[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text no Boarder” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d That\u2019s the most critical concept in writing. It\u2019s crucial at the paragraph level and the whole composition level.<\/p>\n
Writers need clear and organized thinking throughout the entire writing process. Let\u2019s look at four key concepts that help writers maintain organized thinking as they write.<\/p>\n
1. Unity
2. Wholes
3. BME: Beginning, Middle, and Ending
4. What\u2019s Your Point?<\/p>\n
Please note that all four concepts are intertwined. These concepts are guiding principles for clear thinking and organized writing. Any writer who looks back over a piece of writing and thinks, \u201cHow does this sound?\u201d is thinking about these four concepts.<\/p>\n
Here are a few more questions that relate to our four guiding principles.<\/p>\n
Does this belong? Should I remove this? What\u2019s missing? Does this start well? How does this part end? How did I transition from one part to another? Is there an effective separation or transition between my points? Does this sound right? Does it flow well? How should I break this up? How can I make everything fit together better? Is this clear? What\u2019s my point?<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s take a closer look at our four guiding principles.<\/p>\n
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Unity is the quality or state of being one. Unity is oneness. Unity is the most important paragraph concept. In fact, the father of modern paragraph theory defined a paragraph this way:<\/p>\n
Paragraphs must have unity of purpose. So must whole compositions. What\u2019s a whole composition? A whole composition is a piece of multi-paragraph writing with a beginning, middle, and ending. The main types of whole compositions for student writers are 1) essays, 2) articles, 3) stories, 4) reports, 5) research papers, and 6) letters.<\/p>\n
Paragraphs and whole compositions are UNITY STRUCTURES \u2122. As the name implies, every unity structure must be a unified whole. The parts (sentences, paragraphs, etc.) are unified wholes, and the parts add up to a larger unified whole. Therefore, we have:<\/p>\n
Our goal is rarely to create a single unified paragraph. As a rule, we aim to create a series of unified paragraphs. This series of unified paragraphs should add up to a unified whole composition.<\/p>\n
We indent to show where one unified whole paragraph ends and another begins. It\u2019s that simple. When paragraphs grow beyond their unity, the writer must divide them into two paragraphs or delete the part that doesn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n
We create unity in paragraph and multi-paragraph whole compositions by using the writing process. In short, the writing process involves three steps: 1) prewrite, 2) write, and 3) rewrite.<\/p>\n
The writing process works in two ways as relates to unity:<\/p>\n
1. Adding Up:<\/strong> A collection of unified paragraphs must add up to a unified whole composition.<\/p>\n 2. Dividing Down:<\/strong> A unified whole composition is divided into a collection of unified paragraphs.<\/p>\n To accomplish this goal, we use prewriting, writing, and rewriting as a recursive (round and round) process. <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Aristotle” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px|14px|14px|14px|true|true” border_radii=”on|9px|9px|9px|9px” border_width_all=”8px” border_color_all=”#1258b2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The concepts of UNITY, WHOLES, and BME in speaking and writing are thousands of years old. In Poetics, Aristotle (384 BC\u2014322 BC) devotes many chapters to plot. He wrote his first two chapter titles on plot as rules. I\u2019ve included a short quote to accompany each chapter title.<\/p>\n 1. The Plot Must Be a Whole:<\/strong> \u201cA whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.\u201d Writing and storytelling are acts of composition\u2014assembling parts into a whole. It has been this way since before even Aristotle. The act of composition requires that the author focuses on both the parts and the whole composition at the same time.<\/p>\n Unity, Wholes, and BME are three valuable concepts to be aware of as we write. The most important questions we ask ourselves as we write often relate to these concepts. For example:<\/p>\n Aristotle\u2019s ancient concepts relate to student writing in two ways:<\/p>\n 1. A paragraph must be a whole and a unity with a beginning, middle, and ending.<\/p>\n 2. A whole composition must be a whole and a unity with a beginning, middle, and ending.<\/p>\n Put another way: Students must understand and internalize two levels of beginning, middle, and ending:<\/p>\n 1. Beginning, middle, and ending in paragraphs.<\/p>\n 2. Beginning, middle, and ending in whole compositions.<\/p>\n On a side note, in the 16th century, Aristotle\u2019s unity was interpreted as consisting of three unities: the unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time. These three unities became known as the Aristotelian unities or classical unities.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Orig Unity Structure” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px|14px|14px|14px|true|true” border_radii=”on|9px|9px|9px|9px” border_width_all=”8px” border_color_all=”#1258b2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d That question is probably as old as time. As writers and speakers, we want to ask this next question constantly so that no one ever asks the other question: \u201cWhat\u2019s my point?\u201d<\/p>\n These questions are two versions of the same unity structure. Remember, I use the term \u201cUnity Structure\u201d for anything that serves as a guide for unity. I include an entire section on \u201cUnity Statements\u201d and \u201cUnity Structures\u201d in Academic Vocabulary for Critical Thinking, Logical Arguments, and Effective Communication<\/a><\/strong>. Be sure to check it out!<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d has probably been around for as long as humans have. We can think of \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d as a paragraph seed. It\u2019s also a whole composition seed. This paragraph seed was planted when some annoyed listener could bear it no longer and asked a long-winded speaker this question: What\u2019s your point?<\/p>\n Everything about main ideas and topic sentences focuses on that one question: What\u2019s your point? The writer must have a point in mind in all genres (expository, argument, description, narrative, etc.). We don\u2019t describe something randomly, and we don\u2019t compare and contrast things randomly\u2014we do so with a point in mind. If we don\u2019t have a point in mind as we write, some readers will wonder, \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d<\/p>\n For example, what\u2019s the point of describing an old, scary house in a story? The point is that the teenage detectives should not go exploring inside of it! The writer makes that point clear through description so that when the teenage detectives do go exploring inside it, the readers feel an urgent sense of fear, excitement, and trepidation. All of this is the point.<\/p>\n Speakers and storytellers sitting around campfires have always needed to have a point in mind. If they didn\u2019t, they were probably met with this age-old question: What\u2019s your point?<\/p>\n I often use the language of \u201cmaking points\u201d in the classroom. It makes sense to everyone. But let\u2019s admit it: \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d is often viewed as being a little aggressive or hostile. Here are a few alternatives for the classroom: What\u2019s the point of this paragraph? Of this whole composition? What point or what points are you trying to make?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Bain” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px|14px|14px|14px|true|true” border_radii=”on|9px|9px|9px|9px” border_width_all=”8px” border_color_all=”#1258b2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In English Composition and Rhetoric<\/em> (1866), Alexander Bain single-handedly created the modern paragraph. Although a few people had written a few sentences about paragraphs prior, no rules or even concrete concepts existed regarding the paragraph.<\/p>\n Bain defined a paragraph this way: \u201cA paragraph is a collection of sentences with unity of purpose.\u201d He then listed six paragraph rules for creating this unity of purpose. Those six paragraph rules eventually morphed into the concepts of Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis, which remains an excellent model for thinking about well-structured writing.<\/p>\n In short, Bain\u2019s paragraph rules target our four concepts: 1) Unity, 2) Wholes, 3) BME: Beginning, Middle, and Ending, and 4) What\u2019s Your Point?<\/p>\n In reality, the following paragraph rules are not actual rules. Most professional writers end up creating \u201corganized and natural\u201d paragraph and multi-paragraph writing through the writing process. That\u2019s what I teach. To be clear, I use Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/strong> at the beginning of the school year to create a solid multi-paragraph writing foundation quickly and easily. After that, teaching writing is easy!<\/p>\n Bain\u2019s rules all sound great, but most professional writers don\u2019t think about rules like these as they write. They focus on making points clear and creating a beginning, middle, and ending rhythm. You will see that many of Bain\u2019s rules relate to emphasis. It\u2019s emphasis<\/em> that largely creates this rhythm of beginning, middle, and ending. Paragraphs have an emphatic beginning, which is sometimes a topic sentence. Paragraphs then conclude with an emphatic ending. Most paragraphs end in a way that lets you know the topic has been exhausted<\/em> (as Bain would say).<\/p>\nAristotle: Unity, Wholes, and BME: Beginning, Middle, and Ending<\/h2>\n
2. The Plot Must Be a Unity:<\/strong> \u201cThe plot… must imitate one action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The Original Unity Structure: What\u2019s Your Point? What\u2019s My Point?<\/h2>\n
Paragraph Rules and Making Points: Alexander Bain!<\/h2>\n