Spreading your discussion
Because university assignments deal with complex concepts and issues, often you will need to spread your discussion of a single point over several paragraphs, rather than confining it to just one which may become too long. The most important points in your essays will usually contain too much information to be contained in a single paragraph. If you have a lot to say about one point, you may introduce the point and expand it in one paragraph, and then discuss a particular aspect and conclude the point in the next. Alternatively, you might introduce and expand the point in one paragraph, discuss it in another, and give examples and conclude it in a third.
If your point extends over several paragraphs, it is a good idea to end the last paragraph of your point with a sentence which sums up the material and relates it to the direct issues of the assignment question. This ensures that you maintain relevance to the question, and that your reader can clearly follow the thrust of your point. Sometimes there is an idea that occurs at the end of a paragraph that can be used to link it to the next main point. You can then refer to this idea when you create the topic sentence of the next point. However, it is not always possible to make these links between points and it is better to avoid them than to create them artificially. You can see examples of concluding sentences and links in the model essay and critical reflection presented in the relevant modules.
