fromtheuk
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject: What is a paragraph? |
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My good name has been attacked on this forum, it has been alleged I don't know what a paragraph is and I don't use paragraphs in my threads.
Please read the following article and look at all of my threads (if you can be bothered, I know I can't) and you'll see that low and behold, I use paragraphs! So there!
What is a paragraph?
One of the central components of a paper is the paragraph. When most students think of a paragraph, they hold onto the old myths about length: a paragraph is at least 5 sentences, a paragraph is half a page, etc. A paragraph, however, is "a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit" (Lunsford and Connors 116). Length or appearance is not a factor in determining whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. In fact, it is not the number of sentences that construct a paragraph, but the unity and coherence of ideas among those sentences. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be one sentence. Ultimately, strong paragraphs contain a sentence or sentences unified around one central, controlling idea. When the paragraph reaches completion, it should serve to bring the reader into your paper and guide his/her understanding of what has been read. Whether that completion happens with one sentence or with twenty, the end result is still a paragraph.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/paragraphs.html |
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