Academic Writing Standards for Effective Paragraphs

Any academic paper has paragraphs as its building blocks. As such, a student has to understand the best methods of constructing paragraphs for their academic writing to stand any chance of completing an influential academic paper. A paragraph implies the intellectual arguments or research blocks that bring together all the text. However, in academic writing, you have to adhere to specific writing rules where related ideas focus on one particular thought presented in a sentence sequence. The sequence often encompasses the topic sentence, body, token, besides the conclusion.   

Constituents of a Paragraph

  • Topic sentence. One key objective of your topic sentences entails opening the paragraph besides informing your readers concerning the principal focus besides the subject you cover in the section. As such, the signpost will let you offer a clue to the audience without any backward linking to materials already covered. Instead, you can link concepts with the assistance of the concluding sentences.  Additionally, try and become careful when using concluding sentences as the linking words have to demonstrate a smooth flow of ideas to ensure comprehension of your general argument. Therefore, ensure that your concepts or thoughts flow naturally with the specific prompts you provide to your readers. However, try and avoid a preview of the following paragraph.
  • Body sentence. It represents a vital component of a paragraph, and it aims at providing the crucial argument of the paragraph. For instance, when doing your research paper, try and ensure this section covers the needed results descriptions, reasoning, and the development of the implications. Additionally, it should present the theme elaboration, theoretical aspect explanations, besides formula elucidation. Such body sentences develop the core of the concepts stream. 
  • Token sentence. In most instances, you will find writers inserting tokens in their research to back their arguments up in a reasonable manner. Here, you do not have to put it in any particular spot or location and can instead scatter them between the paragraph’s body sentences. However, ensure that the area you decide to put them in provides the best value. So what do token sentences entail? Token sentences contain examples, references, quotations, and supporting statistics.
    Further, token sentences can serve as auxiliary attention points where you incorporate diagrams, tables, charts, corresponding analysis, etc. Such sentences come digressive as they have this inherent nature. For this reason, such sentences can lead your readers from your primary ideas contained in a specific paragraph. All these imply proper management of token sentence writing to ensure effectiveness, especially when you have multiple sentence sequences but without a body, sentence sandwiched in between.
  • Wrap sentence. It also gets referred to as the concluding sentence. It aims at uniting your argument within the paragraph. Such a sentence should incorporate considerable value to your view besides proving constructive. Avoid repetitions as much as the sentences develop links between paragraphs. 

A Reader’s Viewpoint of a Paragraphs

Most rational readers will view separate paragraphs differently.  Readers will want to understand the information contained within the paragraph as fast as possible. As such, they will endeavor to focus on aspects like wrap and topic sentences. After that, they will look at the body sentences before heading to the token sentences. It is from this point that the readers will return to other parts of the paragraph. 

You, therefore, have to ensure that you effectively develop your paragraph.  One of the popular pieces of advice you will get entails singling out the two sentences before matching them appropriately. It implies concentrating your efforts in developing the end and the beginning of the paragraphs to make them as effective as you can. Because of this, pay attention to aspects such as substantiality, the informative nature, potential improvements, and the overall flow.

Challenges in Developing an Operational Paragraph

  • The sentences from the onset of the paragraph lacking fresh ideas
  • The initial sentence in the paragraph is proving too formal, non-informative, unsubstantial, etc.

Conclusion

If you want to write effective paragraphs in your academic papers while in school, it would help if you considered the guidelines.

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