Break the “rules” of paragraph structure

I laughed a lot the other day when I remembered an academic adviser. He severely reprimanded me for not using topic sentences to open paragraphs. That’s pretty bad, you know. Back then I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t get a proper answer. 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 secondary 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. Because? I realized that sometimes when a bad teacher finds no objections to the content, he will find something to break your confidence. He thinks it’s his duty to get you in trouble. You see, it’s not easy to start. The problem is that you never wanted to be a writer. But you have writing assignments every day. Then come the bad teachers and the bad librarians with their golden rules. And you start to think that you will only be happy in a world without topic sentences. Words, rules and life confuse people.

There is often a lot of confusion about 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. Graduate students or researchers are not supposed to be that naive or dumb. Beyond that, we must remember the humorist Sam Pickering who warned us that, “all people and prayers are disobedient.” In fact, the rules are good at first for producing an illusion of control. But, after a while, reality sets in. If the content is weak, nothing will work. Topic sentences do not educate you. I am going to paraphrase Thoreau here: they do not settle in the West. That is sure.

Bosses and teachers are not always easy to please. Poor academic writing is a sad reality today. Surely, the transmission of knowledge requires a clear, rich and objective language. On the other hand, I’m against topic sentences most of the time, which doesn’t mean I’m in favor of messy language. We must not settle for poor language. Good educators like to see a paragraph that contains correct sentences, clear language, and original ideas. Obviously, they want to see that you have acquired knowledge and that you can think clearly. So don’t worry too much about topic sentences.