Breaking the "Rules" of paragraph structure
The other day I laughed a lot, when I remembered an academic advisor. He scolded me severely, because I did not use topic sentences to open paragraphs. That’s pretty bad, you know. At the time I didn’t know how to answer that. I did not have an adequate answer. Do you remember the old rule? A topic sentence summarizes the main point of each paragraph. This style rule might be a necessary rule for learning grammar in elementary and middle school, but not at the graduate level.
I have never met a student who is not obsessed with topic sentences. This is a question I get everywhere. Why? I realized that sometimes when a bad teacher finds no objection to content, they will find something to drop your confidence. He thinks his duty is to get you into trouble. You see, it’s not easy to get started. The problem is, you never intended to be a writer. But you have writing assignments every day. So bad teachers and bad librarians come up with their golden rules. And you start to think that you will be happy only in a world without topic sentences. Words, rules, and life confuse people.
There is often a lot of confusion about the writing rules. Keep in mind that a rule may be appropriate in one situation and a nuisance in another. The academy requires another level of reading. It is assumed that graduate students or researchers are not so naive or dumb. Beyond that, we must remember the humorist Sam Pickering who warned us that “all people and sentences are disobedient.” In fact, the rules are good at first to produce an illusion of control. But, after a while, reality arrives. If the content is weak, nothing will work. Topic sentences don’t educate you. I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here: they don’t settle in the West. That is sure.
Bosses and teachers are not always easy to please. Poor academic writing is a sad reality today. Without a doubt, the transmission of knowledge requires a clear, rich and objective language. On the other hand, I am against topic sentences most of the time, which does not mean that I am in favor of messy language. We must not settle for poor language. Good educators like to see a paragraph that consists of correct sentences, clear language, and original ideas. Obviously, they want to see that you have gained knowledge and can think clearly. So don’t worry too much about topic sentences.
