5. Organize your ideas into paragraphs. Effective use of paragraphs is the hallmark of a good
writer. Paragraphs are important because they help the reader to understand the writer’s meaning. To
illustrate the point with an analogy, imagine a grocery store in which items are not organized into sec-
tions. In this store, there is no fresh produce section; there is no canned goods section; there is no baked
goods section; there is no frozen foods section. Consequently, a single bin might hold bunches of
bananas, cans of beans, loaves of bread, and frozen turkeys. And this disorganization characterizes every
bin, shelf, rack, and refrigerated case in the store. As you can well imagine, shopping in our imaginary
store would be very difficult—if not impossible. So, too, essays without paragraphs are very difficult—if
not impossible—to understand.
How do you organize the essay into paragraphs? As was noted in our discussion of the preceding
point, your essay should contain two, three, or perhaps four important points. Each important point should
be treated in its own paragraph.
6. Write grammatically. The principles of grammar covered above should be used as a checklist as
you proofread your essay. At a minimum, your proofreading checklist should include the following:
Does every sentence have a main verb?
Does the main verb agree with its subject?
Does every pronoun have a clear referent and does each pronoun agree with its referent?
If possible, your checklist should also include the other writing principles reviewed above.
7. Strive for clarity of expression. Simple, direct sentences are less likely to get you into trouble
than complex, convoluted ones. For an exercise such as this, any sentence more complicated than a sen-
tence with two independent clauses joined by a conjunction such as “and” or “but” or a sentence with one
dependent and one independent clause joined by a conjunction such as “while” or “although” is an invi-
tation to error. Unless you are confident in your ability to keep all of the elements of a more complicated
sentence under control, you should prefer a simpler method of expression.
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