Cohesion and Clarity
12- 5
In the original article, the information was divided as follows:
FNA biopsy of palpable lesions has several benefits. First, it is quick. Second, it is associated with a low morbidity rate and is tolerated well by patients, most of whom do not even require local anesthesia. Third, the cells collected by FNA biopsy can not only be evaluated morphologically but also be used to perform a detailed immunophenotypic and molecular analysis. Fourth, FNA allows the pathologist to sample more than one area of the mass. The risks associated with the procedure are minimal: slight oozing of blood and a remote risk of infection. Although the risk of seeding theoretically exists, it is typically not seen. … (From Crapanzano, 2002)
√ Keep paragraphs short (that is, several to a page).
Paragraphs signal important units of thought — smaller than sections and subsections but bigger than sentences. They tend to be longer in scientific writing than in other types of writing, but in general, shorter paragraphs are preferred because they are easier to read and comprehend. An excessively long paragraph can be a sign of more than 1 main idea in a single paragraph. √ Include a topic sentence, usually at the beginning, and include only those sentences that contribute to or support the topic. A topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about. It is not a statement of all the specific details supporting a point — it is the point: it states the main idea. The topic sentence can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph, but it is most commonly stated at the beginning to alert readers to the topic and help keep them focused on the main idea. In this example from The New England Journal of Medicine, the topic sentence is highlighted. Notice how everything that follows is related to this first, topic sentence. The usefulness of testing for the APOE 4 allele is also limited. Finding one or two APOE 4 alleles in a symptomatic person with dementia certainly increases the likelihood that one is dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and might be used as an adjunct to clinical diagnosis. On the other hand, since 50 percent of patients with autopsy-proven
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software