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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