Paragraph and Essay Organization
Domain 4 concerns the architecture of exposition and argument: thesis, topic sentences, unity, coherence, and logical order. Questions present paragraphs or essay plans and ask which sentence to delete, move, or add, or which transition best signals the relationship between ideas.
Paragraph unity and coherence
- Each paragraph advances one controlling idea, stated or implied in a topic sentence and supported by evidence, examples, or explanation.
- Unity fails when a sentence introduces a second topic. Coherence fails when sentences are ordered illogically or lack connective links.
- Choose transitions for the actual relationship: addition (moreover), contrast (nevertheless), cause (consequently), example (for instance), concession (admittedly). A transition cannot repair a missing logical connection.
- Order evidence chronologically for narrative, spatially for description, and by emphasis for argument, placing the strongest point last.
Essay structure
- The thesis states a defensible claim, not a topic: Standardized testing should be limited to one sitting per year is arguable; Standardized testing is controversial is not.
- Body paragraphs typically open with a claim, present evidence, interpret it, and close by linking to the thesis.
- The conclusion restates the thesis in fresh terms and states the implication; it does not introduce a new argument or merely repeat the introduction.
Worked example
A paragraph arguing that cities should fund bike lanes includes: Most commuters travel under three miles, so short trips suit cycling. Then: My cousin bought a mountain bike last summer. Then: Protected lanes reduce injury rates. Reasoning: the cousin sentence is personal, unsupported, and unrelated to funding policy, so it breaks unity. Delete or replace it with commuting data.
Traps
- Placing a transition that signals contrast where the logic is addition.
- Writing a thesis so broad that no short essay could support it.
- Putting two main ideas in one paragraph and developing neither.
- Ending with a conclusion that introduces a new claim.