A good paragraph has the characteristics of unity, coherence and emphasis. In unity a paragraph must be unified on its structure.

In coherence a paragraph must establish continuity within or towards the other paragraph. In emphasis the idea within the paragraph should be given importance and made to stand. Unity A paragraph is a unit of composition that established oneness because it develops a central and main idea on its structure. The entire paragraph must be unified on its structure and all the sentences within the paragraph should focus on the topic sentence. There are several violations in which the unity of the paragraph is lost. One of these is by the inclusion of the second central idea which divides the idea of the entire paragraph. Another violation is the inclusion of one or more sentences containing details that are not really related to the paragraphs main ideas. There are also cases in which there is no central idea that was being established within the paragraph resulting to the disunity of sentences in the paragraph composition. Coherence Coherence is considered as the continuity between as well as within the paragraph. It is very important to arrange and link the sentences between the paragraphs to be able to make the readers follow the thought or the idea that want to be implied. There are several logical orders in which coherence can be established. These logical orders are the spatial orders, deductive order and inductive order. Chronological order is done in such ways like narrating experiences, summarizing the steps in the process and explaining events and movements. Spatial order can be established through the arrangement of visual details in some consistent sequences such as from left to right, east to west, near or distant and vice versa. Deductive order is done by establishing a general statement moving to the more particular details that explain the general statement itself. Inductive order is done by starting the statement with more particular detail going to and supporting the general statement. Coherence can also be established through the use of some special devices. These transitional devices are the transitional keywords;the reference of pronoun, the repetition of keywords and the use of the parallel structure. The transitional words and phrases serve as indicators of the different relationships that need to be connected to be able to establish coherence in the paragraph. The reference of pronoun is a device used to avoid needles repetition in the paragraph. The repetition of keywords is used in such a way that the keywords that are related to the central idea in order to establish coherence. The parallel structure is used to call attention to similar idea in the paragraph. Emphasis Emphasis is the principle of the paragraph composition in which the important ideas are made to stand. In here it is very important that the main points of the writer should be evident inside the paragraph. Having an emphasis can be achieved by using some devices such as the use of emphasis by proportion, emphasis by pause and emphasis by position. In the emphasis by proportion, the subordinate ideas should be given less substance while ideas which have greater importance should be given more substance. In the emphasis by pause, the emphasis is established by making chapter divisions, paragraph breaks as well as mark of punctuation. In the emphasis by position, the beginning and end of the paragraph are considered as crucial points where emphasis should be placed, emphasis are usually positioned in these places

Deductive Reasoning
Disciplines > Argument > Types of Reasoning > Deductive Reasoning Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description
Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts with a general case and deduces specific instances. Deduction starts with an assumed hypothesis or theory, which is why it has been called 'hypothetico-deduction'. This assumption may be well-accepted or it may be rather more shaky -- nevertheless, for the argument it is not questioned. Deduction is used by scientists who take a general scientific law and apply it to a certain case, as they assume that the law is true. Deduction can also be used to test an induction by applying it elsewhere, although in this case the initial theory is assumed to be true only temporarily.

Example
Say this Not this

Gravity makes things fall. The apple The apple hit my head. Gravity that hit my head was due to works! gravity. They are all like that -- just look at him! Look at him. They are all like that.

Toyota make wonderful cars. Let me These cars are all wonderful. They show you this one. are made by Toyota, it seems. There is a law against smoking. Stop it now. Stop smoking, please.

Discussion
Deductive reasoning assumes that the basic law from which you are arguing is applicable in all cases. This can let you take a rule and apply it perhaps where it was not really meant to be applied. Scientists will prove a general law for a particular case and then do many deductive experiments (and often get PhDs in the process) to demonstrate that the law holds true in many different circumstances. In set theory, a deduction is a subset of the rule that is taken as the start point. If the rule is true and deduction is a true subset (not a conjunction) then the deduction is almost certainly true. Using deductive reasoning usually is a credible and 'safe' form of reasoning, but is based on the assumed truth of the rule or law on which it is founded. Validity and soundness

Deductive conclusions can be valid or invalid. Valid arguments obey the initial rule. For validity, the truth or falsehood of the initial rule is not considered. Thus valid conclusions need not be true, and invalid conclusions may not be false. When a conclusion is both valid and true, it is considered to be sound. When it is valid, but untrue, then it is considered to be unsound.

See also
Deductive Fallacies, Cause-to-effects reasoning, Inductive reasoning