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HomeGuidelines > 4. Build chunky paragraphs. > 4b. Put the idea of the paragraph first. > Challenge + Answers

 

Diagram

Background

Examples

Audience Fit

Challenges

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Challenges

(a)

Reorganize and carve into paragraphs, each with a topic sentence.

Like the Gestaltists, Polya stresses the importance of restating the goal (working back from what you want to achieve to the materials given) and restating the givens (working forward from what you are given to the goal). Of course, these ideas are too vague to test experimentally, we cannot call his work empirically based, although it does, of course, derive from his many years teaching students to solve geometric and mathematical problems. He sketches out four steps for problem solving in How to Solve It (1957):

1. Understanding the problem, during which you ask, "What do I have in terms of data, or conditions?" and "What do I want, or what is still unknown?"

2. Devising a plan, during which, based on past experience, you come up with a plan by asking, "Do I remember a problem like this? Can I restate the goal in some new way, based on what I did before? Or can I restate the givens in some new way, working forward from there to my goal?"

3. Carrying out the plan, during which you do each step of your plan.

4. Looking back, during which you check your results by using some other method, to see if all the pieces fit together, and you ask yourself, "Can I use this method on some other problem?"

You can see that Polya’s first step, in which one endeavors to understand the problem, corresponds roughly to Wallas’ preparation. But part of devising the plan corresponds to that phase, as well, but includes what Wallas calls incubation and illumination, too. Looking back corresponds closely to Wallas’ verification. Without careful experiments, we cannot say for sure that either description is accurate, because both are subjective; our intuition agrees with both descriptions, but science expects more of us than hunches. So Polya ends up being, simply, another example of the introspective approach—suggestive, but not scientifically validated. Polya’s emphasis on rearranging our view of the givens or goal, though, resembles Gestaltian restructuring.

Answer =>

Answers

(a)

Polya is another example of the introspective approach—suggestive, but not scientifically validated. His ideas are too vague to test experimentally, so we cannot call his work empirically based, although it does derive from his many years teaching students to solve geometric and mathematical problems.

Polya sketches out four steps for problem solving in How to Solve It (1957):

1. Understanding the problem, during which you ask questions such as

  • "What do I have in terms of data, or conditions?"
  • "What do I want, or what is still unknown?"

2. Devising a plan, during which, based on past experience, you come up with a plan by asking questions such as:

  • "Do I remember a problem like this?"
  • "Can I restate the goal in some new way, based on what I did before?"
  • "Or can I restate the givens in some new way, working forward from there to my goal?"

3. Carrying out the plan, during which you do each step of your plan.

4. Looking back, during which you check your results by using some other method, to see if all the pieces fit together, and you ask yourself:

  • "Can I use this method on some other problem?"

Like the Gestaltists, then, Polya stresses:

  • Restating the goal (working back from what you want to achieve to the materials given)
  • Restating the givens (working forward from what you are given to the goal).

But if the introspective approach is going to yield useful results, we would expect that everyone’s subjective analysis would be similar to that of other people. So that raises the question: do Polya’s steps match Wallas’s phases?

How well do these steps correspond to Wallas’s phases?

Not very well.

There are rough correspondences, but a lot of overlaps and mismatches. As you recall, Wallas sketched out four phases:

1. Preparation

2. Incubation

3. Illumination

4. Verification

Polya’s first step, Understanding the Problem, corresponds roughly to Wallas’ Preparation.

But Polya’s second step, Devising a Plan, corresponds to other parts of Wallas’ first phase (Preparation) as well as Wallas’s next two phases, Incubation and Illumination.

Polya’s third step does not seem to correspond to any of Wallas’ phases.

And Polya’s fourth step, Looking Back, corresponds closely to Wallas’s Verification.

So we cannot say that the two introspective approaches match exactly, despite intriguing correspondences.

What next?

We would have to run some careful experiments to say whether either description is accurate, because both are subjective. Our intuition agrees with both descriptions, but science expects more of us than hunches.

 

(b)

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Answer =>

(b)

We print birth announcements—now or later.

Order one of our 100 fabulous designs now, in one of our many categories, such as sports, outdoor, Western, and Noah’s Ark. We’ll ship printed announcements to you within 48 hours. Order now.

Still waiting for the big day? Get ready by ordering birth announcements ahead of time.

1. Browse through our designs and pick one today.

2. Place your order.

3. As soon as your baby is born, email us with your baby’s name, height, and weight.

Within 48 hours of your email, we’ll ship your specially printed announcements to you.

 

(c)

We have adult and kid versions of this hot product. The T-stand holds the ball out for the batter to hit. This device is light and portable, and stands up to a lot of swings and misses. The payoff is that with the ball on the T-stand, the batters learn how to swing at the ball in the right way, without having to worry about the pitcher. Solution

Answer =>

(c)

With our T-stand holding the ball for the batter, the players learn how to swing at the ball in the right way, without having to worry about the pitcher. This device is light and portable. It stands up to a lot of swings and misses. (We have adult and kid versions of this product).

 

(d)

Existing batteries take up a lot of space, and run of juice quickly. Trying to solve these interrelated problems, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, have invented a way to combine silicon with graphite, to make the anodes inside the battery. "We want to license this technology to manufacturers of laptop computers, cell phones, power tools—even electric automobiles," said Val Scott, of Sandia. The new composite of silicon and graphite promises to double the energy that rechargeable batteries can store, leading to longer lives, and smaller sizes.

Answer =>

(d)

A new composite of silicon and graphite promises to double the energy that rechargeable batteries can store, leading to longer lives, and smaller sizes.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, came up with this invention as a solution to two problems with existing batteries: They take up a lot of space, and they run out of juice quickly.

The lab hopes that business will adopt this new kind of battery. "We want to license this technology to manufacturers of laptop computers, cell phones, power tools—even electric automobiles," said Val Scott, of Sandia.

 

Reflecting on chunkiness

A paragraph is in fact a whole composition in miniature.
--J. G. R. McElroy, quoted in Young, Becker, and Pike, Rhetoric: Discovery and Change

 

 

Other ways to make chunky paragraphs:

4a.  Design each paragraph around one idea.

4c. If you must include context, put that first.

4d. Put key conclusions, ideas, news, at the start of the article.

Resources on chunkiness

Taking a Position on chunkiness

Poster

 

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