Writing: Cohesion in Arguments

Exercise 7.22: Identify logical order of sentences

Each of these sentences combines to make a paragraph. On a piece of paper, write a number for each sentence A-E to show a logical order for sequencing the supporting sentences.

Topic Sentence: Robots are becoming more advanced with advances in technology.

1. NASA has robots in space that "are performing tasks with sub-millimeter precision" (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2015, para. 3).
2. Today's robots are very powerful.
3. On the other hand, the robots of twenty years ago were not able to do as much or make such exact movements.
4. In addition to being powerful, today's robots are also very precise.
5. Robots in the United Kingdom, for example, were strong enough to harvest five tons of barley from a farm run by robots last year (Pultarova, 2017).

Conclusion Sentence: With the amazing advances we have seen recently, it is very likely that robots will continue to improve and become capable of doing even more.

Exercise 7.23: Insert a sentence

The underlined numbers represent places where the bolded sentence could be inserted into the paragraph. Choose the most logical place to insert the bolded sentence below.

Even though all people have different lives and circumstances, stress is universal because it has so many different causes.

1 Everyone experiences stress. 2 Some of these causes include health, relationships, life changes, and conflicts between your beliefs and your values ("Causes of Stress," 2018). 3 Regardless of the cause, everyone should understand stress because they will have to know how to handle it. 4

Exercise 7.24: Identify misplaced sentences

Read the original paragraph. Identify the sentences that seem to be out of place. Then compare the original to the revised version.

Original:

       The skin is one of the most important lines of protection that the human body has against infection. If a germ makes it past the skin, the body has several mechanisms in place to destroy it. For example, the body uses white blood cells to find and destroy germs that enter the body ("Components of the Immune System," 2015). These mechanisms don't always work quickly enough to prevent people from becoming sick, but they do begin fighting the bacteria or virus and help people recover. In order to become infected, either bacteria or viruses have to enter the body. The skin prevents this from happening most of the time, as we encounter thousands—if not millions—of germs every day. Thus, the skin is one of the best ways to protect the body from germs because it blocks the majority of them.

Revision:

       The skin is one of the most important lines of protection that the human body has against infection. In order to become infected, either bacteria or viruses have to enter the body. The skin prevents this from happening most of the time, as we encounter thousands—if not millions—of germs every day. If a germ makes it past the skin, the body has several mechanisms in place to destroy it. For example, the body uses white blood cells to find and destroy germs that enter the body ("Components of the Immune System," 2015). These mechanisms don't always work quickly enough to prevent people from becoming sick, but they do begin fighting the bacteria or virus and help people recover. Thus, the skin is one of the best ways to protect the body from germs because it blocks the majority of them.

Exercise 7.25: Revise for cohesion

Revise the paragraph for cohesion.

       The languages spoken in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are one evidence of their distinct cultures. On one side of the island, they speak French, while on the other side they speak Spanish. Interestingly, both of these languages were imported, and they are both "...the result of centuries of European colonization and numerous power struggles" (Silver, 2010, para. 3). The indigenous people of the island originally spoke Taino. However, France and Spain both established colonies, bringing their languages with them. There are a few words of Taino that remained in Spanish like huracán (tornado) and maíz (corn) (Reichard, 2017). Due to these new influences, most of the native Taino language was conquered. Both sides of the island are certainly distinct because they now have different languages.

Exercise 7.26: Identify connectors

1. The following research comes from an article by Peri (2018). If you wanted to include all of this research in a body paragraph, what kind of cohesive device could you use? Write the type of cohesive device on the line below.

1. 1. Sleep plays a critical role in thinking and learning.
   2. Lack of sleep impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving.
   3. Various sleep cycles play a role in "consolidating" memories in the mind.
   4. If you don't get enough sleep, you won't be able to remember what you learned.

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2. The following research comes from an article by DiSalvo (2017). If you wanted to include all of this research in a body paragraph, what kind of cohesive device could you use? Write the type of cohesive device on the line below.

1. 1. Controlling your breathing calms your mind
   2. Breathing regulates your blood
   3. Counting breaths taps into the brain's emotional control regions.
   4. The rhythm of your breathing affects
   5. Controlled breathing may boost the immune 

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3.The following research comes from an article by Jacobs (2017). If you wanted to include all of this research in a body paragraph, what kind of cohesive devices could you use? Write the type of cohesive device on the line below.

1. 1. To give someone a business card, a Japanese business person will hold the card with two hands as she passes the card to the costumer. The card should be studied and discussed as part of the conversation.
   2. When an American business person passes a business card to another person, they do not hold it with two hands, and they may not even have a card with them. Many millennials prefer to have business contacts go to their LinkedIn Failure to present a business card is not offensive in American culture.

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Exercise 7.27: Draft a body paragraph  

Fill in between the sources with your own commentary to draft a body paragraph about why people should meditate. Use cohesive devices to connect your commentary to the ideas in each source. 

TS: It has been proven that meditation reduces stress significantly.

• Meditating for 10 minutes each day has been shown to reduce mental stress and anxiety because it changes the chemicals in the brain (Andrews, 2016).
• Georgetown University Medical Center researchers say people who practiced mindfulness meditation had "sharply reduced stress-hormone and inflammatory responses to a stressful situation," while those who took a non-meditation stress management course had poor responses (Scott, 2014, para. 3).
• College students who practiced meditation were better able to put their demands into perspective and moderate their stress response (Jones, 2017).