s statistics are complete and reliable but have been
critical of the commonly held belief that the major improvements in Cuba’s health
statistics occurred after 1959.

2. Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence: The property of unity in a written text that stems from the relationship
between its underlying ideas, and from the logical organisation and development of
these ideas.

A paragraph has good coherence when ideas are arranged in a logical order.

Cohesion: the property of flow and connection in a written text that stems from the
linguistic links among its surface elements.

A paragraph has good cohesion when each sentence is clearly linked to the next
through language.

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Coherence and Cohesion mean that all of the parts are connected logically and
linguistically to form a whole.

(a) Coherent Order:

Paragraphs may be organised according to a sequence of time (chronological order),
space (describing something from top to bottom or foreground to background) or
arranging information in order of importance. Another common way of ordering
information in a paragraph is to present the most general information first and then
move on to focus on the more detailed, specific information.

(b) Cohesive devices:

Individual sentences can have connections within them. A word that connects parts of
a sentence is called a conjunction. The common coordinating conjunctions are: ‘and’,
‘but’, ‘or’, ‘yet’, ‘nor’. There are also subordinating conjunctions. These establish the
relationship between a dependent clause and the rest of the sentence. A few common
examples are: ‘as’, ‘because’, ‘whereas’, ‘in order that’, ‘since’, ‘although’.

Sentences within a paragraph may also be linked together. There are various ways of
linking one sentence to another:
• repetition of important words,
• substitution of pronouns e.g. ‘this’, ‘it’, ‘these’,
• substitution by synonyms (words with nearly the same meaning),
• using linking words or phrases which show the relationship between
ideas, e.g. ‘however’ indicates a contrast, ‘in addition’ gives more
information,
• using grammatical words, especially articles, e.g. ‘the’ may refer back to
a specific noun previously mentioned.

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 The linking words such as ‘however’, ‘moreover’, ‘nevertheless’,
‘consequently’, ‘as a result’ are used to express complex relationships between
ideas

Here is a table of the more common linking words organised into broad
categories of meaning. Also, some of these words appear in more than one
category, and not all words in the same category are interchangeable.

cause and
therefore, thus, consequently, hence, as a result of
effect
also, and, and then, equally important, finally, first,
addition further, furthermore, in addition, in fact, in the first
place, last, moreover, next, second
comparison also, in the same way, likewise, similarly
and yet, at the same time, even so, for all that,
contrast and
however, in contrast, in spite of this, instead,
concession
nevertheless, on the other hand, yet
emphasis certainly, indeed, in fact
example or for example, in conclusion, in other words, namely,
illustration specifically, that is, to illustrate, thus
in brief, in other words, in particular, in summary,
summary
in short, on the whole, that is, therefore
eventually, finally, in the first place, in the past,
time sequence last, next, second, simultaneously, so far,
subsequently, then, thereafter, until now
For a detailed list see:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/transitions.htm

Below, we have two paragraphs which deal with dating advertisements. The first
paragraph is about the present popularity of such advertisements, and the second is
about why they may be a useful area for sociological research.

The bold words show the connections between and within sentences, and between the
two paragraphs.

Example:
In spite of the recent increase in divorce and the dramatic rise in single person
households, contemporary society still privileges couples and espouses the virtues of
‘family values’. The plight of single adults who are without partners, however,
remains largely ignored. Those in paid work spend long hours either furthering a
career or merely hanging on to an existing job, whilst those without work are
frequently debarred from normal participation in social life through lack of money
and sufficient opportunities for sociability. Hence the notion that ‘boy meets girl’
with relative ease is, perhaps, an enduring aspect of social mythology. Nevertheless,
so many people now resort to advertising in newspapers, magazines, and a range of

Unit 5: Page 4 of 6
electronic media for the purpose of meeting a partner, that such methods have
become a well-established and socially acceptable procedure.

Although dating advertisements are currently very popular, they remain an

under-researched area, especially within sociology. Little is known, therefore, about
those using such means to establish new relationships nor what they say when
producing descriptions of themselves for selective consumption by others in the dating
market place. Yet dating advertisements can be a revealing site for examining the
social construction of identities, and they can provide clear insights into advertisers’
idealisations of themselves, for example, in terms of physical attributes, age,
personalities and interests.

Here is another, longer example of a well-structured text. Again, the bold words
show the connections between sentences and between the paragraphs.

Example:
We need to ask, though, how important this relationship is for explaining patterns of
poverty in the United States and for guiding policy. Should we conclude, as
development economists conclude when they look at poverty and economic
development across countries, that per capita income differences among states or
other political entities are essentially the whole story of poverty? Should we
conclude, as they do, that attention to development will solve poverty problems?
There are three ways of approaching the problem that suggest that this conclusion
would not be correct.

A first approach is to look at the relationship between the number of poor in a state
and its per capita income. The largest number of poor in any state is found in
California, which ranks 14/51 in per capita income. Half the poor in the US are
found in eight states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Ohio and Georgia. With the exception of Texas, which ranks 33 in per capita income,
all these states are in the top half of the per capita income distribution; indeed six of
the eight are in the top quarter of the per capita income distribution. This finding
reflects both a high level of inequality and thus relatively high poverty rates in rich
states like New York and California. It also reflects the fact that many of the richer
states are quite large, so that even with average or below poverty rates—as in Illinois
and Michigan—they are home to large numbers of poor.

Another way of looking at these relationships is to ask what proportion of the poor
live in poor states as defined by per capita income. For this calculation we ranked
the states by per capita income, and then examined the group of low income states
whose cumulative population numbers came to about a quarter of the country. In the
US this procedure identified twenty states, ranging from Mississippi with a per capita
income of $15,853 to Iowa with a per capita income of $19,674.7 (The US average in
2000 was $21,587.) The group includes states in the deep south, Maine, and some
mountain, plains and mid-western states, for example, the Dakotas and New Mexico.
These twenty US states included 24 percent of the population and 29 percent of the
poor. In other words, the percentage of the poor living in poor states is not much
higher than the overall percentage of the population (or of the non-poor) living in

Unit 5: Page 5 of 6
those states. It is also worth noting that while 29 percent of the US poor live in these
poor states, 71 percent do not.

A third approach is to examine two important historical divisions in income and

poverty and ask what has happened to them over time: between rural and urban
areas, and between the south and the rest of the country. In 1959 …

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