1. Organizing information
Topic sentences and paragraphing
Adapted from:
1) Turner, Dorothy. Writing Topic Sentences. University of Ottawa.
2) Academic Writing in English website (
3) Johnson-Sheehan, Richard (Dr.), Purdue OWL, ppt. How to Achieve Coherence at a Micro level ( to Achieve Coherence at a Micro Level)

2. CONTENT Topic sentences Analysing a topic sentence
Developing and building paragraphs
Presenting information

3. TOPIC SENTENCES
A topic sentence (or a focus sentence) organizes an entire paragraph.
Works in two directions simultaneously:
relates the paragraph to the essay's thesis, acting as a signpost for the argument of the paper as a whole
defines the scope of the paragraph itself.
A topic sentence (or a focus sentence) organizes an entire paragraph.
Include one in most of your major paragraphs.
Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often appear at the beginning.
Think of a topic sentence as working in two directions simultaneously:
it relates the paragraph to the essay's thesis, acting as a signpost for the argument of the paper as a whole
it also defines the scope of the paragraph itself.

4. Analyzing a topic sentence
Topic sentence = #1 (but not always!)
general statement
wider in its scope than the rest of the sentences in that paragraph.
should be general enough so that it can be supported by specific details in later sentences.
Topic sentences should always contain both a topic and a controlling idea. The topic typically occurs before the verb and is what the paragraph is about, while the controlling idea is what you want to say about the topic.
The controlling idea should be repeated (preferably, in subject position) in each of the sentences that follow the topic sentence

5. The topic sentence… …introduces a new topic,
The Finnish higher education system consists of universities and polytechnics
enumerative (listing) paragraph
There are a number of good reasons for immigrating to Finland.
or a claim of some sort.
Finnish is an easy language to learn

6. What’s the topic sentence here?
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.

7. For more information on topic sentences…

8. Developing paragraphs
Paragraphs can be used to narrate, describe, compare and contrast or analyze information
A paragraph is well-structured when every sentence develops the point made in the topic sentence.
It must have a single focus and it must contain no irrelevant facts.
Every sentence must contribute to the paragraph by explaining, exemplifying, or expanding the topic sentence.
"What main point am I trying to convey here?" (topic sentence)
"Does every sentence clearly relate to this idea?"

14. Building paragraphs
There are several ways in which you can build good, clear paragraphs:
Constant pattern
progressive pattern
hypertopic pattern
Split pattern

15. Constant
This is the most common and easiest form of paragraph development: you simply expand on a general topic sentence using examples or illustrations.

16. Progressive
Process description often follows a chronological sequence

17. Hypertopic
This is used when giving more specific subtypes of the main subject. Could replace a list.
superordinate
subordinate

18. Split topic method can be used - one point for A, then 1 point for B

19. Example – what kind of development?
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.

20. Hypertopic? Business school professors perennially debate over
Superordinate
Hypertopic?
subordinate
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.

21. Presenting information in a paragraph 1
’givennew’ principle
Introduction to physics or Quantum physics?
Familiar information or new information?
The brain responds to ’old’ information first. It is easier to process the ’new’ information based on the ’old’ information.

22. Example – can you find the given-new?
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.

23. Notice the Given-New structure
Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.
The paragraph was taken from two previous PowerPoints on issues in technical writing. In “Five Principles of Readability,” this paragraph was used to demonstrate the given-new method of sentence structure. In “Intraparagraph Organization,” this paragraph introduced the Topic-Restriction-Illustration (T-R-I) method of paragraph organization.
A presenter might point out how these methods of paragraph organization function concurrently. The presenter can emphasize that some systems of organization are not mutually exclusive. Rather, many times, two systems of organization can work in tandem to make a paragraph readable.
Click mouse to advance slide.
new information = red old information = blue

24. Presenting info 2 ’light before heavy’ = short simple subject first.
Nouns  building blocks of a sentence.
Noun phrases  one head noun + a lot of stuff defining it.
These can be veeerrrrrrryyyyy long.
7+2 principle – we can’t remember much past the 9th word of a sentence

25. What’s wrong with this sentence?
1Numerous government agencies have requested new technologies for use in government-certified Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) that screen checked luggage for aircraft 2 We have shipped the Enivironmental Protection Agency's National Homeland Security Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio an EDS system.

26. New and improved… We have shipped an EDS system to
the Enivironmental Protection
 Agency's National Homeland
Security Research Center in
Cincinnati.

27. How do I know when to start a new paragraph?
You should start a new paragraph :
when you begin a new idea or point.
to contrast information or ideas.
when your readers need a pause.
when you are ending your introduction or starting your conclusion.
Taken from:

28. Back to the reference article
Switch papers with the person sitting next to you. Choose a paragraph and try to:
Identify the topic sentence.
Which method was used to develop the paragraph (Detail? Compare/contrast? Process? Combo?)
Check how the information is organized in each sentence. Do they follow the givennew, light before heavy principles?

29. Homework
Pick 3 paragraphs in your reference article and go through it for things we looked at today.
Hand them in for the next class (scan/original)
Text book reading –
Chapter Organizing paragraphs
Chapter Academic Style
Chapter Academic Vocabulary

30. Practice text 1 Business school professors perennially debate over
whether maintaining an old employee is more costly
than hiring a new one. The issue has strong proponents on
each side. Human resource experts maintain that keeping
an old employee requires fewer man hours for training and
orientation. However, management gurus insist
that having the right person in the right position increases
the overall productivity of a team or workgroup. Between
these two arguments are the economists who study new
hiring practices in a company-specific context.

31. Practice text 2
1Numerous government agencies have requested new technologies for use in government-certified Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) that screen checked luggage for aircraft 2 We have shipped the Enivironmental Protection Agency's National Homeland Security Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio an EDS system.