Paragraphing...
I don't usually spend time in 162 talking about the picky stuff, but I have to deal with paragraphing because a lot of you aren't paragraphing your material at all.
To offer the reader 500 words without paragraphing is like threatening to hit him over the head with a hammer. He recoils; he whimpers and begs you not to whap him; but you pull out that fat mega-paragraph and whap him with it anyway!
A failure to paragraph sets up a huge psychological resistance to reading in your audience--pretty much the opposite of the reaction a writer would like to have. It is a simple courtesy to the reader to carve the writing up and offer those bite-size pieces called paragraphs.
I don't know what other teachers did to so many of you to make you snakebit about paragraphing! But it's not a science; it's an art.
The rules are simple. If you move to a new topic, start a new graf. If you shift focus within the same topic, start a new graf. If a new piece of action begins, start a new graf. If speakers change in dialogue, start a new graf. If you feel like the damn paragraph has just gone on long enough, but none of the rules above seem to apply, go ahead and treat yourself: start a new graf.
It's not just the reader who is helped. The writer needs to be thinking not just of sentences but also of bigger chunks of writing--of paragraphs. Paragraphing helps you, the writer, to know what you're thinking and to organize better.
This hasn't suddenly turned into a punctuation-and-grammar type English class. The writing is still the important thing. But paragraphing is important to the writer--not as important as sentences, but in the same conceptual ballpark and not to be ignored completely. Paragraphing is not optional, is not a frill, is not just another dumb piece of teacher b.s. It's civilized, it's real, it's important, and it's not going away!
So, from now on--
If you aren't paragraphing: before I comment and before you can get course credit for your work, I will tell you to rewrite by paragraphing the piece.
To offer the reader 500 words without paragraphing is like threatening to hit him over the head with a hammer. He recoils; he whimpers and begs you not to whap him; but you pull out that fat mega-paragraph and whap him with it anyway!
A failure to paragraph sets up a huge psychological resistance to reading in your audience--pretty much the opposite of the reaction a writer would like to have. It is a simple courtesy to the reader to carve the writing up and offer those bite-size pieces called paragraphs.
I don't know what other teachers did to so many of you to make you snakebit about paragraphing! But it's not a science; it's an art.
The rules are simple. If you move to a new topic, start a new graf. If you shift focus within the same topic, start a new graf. If a new piece of action begins, start a new graf. If speakers change in dialogue, start a new graf. If you feel like the damn paragraph has just gone on long enough, but none of the rules above seem to apply, go ahead and treat yourself: start a new graf.
It's not just the reader who is helped. The writer needs to be thinking not just of sentences but also of bigger chunks of writing--of paragraphs. Paragraphing helps you, the writer, to know what you're thinking and to organize better.
This hasn't suddenly turned into a punctuation-and-grammar type English class. The writing is still the important thing. But paragraphing is important to the writer--not as important as sentences, but in the same conceptual ballpark and not to be ignored completely. Paragraphing is not optional, is not a frill, is not just another dumb piece of teacher b.s. It's civilized, it's real, it's important, and it's not going away!
So, from now on--
If you aren't paragraphing: before I comment and before you can get course credit for your work, I will tell you to rewrite by paragraphing the piece.
posted by johngoldfine | 10/14/2013 11:20:00 PM
1 Comments:
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