ClearTips: Powerful paragraphs
Lead with the point and conclude with a comment
Concluding a paragraph with a comment can inject a bit
of your personality and, at times, humor. Comments can also put a paragraph
in perspective, create a bridge to the next paragraph, or reinforce your
point after presenting a series of facts.
Geography is not geology, but they can be interlinked
in surprising ways. Geographically, Sakhalin Island is part
of the Russian Far East, though half of it was Japanese territory
until 1945. Geologically, though, it is a northward extension of
Japan and thus prone to the same sort of seismic ups and downs as
the rest of that archipelago. Earthquakes are no respectors of political
boundaries.
Globally, the increasing stature of humans
has untold environmental consequences. Everyone knows that we
need more energy and natural resources to meet the needs of the
earth's population as it grows. But virtually no one thinks about
the increasing needs of people who are growing taller and heavier.
Larger human size is directly related to increased energy consumption.
The hot water needs of the average household, for example, are a
function of size; hot water needs for showers are body-surface-area
related, baths are body-volume related. So a population of larger
people puts increased demands on hot water heaters.
Try inserting a comment as a stand-alone fragment:
If Japan's banks dumped their bonds, long-term
rates might rise, but short-term ones would fall. No catastrophe,
that
as part of a sentence:
Mice whose RNA could not be edited developed epileptic
seizures and died: a heavy penalty for taking no notice of the
editor.
or as a single word:
Slyly, they give "representational painting"
an entirely new meaning.
Gauge how much humor, irreverence, and
personal opinion your readers will tolerate: don't make so many comments
that they distract readers from your argument.
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