Paragraphing Homework A

EN102

Prof. Howe

Organizing your ideas is one of the most important components of argument-building; an argument will not work if you haven’t first established the most fundamental of concepts on which your argument is based. Building on our in-class activity, order the following sentences—all of which are from a single paragraph—into the best complete paragraph possible. Read each sentence through completely before you begin, and remember that your paragraph should have a topic sentence that describes in broad conceptual strokes what’s to come in the paragraph; it should have a conclusion sentence that sums up the main point of the paragraph in an equally conceptual manner. Each paragraph should only contemplate one main idea, though that main idea may be more or less complex. That idea or closely-knit set of ideas should be explored in supporting sentences. As you complete this activity, keep in mind that you may have to defend your choices before your peers—so think about why you chose to put one sentence ahead of another!

You should retype the entire paragraph, being sure your work is accurate. Bring your typed paragraph to class for submission. It should be formatted appropriately and headed with your name and course information (see formatting sample).

By decade’s end, prohibition violators accounted for over one-third of the twelve thousand inmates of federal prisons while a glut of prohibition cases overloaded the courts.

As one proud sponsor boasted, “There is as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment as there is for a hummingbird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail!”1

Significantly, national prohibition made it a crime to sell, but not to purchase or use, alcoholic beverages, leaving many people with conflicted feelings about personal decisions on whether or not to drink.

The resentment of many Americans toward national prohibition and the unhappiness of as many others with its ineffective enforcement would provoke debate about the dry law all across the country in the years to come.

The Eighteenth Amendment brought the federal government into people’s daily lives in a fashion never before experienced in peacetime.

Despite the turmoil over prohibition in practice, the new law seemed to be an unavoidable permanent reality of daily life in America.

EN102

Prof. Howe

Paragraphing Homework B

An appalling 250,000 infant deaths occurred in the United States each year.

The Sheppard-Towner Maternity- and Infancy-Protection Act of 1921 established the first modest federal health-care program through small grants to states for maternity education.

Thanks no doubt to increased prosperity, improved diet, and the new widespread availability of pasteurized milk, together with the Sheppard-Towner innovations, the U.S. infant death rate fell 17 percent during the 1920s.

In the poorest families, one child in six died within a year of birth; while the rate stood at one in sixteen for wealthier families, it remained well above countries with maternal health-care programs.

Eager to respond to women’s new voting power, Congress moved quickly to improve conditions in the risky, fearsome, and uniquely female activity of child bearing.

As Congress came to realize that women’s votes would divide much as men’s, its enthusiasm for maternal health benefits faded, and it terminated the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1929.

Social and political conservatives complained, however, that the Sheppard-Towner Act invaded family and state responsibilities.

Yet despite its brief existence, this progressive reform underscored the potential of legal change and federal government action to influence daily life.