Mister Line Editor
Mister Line Editor
  • Editing Proofreading Services and Prices
  • Editor and Proofreader
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Children's Books
  • Customer Reviews
  • Contact Me
  • Editing Proofreading Services and Prices
  • Editor and Proofreader
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Children's Books
  • Customer Reviews
  • Contact Me

Steps to Writing an Observation Paragraph

10/5/2018

0 Comments

 
M.T. Wroblewski reports:

"Supervisors are frequently called upon to prepare performance evaluations of their employees, and these evaluations often contain observations of an employee literally in action, carrying out some specific job task or function. Your job now is to write a dazzling paragraph based upon what you observed -- unleashing your powers of descriptive writing. Write a topic sentence – or the general topic that the paragraph will address – and a limiting idea or one that limits or narrows the topic. As adults, we’ve been told since fourth grade that a topic sentence is important because it sets the all-important tone of the paragraph. But remember that it’s the limiting idea that is the pulse of the paragraph. You will develop and expound upon that idea. Let’s assume that as a licensed day care provider, you’ve been asked to observe a student intern as she cares for a group of 2-year-olds. Your topic sentence might read: 'Nancy is a calm and focused day care practitioner who is attentive to children, responds directly and authoritatively and keeps her young charges on-task despite repeated distractions.' Review the limiting ideas for precision and clarity. Can you expound on the clause beginning with 'who is attentive to children'? If so, you probably have enough material to write a substantive observation paragraph, using Nancy’s 'calm and focused' demeanor as subtext to these bigger points. Evaluate the eight methods of developing a paragraph (still relevant from fourth grade on up): process, examples, comparison-contrast, classification, cause and effect, definition, description and narration. Any one of these methods should help you achieve your goal: to write a cohesive, unified paragraph that easily flows from one thought to the next. Select what you believe to be the best approach based upon what you observed, and start writing your paragraph. Keep in mind that you might wish to use a combination of these paragraph development techniques. Keep your audience top-of-mind. So while your paragraph should be concrete and factual, don’t be shy about infusing it with humor and personality, if apropos...Scrutinize the paragraph, and check every sentence (if not every word) for relevancy. Does every sentence amplify and advance the topic sentence? Polish and revise the paragraph until it fairly and accurately captures your observation experience...There [is] no 'right' or 'wrong' number of sentences to include in a paragraph – many journalists still favor one-sentence paragraphs – but four or five sentences is a good rule of thumb for a substantive paragraph. Use vivid language in your observation paragraph, but be careful not to make inferences or value judgments. Saying that someone is 'rushing' might be referring to their normal speed of motion. Likewise, saying that someone 'appears nervous' because she is 'sweating' might be an inaccurate conclusion; the person might in fact have high blood pressure or some other physical ailment that is causing her to sweat."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Writing and editing can be pretty rigorous processes if you want to do them well, but that's what this page is here for. Check out the latest tips here.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    J.D. Parsons
    Author
    SEO Writer
    Proofreader
    Editor
    Internet Researcher
Proudly powered by Weebly