Paragraphs, headings, and scannable documents

Paragraph anatomy

A workplace paragraph has three parts and one idea. The topic sentence comes first and states the idea — a reader who reads only first sentences should still get the argument. The support follows: the facts, the figures, the reason. A transition closes it or opens the next, so the reader knows how this idea connects to the one after. One idea per paragraph: when a second idea arrives, so does a new paragraph. Olds's test is simple — could you give the paragraph a heading? If the heading would need an "and", it is two paragraphs.

Scannability — four tools

A busy reader does not read a memo; they scan it for the part they need and read that. Smith's layout tools make that possible: headings (so the reader can find the section — Recommendation, Cost, Reliability, Next steps), lists (bullets for a set with no order — three criteria, four risks), numbering (for items with an order — steps to take, ranked options), and whitespace (short paragraphs, a line between them, margins that let the eye rest). Two errors are common enough to be named: a numbered list for unordered items, which tells the reader there is a sequence when there is none; and a two-page memo with no headings, which is a wall the reader has to climb every time they need one fact from it.

Worked example — the wall of text

> The press has broken down fourteen times in the past year and repairs have cost $38,000against$9,000 three years ago, and on-time delivery has fallen from 96 % to 84 %, which two of the three key accounts have said they will not accept beyond the spring, and there are three ways to fix it, buying a new press for $260,000 with a loan, leasing one at $58,000 a year with maintenance included, or outsourcing the large-format work to Hamilton at a margin of 18 % rather than 42 %, and to fix it Priya should approve the lease route by 22 November, after which Wren will request three quotes by 29 November and she can sign by 13 December.

One sentence, four ideas, no way in. Restructured:

> The problem. The nine-year-old press has become unreliable. It broke down fourteen times last year; repairs cost $38,000,against$9,000 three years ago; and on-time delivery fell from 96 % to 84 %, a level two of the three key accounts have said they will not accept beyond the spring. > > The three fixes. Each restores reliability at a different cost: > - buy a new press — $260,000 on a five-year loan, about $67,400 a year all in; > - lease a new press — $58,000 a year, maintenance included; > - outsource large-format work to a Hamilton trade printer — margin falls from 42 % to 18 %, about $74,400 a year lost. > > Next steps. The lease route needs three decisions in order: > 1. Priya approves the lease route — by 22 November. > 2. Wren requests three quotes — by 29 November. > 3. Priya selects a vendor and signs — by 13 December.

Three headed paragraphs, each with a topic sentence; the three fixes as bullets because they have no order; the three steps numbered because they do. The reader who needs only the cost of leasing finds it in four seconds.

Restructure a second passage

> The reminder system costs about $1,800 a year and no-shows are currently about 12 % of appointments and double-bookings run at about two a month and the receptionists would need a half-day of training and the dentists need to approve it by 28 March and then Tomas gets two written quotes by 11 April and the dentists sign by 25 April.

Two headings — The case for the system (a topic sentence, then the three figures as a bulleted set) and Approval and timing (a numbered list of the three dated steps). Notice the training half-day goes with the case, not the timeline: it is a cost, not a step.

State the rules cold

Topic sentence, support, transition; one idea. Headings to find, bullets for sets, numbers for order, whitespace to rest. Could the paragraph take a heading? Would the list survive being shuffled? If yes, bullets; if no, numbers.