Paragraph
Cohesion
Dr. Heather Blain Vorhies
hblain@umd.edu
Office of Writing Initiatives
The Graduate School
WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH?
One-Minute Essay
Using only one side of the index card,
describe what makes a paragraph.
In other words, what makes a paragraph
different from a bunch of sentences
grouped together?
Label this side of the index card #1.
UNITY
A paragraph treats one controlling idea.
• A paragraph must have unity. Each sentence within the
paragraph contributes to one controlling idea.
• Readers need to be able to easily discern what this
controlling idea is and how all other ideas relate to it.
What is the controlling
idea?
Glossing the controlling idea
All sentences contribute to the controlling idea.
Paragraph Structure
ORGANIZATION
Paragraphs show hierarchies of ideas.
General  Specific
Paragraph Organization
It can be useful to
think of your
paragraphs as needing
a claim, evidence, and
analysis.
Not every paragraph
will have this
structure, but most
should.
Claims/evidence/analysis
COHESION
Making sentences family.
• This is also referred to as the Known/New
contract or as the Topic/Comment pattern.
• The first sentence of the paragraph sets up the
pattern.
Old  New Information
Flow
Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been
raised by scientists studying black holes in space. The collapse of a
dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble creates a
black hole. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes
the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.
Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been
raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is
created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger
than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume
changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways
An example from Williams
• Begin sentences
with information
familiar to your
readers.
• End sentences
with information
readers cannot
anticipate.
From Style: Lessons in
Clarity and Grace
Alexander Bain
How to Revise
Old  New
No information flow
• Up to the time of Darwin,
Lamarck was the only
biologist to develop a
theory of organic
evolution in extensive
fashion. Its failure as a
scientific theory was
discussed in the last
chapter.
• Up to the time of Darwin,
the only biologist to develop
a theory of organic
evolution in extensive
fashion was Lamarck. The
last chapter demonstrated
how much a failure was this
scientific theory.
An example from Gopen
Re-write a paragraph of your own,
revising for the old  new information
flow.
Revision Practice
Sample Text
• Glossing
• Work template sentences into your writing
• Keep in mind that most template sentences
from They Say/I Say will need to be adjusted
for your field and for the graduate level
• What’s best is to build your own template
sentences from literature in your field (“Prior
work on X has been reported by Y…”)
Some Other Revision
Techniques
A FEW GOOD RESOURCES
Campus, Web, and Print Resources
One-on-One Writing Consultation for Graduate Students
www.gradwritingfellows.umd.edu
Writing Fellows
•
•
•
•
•
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab
University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center Website
University of North Carolina Writing Center Website
Helen Sword’s The Writer’s Diet
Anthony Melchiorri’s The Science of Science Writing
workshop
Web Resources
• The Sense of Structure: Writing From the Reader’s
Perspective (George D. Gopen)
• Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Joseph Williams and
Joseph Bizup)
• Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your
Writing (Joe Glaser)
• The Science of Scientific Writing (In your articles
module)
• The Art of Science Writing (In your articles module)
Print Resources
Using the back side of your index card, write a
one-minute essay to the same question with
which we began this workshop.
What makes a paragraph a paragraph?
Label this side #2. Be sure to give me the index
card on your way out.
One-minute Essay