58
4 Structuring
Paragraphs and Sentences
If you analyzed a paragraph in a typical research paper, you would very likely get
very different data. Try looking at some of your own work. With respect to
Katzoff’s paragraph, you will probably notice a big increase in the number of
words, commas and semicolons per sentence. The typical sentence length will be
around 30–40 words, but also up to 70–80. I imagine there will also be a consider-
able decrease both in the number of full stops and in repetitions of key words.
Sam Katzoff was a top scientist. His document was intended for fellow scientists,
who were, like him, native English speakers. These fellow scientists were also
amongst the most brilliant scientists in the world. They could potentially under-
stand even the most complex text. Yet Dr Katzoff decided to write his document in
the simplest and clearest way possible, and he encouraged his fellows to do the
same. According to a fellow colleague:
He was the kind of person who could look at a paper and tell whether it was a lot of bull.
If you were writing a paper and were publishing, he would review it and that would help a
lot of people in the field to come up with a better way of saying what they were trying to
get across.
By
bull the colleague was politely saying
bullshit, i.e. words, phrases and para-
graphs that clearly made no sense, but were just included for effect.
Now let’s analyze the structure of Katzoff’s paragraph.
(S1) Different writers have different methods of organizing their reports, and some
seem to have no discernible method at all. (S2) Most of the better writers, however,
appear to be in remarkably close agreement as to the general approach to organization.
(S3) This approach consists of stating the problem, describing the method of attack,
developing the results, discussing the results, and summarizing the conclusions. (S4)
You may feel that this type of organization is obvious, logical, and natural. (S5)
Nevertheless, it is not universally accepted. (S6) For example, many writers present
results and
conclusions near the beginning, and describe the
derivation of these results
in subsequent sections.
S1 introduces the general topic and summarizes current practice with regard to
report writing. S2 qualifies what was said in S1. The reader is warned of this quali-
fication by the link word
however.
Katzoff repeats the word
writer from S1 to link it into S2, but precedes it with a dif-
ferent adjective (
different, better) to show that he is moving from something general
(all authors) to something more specific (better authors).
The repetition of approach
in S3 serves a similar linking purpose. It gives readers the feeling that they are being
guided step by step along the path by which Katzoff develops his topic.
In S4 he addresses the reader directly, which is probably something that you would
not do in a paper. Instead you would probably phrase such a concept in the passive:
it may be argued that
. Katzoff’s idea is to anticipate possible objections to what he
is about to say. S5 is only six words long. Such a short sentence is rare in academic
59
4.4 First paragraph of a new section
- begin with a mini summary
work. Yet it is very effective in capturing reader attention. The link word,
neverthe-
less
, placed prominently at the beginning of the sentence, also catches the reader’s
eye and helps to underline the importance of what is being said.
In S6 he uses another link word,
for example. These link words all serve to show
how each sentence relates to what has been said before. Without these link words,
the reader would be forced to figure out Katzoff’s train of thought. However,
Katzoff only uses link words when they really serve a purpose.
As can be seen in the second column of the table on page 57, one constant device
Katzoff uses is to repeat words. He uses the word
writer three times. He could eas-
ily have found synonyms, e.g. author, researcher, technician. But this might have
confused readers who might think that there was a difference in meaning between
these terms.
Another massive aid to helping readers understand, is to have a maximum of two ideas
per sentence. S4 and S5 contain just one idea. S6 contains two ideas linked by
and.
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