Unity, Support, and Coherence
Read this section to learn about some of the final considerations you need to make when writing a longer essay.
Unity
In a multi-paragraph essay, we have to think of unity on two levels. We still have to think about unity within paragraphs and make sure that individual paragraphs (except the introduction and conclusion paragraphs) stay on the topic previewed in their topic sentences. However, now we need to think of unity on a larger scale.
Think of your thesis statement (the last sentence in your introduction paragraph) as a sort of "topic sentence" that ties the entire essay together. In addition to making sure paragraphs stay on topic, we need to make sure that all our paragraphs and that the entire essay (previewed by the thesis statement) stay on topic. In the same way you can use a topic sentence to check for unity in a paragraph, you can use a thesis statement to check for unity in a multi-paragraph essay.
For example, in The Corner Store essay, I need to make sure that every sentence in the body paragraphs support the thesis statement: "I feel like I really found the perfect place to work in my current job at The Corner Store where the duties are easy, the people are wonderful, and the pay and benefits are awesome". Every sentence in this essay should explain how The Corner Store is a perfect place to work.
Support
Support in a multi-paragraph essay is no different from support in a paragraph. The only real difference is that in a longer piece of writing, there needs to be more of it. You still will want to use the question anticipating method we have discussed throughout this whole book. For every statement that you make, you want to ask yourself, "Does this raise a question for my readers?" If the answer is "yes," this means that more evidence, explanation, and elaboration are needed.
Coherence
In the same way that we need to think about unity on two levels in a multi-paragraph essay, we also need to think about flow on two levels. First, we need to make sure that individual paragraphs have ideas organized in a logical manner and contain transitions which move readers smoothly from one idea or example to the next.
However, we also need to think about the flow of the entire essay and how all the paragraphs come together. The main three or four points should be presented in a logical order (that could be emphatic, chronological, or something else) which is previewed in the thesis statement and which is followed through in the order of the paragraphs.
*Notice that in The Corner Store essay, the three main ideas are: 1. duties 2. people 3. pay/benefits. This is the order of the ideas presented in the thesis statement and when we look at the body paragraphs, we find they are in this same order with a paragraph about the easy and pleasant work, a paragraph about the great people, and a paragraph about the awesome pay and benefits.
We also need to think of the second half of flow, that is, transitions and connections between ideas. In addition to making sure ideas and examples are connected within paragraphs (using transitions such as "second," "in addition," "then," and "for example"), we need to make sure that our paragraphs move smoothly from one to the next. This means that topic sentences are going to pick up a second job.
Topic Sentence Considerations
In addition to your topic sentences previewing what the paragraph is about, topic sentences in a multi-paragraph essay need to also provide a transition that moves readers smoothly from the main idea of the paragraph before to the main idea of the paragraph to come.
Here are the three topic sentences from the three body paragraphs of The Corner Store essay:
First of all, the work at The Corner Store is really easy.
Even better than the easy work is the great people I work with.
Best of all, my job at The Corner Store has awesome pay and benefits.
The transitions used in the topic sentence of the first body paragraph and the third body paragraph should be familiar to you: "First of all" suggests that this (easy duties) is the first reason The Corner Store is the perfect place to work while "Best of all" lets readers know that the final main idea (about pay and benefits) is the most important reason The Corner Store is perfect.
Where we see something a little different is in the topic sentence for the second body paragraph (about great people). Note that "Even better than the easy work is the great people I work with" does not have any of the transition words discussed in chapter six. Instead, the author is using the content to show that relationship between ideas to connect this paragraph to the one before it.
Basically a content transition is a sentence that refers to what was just said to connect that information with what is about to be said. By opening the topic sentence with, "Even better than the easy work," the author is referring to the paragraph we just read about the easy work. The second half of the topic sentence, "is the great people I work with" moves us from what we just read to what we are about to read. It also lets us know that this is in an emphatic order because the great people are "even better" than the easy work.
Content transitions are particularly nice when writing longer pieces because they can help prevent repetition. In a longer essay where you need to think about showing connections not only within paragraphs but between them, content transitions give you a little more variety and choice as to how you go about showing relationships between ideas.
Source: Erin Severs
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