Thanks for your note!
I've answered your specific questions (in italics).
I probably should have indicated what I was responding to--specifically to someone's inquiry about rules as to length of paragraphs--that person's students insisted that 5 sentences constitute a paragraph. (I get the same contention from some of my freshmen, so it's evidently a theory that's out there.) Those students are really upset when we paragraph for conversation--a new paragraph for every speaker makes it quickly evident that not all paragraphs have 5 sentences.
I do insist on 11 sentences for the body paragraphs of an analysis or argumentation paper, for example. From week to week, the # of sentences "required" for an introductory or conclusion paragraph may vary, depending on what's being taught that week.
Interestingly enough, this 11-sentence requirement nearly always results, early in the semester, in students' going back to their pre-writing and supplementing it--I tell them they need about 25 notes for one good paragraph; they don't believe me at first. However, the attempt to get 11 sentences (majors/minors organization) often points them toward clustering and/or scratch outlining that is far more useful than then had imagined possible!
Wanda,
You just wrote two strong paragraphs that rather dramatically break your own rules. I assume that they say what you would like them to say and the number of sentences and organization of sentences at least roughly fit those purposes. Wouldn't a good student paper do the same thing? Yes--but I'm not writing an essay here; I'm responding to a question--almost a dialogue situation.
Is a final settling on ideas a first sentence decision, or can it come after long thinking and pondering? I prefer that thinking and pondering take place in the pre-writing and drafting stage.
Could you do the same thing without making the claim that a paper SHOULD fit that form? Of course--if "do the same thing" means "advocate for an 11-sentence paragraph."
Should we judge all writing by those standards? ALL writing? Poetry? Narrative? Drama? Advertising copy? Sermons? Toasts? Contracts? Not ALL. But in any persuasive or expository work, I'd ask for major supports for the main idea(s) and details to "prove" or support those major ideas.
Craig
WANDA VANGOOR wrote:
For what it's worth, I tell my college freshmen that for a paragraph to have power, it should be like a fist--it has a two-part topic sentence (the thumb: topic and assertion about that topic); 3 MAJOR supports for that assertion (the 3 middle fingers), each of which has at least 2 MINOR supports (the knuckles on those 3 fingers); and a clinching sentence (the pinkie) that touches base with the thumb (topic sentence). Obviously, I illustrate with my own fist.
By the end of the semester, they write introductory and conclusion paragraphs as well as this standard expository one. They will often write a paragraph with only two majors or one with 5 majors--but they get the idea. And then the move to a full 5-paragraph paper is pretty simple; it's just an extension of the fist-paragraph.
Hope this is helpful.
Wanda Van Goor
Professor
English Department
Prince George's Community College
301 Largo Road
Largo, MD 20774-2199
M3064--Telephone 301-322-0603
301-322-0549
Email: [log in to unmask]
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
