Writing Fundamentals: Organization
WRITE Rubric: Able to order major points in a reasonable and convincing manner.
Paragraph organization
Paragraph components:
5 sentences
Topic sentence
Correlating sentences
Quotes/Examples
Every paragraph in a paper should be:
Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a single controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the paragraph).
Clearly related to the thesis
Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development
Well-developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph's controlling idea
Paragraph formation
Decide on a controlling idea and create a topic sentence
Paragraph development begins with the formulation of the controlling idea. This idea directs the paragraph's development
Explain the controlling idea
Paragraph development continues with an expression of the rationale or the explanation that the writer gives for how the reader should interpret the information presented in the idea statement or topic sentence of the paragraph.
Give an example (or multiple examples)
Paragraph development progresses with the expression of some type of support or evidence for the idea and the explanation that came before it.
Explain the example(s)
The next movement in paragraph development is an explanation of each example and its relevance to the topic sentence and rationale that were stated at the beginning of the paragraph. This explanation shows readers why you chose to use this/or these particular examples as evidence to support the major claim, or focus, in your paragraph.
Complete the paragraph's idea or transition into the next paragraph
The final movement in paragraph development involves tying up the loose ends of the paragraph and reminding the reader of the relevance of the information in this paragraph to the main or controlling idea of the paper.
Example
Slave spirituals often had hidden double meanings. On one level, spirituals referenced heaven, Jesus, and the soul, but on another level, the songs spoke about slave resistance. For example, according to Frederick Douglass, the song "O Canaan, Sweet Canaan" spoke of slaves' longing for heaven, but it also expressed their desire to escape to the North. Careful listeners heard this second meaning in the following lyrics: "I don't expect to stay / Much longer here. / Run to Jesus, shun the danger. / I don't expect to stay." When slaves sang this song, they could have been speaking of their departure from this life and their arrival in heaven; however, they also could have been describing their plans to leave the South and run, not to Jesus, but to the North. Slaves even used songs like "Steal Away to Jesus (at midnight)" to announce to other slaves the time and place of secret, forbidden meetings. What whites heard as merely spiritual songs, slaves discerned as detailed messages. The hidden meanings in spirituals allowed slaves to sing what they could not say.
Choose one of the below essay prompts to answer.
1. Compare the historical processes of empire building in the Spanish maritime empire during the period from 1500s (16th century) through 1700s (18th century) with the historical processes of empire building of either the land-based Ottoman Empire OR maritime Dutch empire.
2. Read Cortes' accounts of the Spaniards' initial encounter with the Aztecs. What did Spanish he think was most interesting about the Aztecs? Why does Cortes place such an emphasis on religious customs? How does this excerpt demonstrate deterriolization by the Spanish empire?
3. Analyze the social and economic transformations that occurred in the Atlantic world as a result of new contacts (people, food, disease, etc.) among Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas from 1500s (16th century) through 1700s (18th century).
4. Choose two of the following religions, Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam, and answer the following questions: Why was this religion revitalized in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? In which parts of the world did each of these faiths expand most vigorously?
5. Compare the effects of Enlightenment ideologies on North American societies with those on European societies during the period.
6. Imperialism is a violent enterprise. Compare and contrast at least two empires and the way in which they used violence to establish
or maintain their overseas colonies.