Structure your paragraphs - Do yourself a favour on assignments and exams

Hi, here I am again. In this blog, I'd like to talk about academic writing style. In exams and assignments, this is a problem for a number of students. Sometimes, this can be a problem for distance learners for a variety of reasons. The biggest problem is that informal writing dominates our world in newspapers, office memos and our lives. We forget that (a) arguments take time to develop and (b) the one sentence paragraph does not develop arguments.

Read a newspaper column; how many of those sentences begin with and, but and or? Look again, how many one sentence paragraphs do you find? Now, think back, way back to the elementary/junior school years. Do you remember a teacher explaining to you that "one sentence paragraphs are for a special effect." The same thing applied to the use of "and, but and or" at the beginning of sentences. Moreover, the teacher was usually talking about 'creative compositions', that is compositions in which we wrote stories and descriptions. Think again, how effective is the strategy of the one sentence paragraph if that is all you do?

Another unfortunate problem, the opposite of the one sentence paragraph, is the terrifying one paragraph paper. This assignment is not divided into logical units or paragraphs. Everything is stuck together in a disorganized mess. The tutor (or the marker who should concern you all) must search through this disorganized material trying desperately to find points that relate to the assignment. Assignments should never be a challenge for the markers/tutors. Markers/tutors want to find relevant points on the topic quickly. This is particularly true of exams by the way. Structure your argument into paragraphs and make reading your assignments easier.

An academic argument is formal and should be presented in structured paragraphs within a format that defends the points of your argument. Academic paragraphs are structured like this:

1. The topic sentence. This sentence presents your main argument. It relates to the main argument of your assignment/essay question.

2. Supporting documentation. Next, you present evidence from the academic articles/journal articles that you have read to support the point that you are trying to make. It is not enough to write: 'so and so [fill in the appropriate name] believes my argument above to be true'. This is unsubstantiated reasoning: I say it and John says it, therefore it must be true. The point is, why it is true? Make sure your data backs up the arguments you make. For example, if you say that the head of Apple has a charismatic leadership style, you must show from the journal articles you've researched what this actually means in terms of charismatic leadership and how it applies to the head of Apple.

3. Discuss the data. This part of the academic paragraph is crucial. Explain or analyse how the data you have just presented supports your argument in the first paragraph. You can also relate it to the main argument. This may take one or two sentences. However, if you do not analyse your argument you have not demonstrated that you can think critically. You can also link ideas together to come up with original concepts (synthesize ideas) or review your data and discuss their relevance to the subject (evaluation). Doing this demonstrates that you are thinking critically.

4. Link the argument to the next concept. Create order inside your assignment. Anticipate the next point and link it to the points you are making. The reader should be able to follow your argument. When you read all your topic sentences in your assignment or essay in order, they should form a coherent argument.

Returning to my first point, when you create order from the chaos of the material you present in assignment, you do yourself a favour. You do your tutors and markers a favour. This makes it easier for tutors and markers to give you better grades because they understand the logic behind your arguments. They can locate them in a structure because they are presented clearly so that your major points can be seen. When you do this, you will also see this order and develop your own 'evaluative' abilities. You will walk out of exams or hand in assignments knowing that you have achieved your goals.