Logic and Structure

For the most part, we write paragraphs without a specific method or plan of organization. When you sit down to write, you don’t usually tell yourself, “I am going to write eight paragraphs that are four sentences long each.” Effective and mature writing is more organic.

Applying logic and structure to paragraphs comes in the revision stage. When you have completed a draft, one way to tackle organization and coherence in your revision is to study the logic and construction of individual paragraphs.

There are plenty of ways to classify these systems of logic and structure, but we’re going to look at four: rank order, spatial, chronological, and general to specific.^[1]

Rank Order

Paragraphs can be organized to build toward a main point, with the most important part of the message coming at the end. This last point is sometimes the key/topic sentence, but not always. This method of organization is useful in building up to a problem or claim that will be further developed in later paragraphs. Read the following example:

“While Blackboard does a lot to help students and teachers stay in contact, maintain a schedule, and share assignments and resources, there are still quite a few problems with the learning management system. Blackboard, for instance, seems to break down in many ways when users use Safari—the default browser for all Apple products. Problems also arise when students submit projects as .pages documents—a format the LMS does not support through its grading portal. Most importantly, however, many teachers use Blackboard differently, which can lead to confusion for students who are looking for a ‘uniform’ experience in their coursework across all of their classes.”

Spatial

Spatial organization for paragraphs makes sense for exposition or description. If you are describing the appearance of a sculpture or statue, it makes sense to write the description in a way that’s analogous to the appearance of the statue itself. Consider the following example:

“Attached to my back-bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as I enter. Just to the right of the rack, billowy white curtains frame a large window with a sill that ends just six inches from the floor. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, sitting to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a three-dimensional painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up much of the lavender wall.”^[2]

Chronological

Just like you would describe physical appearance using spatial paragraph organization, you would describe sequential events chronologically. If you were writing a paragraph about all the things you ate on Tuesday, it makes sense to start with breakfast and end with your midnight snack. Take a look at the following example:

“After the boycott, [Rosa] Parks and her husband moved to Hampton, Virginia, and later permanently settled in Detroit, Michigan. Parks’ work proved to be invaluable in Detroit’s Civil Rights Movement. She was an active member of several organizations which worked to end inequality in the city. By 1980, after consistently giving to the movement both financially and physically, Parks, now widowed, suffered from financial and health troubles. After almost being evicted from her home, local community members and churches came together to support Parks. On October 24th, 2005, at the age of 92, she died of natural causes, leaving behind a rich legacy of resistance against racial discrimination and injustice.”^[3]

General to Specific

A good metaphor for the general to specific method of organizing a paragraph is the top part of an hourglass. The top of the hourglass has a lot of sand, but only a small amount of sand passes through the middle. Consider the following example:

“Solutions for marine pollution include prevention and cleanup. Disposable and single-use plastic is abundantly used in today’s society, from shopping bags to shipping packaging to plastic bottles. Changing society’s approach to plastic use will be a long and economically challenging process. Cleanup, in contrast, may be impossible for some items. Many types of debris (including some plastics) do not float, so they are lost deep in the ocean. Plastics that do float tend to collect in large “patches” in ocean gyres. The Pacific Garbage Patch is one example of such a collection, with plastics and microplastics floating on and below the surface of swirling ocean currents between California and Hawaii in an area of about 1.6 million square kilometers (617,763 square miles), although its size is not fixed. These patches are less like islands of trash and, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, more like flecks of microplastic pepper swirling around an ocean soup. Even some promising solutions are inadequate for combating marine pollution. So-called “biodegradable” plastics often break down only at temperatures higher than will ever be reached in the ocean.^[4]