{"id":726,"date":"2017-08-20T05:19:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T05:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/?p=726"},"modified":"2017-08-20T05:19:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T05:19:59","slug":"revising-paragraphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/revising-paragraphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Revising Paragraphs"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"726\" class=\"elementor elementor-726 elementor-bc-flex-widget\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-jjfkibw elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-min-height elementor-section-items-top elementor-section-content-top elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"jjfkibw\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-narrow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-hjwxjfz\" data-id=\"hjwxjfz\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dsyiotm elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"dsyiotm\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-medium\">Professor David Zimmerman,  English<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-nrhayvn elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"nrhayvn\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-tyferdp\" data-id=\"tyferdp\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-qkcebvf elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"qkcebvf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Topic sentences are the most important sentences of your essay. They provide the scaffolding or frame for your argument. The function of a <u>body paragraph<\/u> in an analytical essay is to <u>develop a single idea or claim<\/u> that advances the essay\u2019s argument. This idea or claim should anchor the paragraph\u2019s <u>topic sentence<\/u>. The topic sentence should be the first (or occasionally, second) sentence of the paragraph. It gives the reader a preview and summary of the paragraph. It clearly guides the reader from the previous paragraph\u2019s discussion to this new one. It often signals where the reader is within the overall argument.<\/p><ol><li><strong> Make a list of your topic sentences.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol><p>Read in a row, the topic sentences should present a clear picture of your argument and how it develops. Use the author\u2019s name to ensure that you keep our focus on what the <em>author<\/em> (as opposed to a character) is doing.<\/p><p><u>A list of topic sentences from an essay<\/u>:<\/p><ul><li>Dreiser overtly invokes the formulas of biography and biographical fiction in order to mark how he moves beyond them.<\/li><li>Dreiser shows how conventional biography and fiction, because of the artificiality of their closure, turn their protagonists\u2019 lives into moral fables, narrative molds too rigid, formally and ethically, to contain \u201clife as it is, the facts as they exist\u201d (121).<\/li><li>The ending of <em>The Financier<\/em> illustrates this. Dreiser abandons the obligation felt by most fiction writers to construct an ending that frames the protagonist\u2019s life as a moral drama. Instead, Dreiser . . .<\/li><li><em>The Financier<\/em> rejects the formal\u2014that is, moral\u2014expectations not only of biographical fiction but also of biography.<\/li><li>Dreiser calls attention to the limitations of conventional biographical and fictional accounting not only in the way he ends (or fails to end) the novel but also in the way he forestalls this ending by encumbering the narrative with \u201cthe sheer mass of detail\u201d (65) that reviewers found exasperatingly redundant and wearisome.<\/li><li>Dreiser thus enables us to see the limits of conventional financial, legal, and ethical accountability.<\/li><\/ul><p><u>Another list of topic sentences from a different essay<\/u>:<\/p><ul><li>Through the narrator\u2019s constant attention to Ligeia\u2019s eyes\u2014which ignite and continually fuel his imagination\u2014Poe establishes the image of the inherently beautiful, mysterious, and powerful eyes not only as an apparent encapsulation of feminine beauty but also as a source of narrative energy that impels the narrator to press forward with his fevered account. In order to discover the source of her beauty, the narrator begins with . . .<\/li><li>Poe uses the narrator\u2019s detailed and descriptive obsession with Ligeia\u2019s eyes\u2014which shifts the reader\u2019s focus away from the physical aspects of her eyes and towards the internal thinking of the \u201cI\u201d of the narrator\u2014in order to reveal the motivations of the male ego.<\/li><li>In the moments when the narrator openly submits to Ligeia\u2019s authority and superiority over him, Poe demonstrates man at one extreme side of his internal struggle in his tendency and willingness to emasculate himself.<\/li><li>Poe further emphasizes the tumultuous and bitter struggle of man\u2019s desire by displaying the narrator\u2019s response to his own passiveness, which materializes as an alternative need to control a docile and permissive female.<\/li><li>Poe complicates the narrator\u2019s pure testaments towards absolute domination or submission when the narrator experiences the two separate feelings at the same time.<\/li><li>Through the resurrection of Ligeia at the end of the story, Poe indicates the triumph of feminine beauty over the masculine ego, as the narrator submits his ambition and imagination to the intrinsic power of Ligeia\u2019s eyes.<\/li><\/ul><ol start=\"2\"><li><strong> Outline each paragraph: make every sentence count.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol><p>Every sentence in a paragraph has a <u>function<\/u>. Each sentence advances the idea or aim of the previous sentence in a specific way: it <em>extends, clarifies, nuances, exemplifies, specifies, or qualifies<\/em> it. For <u>each paragraph<\/u>, I recommend <u>outlining the points you want to make and the textual moments you want to discuss<\/u>. This allows you to avoid needlessly repeating yourself. It also allows you to see which points require the most discussion and clarification, and which points are subordinate to other points. <\/p><ol start=\"3\"><li><strong> Use transition phrases to signal <em>how<\/em> one sentence follows from or develops the point of the one before it. <\/strong><\/li><\/ol><p>Use transition phrases to convey <em>addition<\/em> (e.g., \u201cmoreover\u201d)<em>, comparison<\/em> (e.g., \u201csimilarly\u201d),<em> concession<\/em> (e.g., \u201cof course\u201d),<em> contrast <\/em>(e.g., \u201cat the same time\u201d),<em> emphasis <\/em>(e.g., \u201cindeed\u201d), <em>example or illustration<\/em> (e.g., \u201cfor instance\u201d),<em> summary <\/em>(e.g.,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cin short\u201d), and<em> time sequence <\/em>(e.g., \u201cafterwards\u201d). For a full list of transition phrases and some excellent counsel about how to produce coherent, flowing paragraphs, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/grammar.ccc.commnet.edu\/grammar\/transitions.htm\">grammar.ccc.commnet.edu\/grammar\/transitions.htm<\/a>.<\/p><ol start=\"4\"><li><strong> Cap off your paragraphs: make sure we see the payoff or point of each paragraph.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol><p>At the end of each body paragraph, if it\u2019s not already obvious, clarify how the point you\u2019ve just discussed advances your argument (about what the author is saying or showing about a particular problem, question, or topic).<\/p><p>Example:<\/p><p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">By allowing Wieland to believe he has knowledge of God\u2019s will, Brocken Brown <u>further<\/u> suggests that Wieland can never know the future because he cannot account for forces outside of his limited control, including his own predisposition to madness and Carwin\u2019s trickery. <u>Accordingly<\/u>, Brocken Brown uses Wieland\u2019s example to illustrate how yielding one\u2019s future to divine authority is reckless and stems from dissatisfaction with the present state of things.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Professor David Zimmerman, English Topic sentences are the most important sentences of your essay. They provide the scaffolding or frame for your argument. The function of a body paragraph in an analytical essay is &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[16,30,31,103,98],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coaching-students-to-succeed-with-assignments","tag-advice","tag-english","tag-general","tag-paragraphs","tag-revision"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":728,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/wac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}