Bedford/St. Martin's - The Bedford Bibliography

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296
Braddock, Richard. "The Frequency and Placement of Topic Sentences in Expository Prose." Research in the Teaching of English 8 (Winter 1974): 287–302.

Do good expository paragraphs begin with explicit topic sentences? In twenty-five essays by professional writers, fewer than half of the paragraphs have topic sentences at all, and fewer than half of those topic sentences are simple and direct. Other kinds of topic sentences are delayed-completion, assembled (in which the topic-sentence ideas are scattered through the paragraph), and inferred. First Braddock Award winner.

297
Christensen, Francis. "A Generative Rhetoric of the Paragraph." CCC 16 (October 1965): 144–56. Rpt. in The Sentence and the Paragraph [299]; in Francis Christensen, Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Six Essays for Teachers (New York: Harper and Row, 1967); and in Francis Christensen and Bonniejean Christensen, eds., Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Nine Essays for Teachers (New York: Harper and Row, 1978).

Paragraph structure resembles sentence structure (cf. [324]). The topic sentence, usually the first sentence, is analogous to the main clause, and supporting sentences, working at lower levels of generality, are analogous to modifying phrases. Relations between sentences in a paragraph are coordinate or subordinate. Most paragraphs exhibit both kinds of relation, even when there is no topic sentence or when the paragraph includes unrelated sentences. Students should practice diagramming paragraphs by level of generality to see where coordinate and subordinate additions are needed. Cf. Braddock [296].

298
Eden, Rich, and Ruth Mitchell. "Paragraphing for the Reader." CCC 37 (December 1986): 416–30, 441.

While research shows that paragraphs in admired professional writing don't necessarily contain topic sentences or follow prescribed patterns, textbooks continue to offer these "rules." Writers should be taught, instead, reader-oriented paragraphing. Readers expect to see paragraphs and project several qualities upon them. Most important, readers will always treat the first sentence of a paragraph as the orienting statement, so writers should ask only if their first sentence orients the reader as they wish. Moreover, this consideration should arise only during the editing process and not—as generative theories of paragraphing suggest—during composing itself. Paragraphing shapes the reader's interpretation of the text. Ineffective paragraphing usually comes from thinking of paragraphs as formal structures related only to the material.

299
The Sentence and the Paragraph. Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, 1963.

This important collection comprises essays by Francis Christensen on the generative rhetoric of the sentence and the paragraph [297, 324] as well as his "Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Sentence Openers; A Lesson from Hemingway." It also includes Alton L. Becker, "A Tagmemic Approach to Paragraph Analysis," and a symposium on the paragraph by Francis Christensen, Alton L. Becker, Paul C. Rodgers, Jr., Josephine Miles, and David H. Karrfalt.

300
Winterowd, W. Ross. "The Grammar of Coherence." CE 31 (May 1970): 328–35. Rpt. in Corbett, Meyers, and Tate [171].

Transformational grammar shows how case and syntax hold sentences together, but these features do not fully explain the coherence either of sentences or of larger units of discourse. Seven transitional relations account for coherence: coordinate (expressed, for example, by and); obversative (but); causative (for); conclusive (so); alternative (or); inclusive (the colon); and sequential (first . . . second).

301
Witte, Stephen P., and Lester Faigley. "Coherence, Cohesion, and Writing Quality." CCC 32 (May 1981): 189–204.

According to M. A. K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan, cohesive ties, the semantic relations that hold a text together, fall into five classes: substitution and ellipsis, more common in speech than in writing; reference (the use of pronouns and definite articles); conjunction; lexical reiteration (repeating words or synonyms); and collocation (common word groups). Better writers use more ties. Coherence, however, depends on more than cohesive ties. It also requires setting discourse in the appropriate context for the audience. Collocation may be the best indicator of coherence.

296	Braddock, Richard. "The Frequency and Placement of Topic Sentences in Expository Prose." Research in the Teaching of English 8 (Winter 1974): 287–302. Do good expository paragraphs begin with explicit topic sentences? In twenty-five essays by professional writers, fewer than half of the paragraphs have topic sentences at all, and fewer than half of those topic sentences are simple and direct. Other kinds of topic sentences are delayed-completion, assembled (in which the topic-sentence ideas are scattered through the paragraph), and inferred. First Braddock Award winner.
297	Christensen, Francis. "A Generative Rhetoric of the Paragraph." CCC 16 (October 1965): 144–56. Rpt. in The Sentence and the Paragraph [299]; in Francis Christensen, Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Six Essays for Teachers (New York: Harper and Row, 1967); and in Francis Christensen and Bonniejean Christensen, eds., Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Nine Essays for Teachers (New York: Harper and Row, 1978). Paragraph structure resembles sentence structure (cf. [324]). The topic sentence, usually the first sentence, is analogous to the main clause, and supporting sentences, working at lower levels of generality, are analogous to modifying phrases. Relations between sentences in a paragraph are coordinate or subordinate. Most paragraphs exhibit both kinds of relation, even when there is no topic sentence or when the paragraph includes unrelated sentences. Students should practice diagramming paragraphs by level of generality to see where coordinate and subordinate additions are needed. Cf. Braddock [296].
298	Eden, Rich, and Ruth Mitchell. "Paragraphing for the Reader." CCC 37 (December 1986): 416–30, 441. While research shows that paragraphs in admired professional writing don't necessarily contain topic sentences or follow prescribed patterns, textbooks continue to offer these "rules." Writers should be taught, instead, reader-oriented paragraphing. Readers expect to see paragraphs and project several qualities upon them. Most important, readers will always treat the first sentence of a paragraph as the orienting statement, so writers should ask only if their first sentence orients the reader as they wish. Moreover, this consideration should arise only during the editing process and not—as generative theories of paragraphing suggest—during composing itself. Paragraphing shapes the reader's interpretation of the text. Ineffective paragraphing usually comes from thinking of paragraphs as formal structures related only to the material.
299	The Sentence and the Paragraph. Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, 1963. This important collection comprises essays by Francis Christensen on the generative rhetoric of the sentence and the paragraph [297, 324] as well as his "Notes Toward a New Rhetoric: Sentence Openers; A Lesson from Hemingway." It also includes Alton L. Becker, "A Tagmemic Approach to Paragraph Analysis," and a symposium on the paragraph by Francis Christensen, Alton L. Becker, Paul C. Rodgers, Jr., Josephine Miles, and David H. Karrfalt.
300	Winterowd, W. Ross. "The Grammar of Coherence." CE 31 (May 1970): 328–35. Rpt. in Corbett, Meyers, and Tate [171]. Transformational grammar shows how case and syntax hold sentences together, but these features do not fully explain the coherence either of sentences or of larger units of discourse. Seven transitional relations account for coherence: coordinate (expressed, for example, by and); obversative (but); causative (for); conclusive (so); alternative (or); inclusive (the colon); and sequential (first . . . second).
301	Witte, Stephen P., and Lester Faigley. "Coherence, Cohesion, and Writing Quality." CCC 32 (May 1981): 189–204. According to M. A. K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan, cohesive ties, the semantic relations that hold a text together, fall into five classes: substitution and ellipsis, more common in speech than in writing; reference (the use of pronouns and definite articles); conjunction; lexical reiteration (repeating words or synonyms); and collocation (common word groups). Better writers use more ties. Coherence, however, depends on more than cohesive ties. It also requires setting discourse in the appropriate context for the audience. Collocation may be the best indicator of coherence.