Science 311 Tutorial: Considering Paragraph Structure
Coral hard cover is a general term for a coral reef that is associated with the
framework or structure of the reef itself and refers to the variety of corals that
build the reef that are composed of a precipitated calcium carbonate lattice (Done
2011). Hard cover is susceptible to damage during high energy events such as
hurricanes, but the degree of destruction to hard cover varies with hurricane
strength and distance between a particular reef and the track of the hurricane with
largest destruction occurring closest to the storm system (Gardner et al. 2005).
Gardner et al. (2005) discovered that coral hard cover declined an average of
17.5% in the year following a major impact of a hurricane versus the year prior to
the hurricane. They also discovered that hard cover destruction was three times
greater in areas that experienced a hurricane in the decade before the study period
and during the study period versus areas that experienced only one hurricane in the
study period and none prior to the study perio d. Not only have researchers noticed
that hard cover diminished, but also noticeable decreases in reef rugosity occurred .
Alvarez-Filip (2011) discovered architectural complexity, or rugosity, declined
significantly in areas impacted during their study per iod. Rugosity is determined as
a ratio of the lateral dimension in proportion to the vertical dimension of the coral
and is defined on a scale of one to three with flat tabular shapes having rugosity of
one and elegant branching types of rugosity three (Alvarez-Filip 2011). They
discovered rugosity declined significantly in areas that were impacted during their
study period due to the fact that complex corals of rugosity greater than two are
known as branching corals and branching corals are complex structu res that are
easily fragmented or completely destroyed when impacted by strong waves . During
a hurricane, the base of a wave, known as wave base, increases substantially and
begins to influence fair-weather zones beneath the water surface (Wright and
Walker 1981). These fair-weather zones are areas that during non-stormy periods
are protected by the water column above and have stable settings in which
branching corals grow. When the wave base increases, fair -weather zones are now
susceptible to the impact of a hurricane and fragmentation can readily occur.
Branching corals can compose significant proportions of reef ecosystems that have
not experienced a hurricane in over a decade (Alvarez -Filip et al. 2009). These
elegant reefs are noted as having an overall rugosity value greater than two and a
half when compared to reefs that are commonly impacted by hurricanes or have
had a hurricane during their study period which have a rugosity value less than one
and a half (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2011). Rugosity decimation minimizes the variety of
fish species that are found in reef settings because branching corals provide more
protection and habitat for fish to survive. Ultimately, rugosity declines will impact
the diversity of the Caribbean ecosystem.
Step 1: Identify the topic sentence (take-home message) in the sample paragraph.
i. Identify and UNDERLINE the sentence in the sample paragraph that states the takehome message (i.e. the topic sentence).
ii. Does it clearly describe the goal of the paragraph? Briefly explain your answer.
iii. Make sure all information in the paragraph is related to the topic sentence.
Highlight in YELLOW one example of information that doesn’t relate directly to the take-home
message. Think about whether the information is just not strongly linked or if it belongs in a
different paragraph.
Step 2: Examine the flow of the paragraph and consider coherence.
i. Is the topic sentence logically located in the paragraph? Explain why or why not.
ii.
iii.
Highlight three examples of coherence tools in GREEN (outside of the topic sentence).
Are the ideas in this paragraph logically connected together? Briefly explain.
Step 3: Look for an appropriate balance of evidence and analysis in the paragraph; a strong
paragraph will use both.
i.
BOLD two sentences that contain evidence.
ii. Is the evidence in number or descriptive format? How could this be improved?
iii.
iv.
Highlight in LIGHT BLUE any statements that contain analysis.
Comment on the analysis statements you were able to identify. Has analysis been used
to directly compare results from two or more research papers? Give one example of
where an analysis statement could be added to help improve the flow of ideas and to
strengthen support for the topic sentence.