Wilbers: Structuring your paragraphs so that the reader gets the point

Good things come in threes.

Messages should have a beginning, a middle and an end. In speeches you should tell them what you're going to say, say it and tell them what you've said. And in paragraphs you should organize your information by topic, development and resolution.

One, two, three.

Consider the following paragraph about how demands for greater productivity are taking a toll on workers, adapted from an article by Alana Semuels:

"In their zeal to make sure that not a minute of time is wasted, companies are imposing rigorous performance quotas, forcing many people to put in extra hours, paid or not. As a result, many workers are wondering how much longer they can keep up the breakneck pace. Video cameras and software keep tables on work performance, tracking their computer keystrokes and the time spent on each customer service call. The relentless drive for efficiency at U.S. companies has created a new harshness in the workplace."

Hard to follow, isn't it? That's because I scrambled the order of its four sentences.

To create coherence and flow in your writing, organize your paragraphs into three components: topic, development, resolution.

Hint #1: The topic sentence usually states the unifying theme of the paragraph.

Hint #2: The second component in a paragraph, the development, often consists of a sentence that clarifies, elaborates or expands on the topic sentence, followed by an example.

Hint #3: It's a pretty good bet that sentences beginning with phrases such as in conclusion, consequently and as a result come at the end.

Hint #4: If you just wrote on your computer screen with an indelible marker, you might want to make sure your company doesn't have a video camera pointed in your direction. (Also, what are you doing reading this column on company time, anyway?)

Here's how the paragraph was originally written:

Note how the clarifying sentence is followed by an example. Much easier to read, isn't it?

This three-part formula has another important application. By modifying it slightly to purpose, background, proposed action, you can use it to organize your messages.

Remember: Beginning, middle, end. Topic, development, resolution. Purpose, background, proposed action.

It's as easy as one, two, three.