Minutes a day n e w y o r k

Inductive Paragraphs
Inductively organized paragraphs begin with the specifics and lead to a general idea. That’s why the topic sentence
in this type of paragraph comes last—it expresses the conclusion or argument that’s been proven by the build up
of evidence. For example:
All day, he emptied cartons of CDs. Disc after disc, he sorted them by category, and then by artist. After loading them
on a cart, he wheeled them to the racks, and refilled the store’s stock in alphabetical order. He knew no one would eas-
ily find the music they were looking for without him doing his job, but that satisfaction did little to relieve his boredom.
This paragraph starts with evidence. Then, in a topic sentence at the end, the writer offers the conclusion she has
drawn from that evidence.
Of course, not all paragraphs will fit so neatly into the general 
➞ specific or specific ➞ general formats and
not all paragraphs will have the topic sentence first or last. But the inductive and deductive formats work for most
paragraphs, and form the backbone of paragraphing strategy.