Operating Definitions and Guidelines for Writing

| Operating Definitions and Guidelines for Writing

Specific Information

People will have all of the information they need to make a decision when the information in paragraphs is specific.

Although paragraphs may serve several purposes, such as to introduce, conclude, or support, the really informative, useful ones get specific regardless of their purpose. The informative ones narrow down to one or more of the following specifics:

[ ] people with names one can find in a phone book
[ ] places with names one can locate on a map or globe
[ ] times one can locate on a timeline, clock or calendar
[ ] events for which a film director such as Ron Howard knows how to set up
[ ] items one can obtain on a purchase order
[ ] direct quotations of words that occur in a print or electronic text.

Sometimes it seems as if a writer does the above, s/he will be getting off the topic. Yet, if s/he does not, the essay will not pass Mrs. Garcia’s class. What to do? What to do?

Not to worry. See how writers use transitions to reveal the relationship between a topic sentence, intervening sentences, and the specific sentences which carry the above information in the coherence discussion.