Peace and Order

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might be something like "he media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U.. military." Notice how this sentence clearly states what is the general topic of the essay which I the main point of the introductory paragraph. Alsnotice how words from the assignment directions are used in this sentence -- communicating tthe essay evaluator that the writer is paying attention tthe assignment directions. For the example essay paper assignment, one thesis statement developed was "Regarding black officers in the U.. military, the author in this essay presents performance examples of these officers, then describes programs in the U.. military tpromote black officer candidates, and then explores challenges still facing black officers in the U.. military." Notice how this statement begins with communicating the general topic of the paper followed by the presentation of three main points tbe addressed in the essay using action verbs (presents, describes, explores) tidentify what the author intends tdwith each main point in the essay. For the most effective organization of thinking for an essay, stick with focusing on three and only three main points. his thesis statement becomes the last sentence in the introductory paragraph. the statement of the general topic is the basis for the first sentence and the thesis statement is the last sentence in an introductory paragraph -- what’s between these twsentences? Although there are many resources available via the Internet describing how tbuild paragraphs, this author uses a simple four-sentence method for constructing a basic paragraph. In a basic paragraph, first sentence, often labeled the "topic sentence," states what is the main point of the paragraph. econd sentence provides some evidence that demonstrates or supports the main point. hird sentence describes for the reader how the writer understands the information provided in the second sentence DE demonstrate or support the main point stated in the first sentence. ince the first three sentences D communicate the main point of the paragraph, provide evidence tsupport or make that point, and explain how the evidence provided DE support the main point according tthe writer’s understanding, then by the end of the third sentence, the point of the paragraph A BEEN MADE. herefore, sentence four is designed tcommunicate tthe reader that the point of the paragraph has now been made AND introduce the reader tthe main point of the next paragraph. his four-sentence structure may be used tdevelop the three main paragraphs in an essay (and any subparagraphs for the main paragraphs) as well as developing the introductory paragraph. Using this four-sentence structure tbuild the introductory paragraph, start the paragraph with a statement that clearly communicates the general topic of the paper. he topic statement developed for this example assignment as indicated previously is "A review of a current newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.. military," sa possible first sentence might be "he media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U..military." Notice how this sentence clearly communicates up-front tthe reader what is the general topic of the essay and it clearly communicates tthe essay evaluator the author’s understanding of the assignment! Following the four-sentence process for paragraph development, the second sentence is expected tprovide some information that illustrates or supports the point stated in the first sentence. For this example essay assignment, the located newspaper article that discusses black officers in the U.. military I the support or evidence tpresent in the second sentence -- and the article located, via some online research is titled "After 60 years, black officers rare" by L.C. Baldor, published in he imes erald, 7/28/08. the second sentence of the example introductory paragraph might be something like "In the newspaper article ’After 60 years, black officers rare,’ the author of the article indicates that although ’Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integrated 60 years ago, but they still struggle tgain a foothold in the higher ranks [in the military]’." f course, at the end of this sentence is expected a "citation" tshow the source of the information presented in the second sentence -- like (Baldor, 2008, ¶ 1). Please note the role of a citation is tpoint the reader tthe related reference that is expected on the "References" page at the end of the essay -- and note the citation consists of last name of the author, year of publication of the article, and, in this case, a number indicating the specific paragraph in the article where the cited information may be located (because this online article did not provide page numbers). What tnotice in this second sentence is how the information presented in the sentence directly supports or MAKE the point stated in the first sentence, BU, don’t leave it up tthe reader tmake that connection on his or her own -- in the third sentence, communicate explicitly tthe reader how YU, the writer, understands the information in the second sentence demonstrates the point stated in the first sentence. the third sentence in the example introductory paragraph is expected tclearly communicate tthe reader how the information in the second sentence does support the main point of the paragraph as stated in the first sentence. For this example, a third sentence might be something like "his information clearly indicates the selected newspaper article presents some aspect of cultural diversity, that aspect being blacks in the U.. military still struggling tachieve higher ranks." Notice how this sentence communicates explicitly tthe reader the writer’s understanding of exactly how the information presented in the second sentence supports the main point stated in the first sentence. At this point, the main point of this paragraph A BEEN MADE. All that remains tbe added tcomplete this example introductory paragraph is the fourth sentence, and for the "introductory" paragraph, the fourth sentence I the thesis statement, which has been developed already! the completed example introductory paragraph is: he media addressing some aspect of cultural diversity that was selected for this paper is a newspaper article discussing black officers in the U..military. In the newspaper article "After 60 years, black officers rare," the author of the article indicates that although "Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integ