Writing Basics - paragraph analysis

I use and teach a method developed by Francis Christensen,* which I was taught way back a life and a half ago. (There's a short explanation here, in case you're interested.)

Christensen's method analyzes paragraphs based on levels of specificity. The more specific a sentence in a paragraph relative to the sentences around it, and especially the one before it, the higher the number it gets. It's not at all the only way to analyze paragraph organization, but I like it because it's easy to teach and remember, and works pretty well for students.

Christensen names three types of paragraphs, coordinate (aka listing), subordinate (aka step), and mixed sequence.

A coordinate paragraph is basically a topic sentence with a list of sentences following, each developing from the topic sentence, and each at the same basic level of specificity. Here's an example:

Good students develop good study habits. They take good notes when they read. They do the readings before class, and visit office hours to ask questions. They start assignments early and don't procrastinate. They make connections between the things they learn for different classes.

So, it's not a great paragraph, but it will do. The first sentence, the topic sentence, gets labeled a 1, because it's the least specific sentence in the paragraph. Each of the following sentences says something about good students and their study habits, developing some more specific information related to the topic sentence. And each of the following sentences could pretty much be put in any order, and the paragraph would still make decent sense. Each of the following sentences thus gets labeled with a 2 to show that these sentences have one step greater specificity than the topic sentence.

In a subordinate, or step paragraph, each sentence develops a greater level of specificity relative to the sentence just before it, and thus gets numbered with a bigger number. Here's another example:

Good students develop good study habits. They take good notes while they read, and in class. They usually have a specific format for taking notes, so that their notes are clear and readable. For example, they date their note pages, and number them, and leave room for definitions or questions. They may write definitions or questions in different color ink, or in pencil, so that they'll be easy to spot when it's time to review for classes.

Ok, another brilliant Bardiac Blogger bit of bombast... but, here we go: The first sentence is a topic sentence, so gets a 1. The second sentence gives some specific information about one good study habit, so gets a 2. The third sentence provides more information about taking good notes, so gets a 3. And the fourth sentence provides specific information about the definitions/questions raised in the third sentence, and gets a 4.

Easy peasy. And not that exciting. Still, if the fourth sentence came as the second sentence, the paragraph would be confusing to read. The information builds to a greater level of specificity, and each sentence depends on the information of the sentence before it to make sense. (Narrative paragraphs often work in this step fashion with each sentence depending on the one before it for meaning.)

Here's where Christensen's method gets most powerful, the mixed sequence paragraph!

A mixed sequence paragraph mixes the strategy of listing with the strategy of coordinating, and voila, you actually get a reasonably interesting paragraph. Ready for an example? Here goes:

Good students develop good study habits. They take good notes while they read, and in class. They usually have a specific format for taking notes, so that their notes are clear and readable. For example, they date their note pages, and number them, and leave room for definitions or questions. They may write definitions or questions in different color ink, or in pencil, so that they'll be easy to spot when it's time to review for classes. Good students also review their notes after each class while the material's fresh in their mind. After reviewing, they visit professors in office hours to ask questions. Asking questions gives them a chance to make sure they understand the material fully. Good students start early on assignments, and avoid procrastination. When they write essays, they take time to brainstorm, do necessary research, and get help from a tutor. Starting early gives them time to draft and revise, and helps them write much better papers.

And here's the same paragraph with levels of specificity numbered.

1. Good students develop good study habits. 2. They take good notes while they read, and in class. 3. They usually have a specific format for taking notes, so that their notes are clear and readable. 4. For example, they date their note pages, and number them, and leave room for definitions or questions. 5. They may write definitions or questions in different color ink, or in pencil, so that they'll be easy to spot when it's time to review for classes. 3. Good students also review their notes after each class while the material's fresh in their mind. 4. After reviewing, they visit professors in office hours to ask questions. 5. Asking questions gives them a chance to make sure they understand the material fully. 2. Good students start early on assignments, and avoid procrastination. 3. When they write essays, they take time to brainstorm, do necessary research, and get help from a tutor. 4. Starting early gives them time to draft and revise, and helps them write much better papers.

We could argue about whether the sentence beginning "Good students also review" should be a level 2 or actually a level 3 (does it develop from the idea of taking good notes, or from the topic sentence), and that's where the analysis becomes interesting and useful. It helps me (and students) see how a paragraph may work, see how readers make connections between sentences, and depend on each sentence to relate to previous ones in some way.

I think teaching students at all levels how to analyze paragraph organization helps them do better peer editing, and helps them analyze their writing, and thus helps them revise their writing. I find it especially helpful because it gets us thinking about the ways sentences in a paragraph relate to each other. After I teach students this method, I really can write "org" next to a paragraph in an essay and know that they'll have some method of figuring out how to understand the paragraph organization, and then they'll be able to figure out how to organize it. It also gives us a common understanding when I ask them to develop a paragraph to a greater level of specificity. They know what I'm looking for and have a way of developing their paragraphs.

One of the problems with presenting the Christensen method in a blog is that my sense of what a paragraph is and how it works changes when I change contexts. In my usual writing, I tend to write fairly long academic paragraphs. In my blog reading, though, I have a difficult time with really long paragraphs, so when I write my own blog, I tend to cut paragraphs short, to add spaces so that sentences aren't in a long paragraph, but in shorter sections.

*Because I'm just a little obsessive about such things, I found a reference to Francis Christensen's work. Christensen, Francis. "A Generative Rhetoric of the Paragraph." CCC 16 (October 1965): 144–56.