Internal Structuring

Paragraphing

Diving up your ideas in a coherent manner is key to successfully conveying your thoughts. See paragraphs as a pause, in which you enable the reader to dwell on the points that you have presented. If you do not created break up your work it can become too tedious and overwhelming to read.

For example, ask yourself, Am I making it easy for my reader to identify and understand my ideas?

TOP TIP is popular mnemonic to remind you when to change paragraphs:

Topic: The subject of the text.

Place: Location of the event or situation.

Time: When the event or situation is taking place.

Person: When a different person is being spoken of.

Another method of consciously crafting your writing for effect is by varying your paragraph lengths:

_Small _Using an important word or phrase will be more memorable.

_Medium _Creates a balance between moving the discourse forward and offering insightful information.

_Large _Slows down the pace of the text by giving a lot of information.

Sentence Forms

Successfully, engaging pieces use a range of sentence forms or structures for effect. Always consider, which sentence would best suit the effect I intend to create?

There are commonly five types of sentence forms in English:

Minor

Word or phrase that can stand alone but still be understood without a verb, Hello. No! Okay, Fantastic.

__EFFECT?__Memorable for the reader.

Simple

A word or phrase that features one verb:This new car has broken down twice.

__EFFECT?__Clearly and quickly presents ideas through use of logical statements.

Compound

Features two verbs, as two independent clauses or two simple sentences are join together using a co-ordinating conjunction. (I call this the glue that holds them together and balances out the two sentences.) Each side of the co-coordinating conjunction must have a verb to keep it balanced.

Co-ordinating conjunctions, For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So _(_In English grammar there are only seven and you do not place a comma before them!) This new car has broken down twice so I must take it back to the garage.

__EFFECT?__Creates a balance between keeping a fluid pace, whilst providing more relevant detail.

Complex

Features two verbs, as one independent clause is connected with one or more dependent clauses. The Sub-ordinating conjunction acts as the glue holding the clauses together.

Sub-ordinating conjunctions, Whilst, After, Although, Because, Since _(In English grammar there many and you must place the comma either directly before them or within the clause!) _This new car has broken down twice, since I bought it from the garage.

What I like about complex sentences is that you can reverse the clause order and it should bear the same meaning. You could write: Since I bought it from the garage, this car has broken down on me twice.

__EFFECT?__Develops ideas in detail that can be processed by the reader.

Compound-Complex

Features three or more verbs and one dependent clause and one or more independent clauses. You can merge the different sentences and place them in an order that will make sense, with accurate punctuation:Since I bought it from the garage, this car has broken down on me twice so I must take it back.

__EFFECT?__Offers more developed and insightful information for the reader to consider.

Varied Punctuation

Don’t limit yourself to using full stops and commas. Employing a variety of punctuation. Deliberately select punctuation for a desired effect.

Here is a rubric that has some useful prompts:

  1. Speech/Quotation Marks
  2. Exclamation Mark
  3. Question Mark
  4. Full Stop
  5. Dash
  6. Comma
  7. Semi Colon
  8. Ellipsis
  9. Apostrophe

Sign Posting

You are inviting the reader to engage in a logical journey of ideas and concepts. Therefore, you need to make it clear which direction you are heading and when.

Keep your reader actively involved in the discourse by using phrases such as:

Here is a rubric that has some useful prompts:

  1. As a Consequence
  2. Here it is Clear to See…
  3. More Importantly
  4. Rather
  5. Now
  6. To Summarise
Why is paragraphing necessary?
Your answer should include: Clear / Coherent / Think / Pause / Dwell / Easier / Read
What is the benefit of using small paragraphs?
Your answer should include: Memorable / Quick / Pace / Short / Emphasises
What is the benefit of signposting?
Your answer should include: Direction / Clear