topic: [[Writing]] people: #people/chriswaitling created: 2024-07-09 *reveal a single unit of thought through a cohesive group of sentences.* ##### what is it? A paragraph reveals a single unit of thought through a group of sentences. ##### why does it matter? Unity- single main idea Coherence-relationship among the sentences - [TOPIC/_body_/**token**/wrap heuristic (Dunleavy, 2003)](https://todoist.com/app/task/8190194023) The body expands on the topic, it gives detail, wisdom, elaboration, etc. Ensure you don't just give a series of examples (tokens). If you have all tokens, ask, what is this an example of? Not every body needs a token. It can feel like a detour, but it can also be a "loop road" side journey that allows the reader to keep forward momentum and yet see something else on the journey. Slowing down can allow a better understanding, but if you slow down too much you end up halting forward progress. The wrap sentence can be in the form of a compound sentence to move the action forward. "Although ..., the blah blah." You foreshadow and link to the next paragraph which expands on the weakness. As the writer thinks about length, consider the goldilocks phenomenon of not too long and not too short. A time to experiment with 1-2 sentence paragraphs is a sharp and punchy conclusion. If your paragraphs are too long, is just one idea contained? If your paragraph is too short, how does it connect to the ideas around it, or how do you develop the idea more fully? Or do you just delete the paragraph? *Citations: Who would I even cite? If such common knowledge within the domain, it will be hard to attribute to an a single or group of people or authors. If it's not your idea, you need to ensure that you cite the source. It's a gray line between the two depending on readers, journal limitations, etc.* ##### This reminds me of [[chunking]] and how one of the magic goals of an educator is to determine the chunk. This also reminds me of [[Zettelkasten]], and how key it is to ask yourself, "is this even an idea? Is it two? Is it less than one?" ##### What would the opposite argument be? Don't be _too_ constrained by norms, balance, violate when necessary. tags: #note/idea | #on/writing | #on/writing/process | #on/idea ##### Sources: [[Story not study]]