UNITY is one of the more important concepts in writing. What’s unity? Well, unity is oneness. In writing, unity is oneness of purpose. We can sum up unity in writing with one question: What’s your point? Everything must speak to that point in some way to achieve unity of purpose.
Writers seek UNITY throughout the writing process whether they know it or not. I doubt most skilled writers know just how much they focus on unity as they write. Experienced writers tend to develop a natural gut instinct for how repulsive disunity or poor unity is.
Most writers probably don’t think about the fact that every time they (1) divide/indent, (2) delete, (3) add, or (4) combine, they have made a unity decision.
Unity in paragraphs is a critical component of coherence. The opposite effect of unity in paragraphs is fingernails scratching on a chalkboard—or disorganization, digression, randomness, chaos, discord, dislocation, and disharmony. Any lack of unity harms coherence. When a paragraph has ideas that don’t belong, readers are puzzled and must stop to make sense of them.
When there is unity in paragraphs, it’s relatively simple to identify or infer the main ideas. Writers aim to create unity in paragraphs to help readers identify the main ideas and comprehend the text. To be clear, paragraphing alone makes a text easier to read and comprehend. You are well on your way to coherence when your paragraphs have unity.
In contrast, when you remove the paragraphing from a text, the text becomes far more difficult to read and comprehend. In short, unified paragraphs are critical to coherence.
To be clear, unity is critical at two levels (at a minimum). Although we will focus on paragraphs, everything related to unity also applies at the whole composition level.
- Unity in Paragraphs: The sentences add up to form a unified whole paragraph.
- Unity in the Whole Composition: The paragraphs add up to form a unified whole composition.
By the way, the magic of Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay has always been that it instills a sense of unity of purpose in students at both levels FAST. In short, students learn how it feels to make a point—and then indent and make another point. Do you want to create natural and organized paragraph and multi-paragraph writers FAST? If so, check out the program!
Creating Unity By Using the Writing Process
Writers aim for unity during all stages of the writing process. We create unity in each paragraph and our whole multi-paragraph composition as we prewrite, write, and rewrite. Please note that the following section focuses on creating unity in paragraphs on a computer. It also applies to writing on paper, but paper does have a few limitations.
In this next section, we will look at creating unity:
- By dividing, deleting, adding, combining.
- While prewriting, writing, and rewriting.
Let’s begin!
Creating Unity by Dividing
1. Divide: Prewriting Stage: I always do prewriting in a separate file. Experienced writers develop an instinct for distinguishing between possible main ideas and details. As I prewrite, I separate (divide) the possible main ideas into different areas of the page. I also use dividing lines and heading texts to further divide or separate the possible main ideas. I add likely details close to the related main ideas. Dividing while prewriting is essential for a great start!
2. Divide/Indent: Writing Stage: When we indent, we divide. Every indent shows a division. As we write, we indent. Sometimes, we indent according to our prewriting, yet often, writers indent when they feel the topic has changed. They sense, “I finished making one point, and I’m going to start making a slightly different point.”
3. Divide/Indent: Rewriting Stage: As we rewrite, we may notice that a paragraph is too long or simply has poor unity that harms coherence. We then read the paragraph and look for a place to divide. Sometimes, we can make a helpful division with a single click on the keyboard. But often, we need to make a few additional edits to get things to make sense and flow.
Creating Unity by Deleting
1. Delete: Prewriting Stage: We don’t do much deleting when we prewrite. Although we aim to create groups of relatively unified ideas, we don’t need perfect unity in our prewriting. Most ideas in our prewriting have at least some value because they serve as a springboard for other ideas.
2. Delete: Writing Stage: Often, as we write, we write a sentence that doesn’t fit in nicely with our current paragraph, so we delete it. Please note that I recommend saving almost every word or sentence to your prewriting. These saved deleted words and sentences serve as springboards for other great ideas. We may end up using them in other locations.
3. Delete: Rewriting Stage: As we rewrite, we see everything clearly. Some words and sentences just don’t belong. Sadly, some of these words and sentences may be our favorites. However, when words and sentences harm the unity and harm the flow and coherence, we must delete them. Remember, save them in your prewriting.
Creating Unity by Adding
1. Add: Prewriting Stage: We don’t need to create perfect unity in our prewriting. However, we should add new ideas next to related ideas. As we add ideas, we form groups of relatively unified ideas. Through this process, the truly important main ideas emerge.
2. Add: Writing Stage: Clearly, we aim to add only sentences that belong in each paragraph. However, we also may need to add words and phrases that make our paragraphs more unified as we write. The word “and” is the greatest unifying word of all time. In short, we may need to add words and phrases that show how seemingly different ideas are connected and form a unified whole. Explicitly stated topic sentences are unifiers. The feeling of “beginning, middle, and ending” is another excellent unifier.
3. Add: Rewriting Stage: What we didn’t get right in the writing stage, we must improve in the rewriting stage. As we rewrite, we often need to add words, phrases, or sentences to create unified whole paragraphs.
Creating Unity by Combining
Please Note: As a rule, combining doesn’t exactly create unity. We usually combine two unified wholes to create a larger unified whole. In short, 1 whole + 1 whole = 1 whole. For example, we may have a “problem” and a “solution” and combine them to create a “problem and solution” paragraph. That said, sometimes we combine imperfect wholes to create a better unified whole. For example, we may have two paragraphs that seem incomplete, and we combine them, and they somehow form a much-improved unified whole.
1. Combine: Prewriting Stage: Combining is often an essential part of the prewriting process. As we generate lists of random ideas, we start to group them together. In short, we combine two small groups of related ideas to form a larger group of related ideas. As we do this, we begin to see the essential main ideas emerge.
2. Combine: Writing Stage: As we write, we often combine two unified wholes to create a much-improved unified whole. I once began writing what I thought was a short article with short paragraphs. Soon, I realized the article was going to be much larger. I immediately began to find places where I could combine paragraphs. Once again, this was not exactly creating unity. However, I was creating larger unified paragraphs (1 whole + 1 whole = 1 whole). Also, technically, I would classify this as “rewriting” even though I was still writing the first draft.
3. Combine: Rewriting Stage: We can also combine while rewriting. I’ve looked at a piece of writing and thought all the short paragraphs made the piece of writing seem too light and fluffy for an academic topic. So, I started combining paragraphs to make the writing seem more substantial. To be clear, paragraphing style creates a tone.
The Real World: Using Divide, Delete, Add, and Combine All Together Now
To paraphrase Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), writing is never finished, only abandoned. In short, the writing process is round and round (recursive) until we finally say, “That’s it! I’m done!” I know I jump between prewriting, writing, and rewriting constantly. Once again, I firmly believe that unity is one of the true guiding principles of writing. In writing, the opposite of unity is almost always repulsive.
On the other hand, I also agree with Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Holden said, “The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It’s more interesting and all.” The fact is that many effective digressions are really part of the main point in real writing. In short, the road to the truth can be winding—a long and winding road. However, the reader will never understand if the writer doesn’t intuitively grasp how the parts connect to form a unified whole.
Think about footnotes and endnotes. They are often some of the most interesting and insightful parts of a text, yet they don’t belong in line with the text. That’s ironic! This insight is also what makes The Catcher in the Rye such a masterpiece. In a sense, we can view The Catcher in the Rye as one long unified digression. Actually, as much as I enjoy saying that, it does have a central narrative thread.
Point being: Writers use Divide, Delete, Add, and Combine as they see fit in line with how they use the writing process. They are not inherently separate activities. We often use them in tandem. Take a look.
- When we divide, we often need to add.
- When we delete, we often need to add or combine.
- When we add, we often need to delete or divide.
- When we combine, we often need to delete or add.
Once again, the opposite effect of unity in paragraphs is fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. That screeching sound also comes in variations, including boredom, disinterest, frustration, and confusion. When things don’t sound right, it’s a coherence problem—and the source of that coherence problem may be a unity problem.
