In composition, unity is the quality of oneness in a paragraph or essay that results when all the words and sentences contribute to a single effect or main idea. Also called wholeness.
For the past two centuries, composition handbooks have insisted that unity is an essential characteristic of an effective text. Professor Andy Crockett points out that the "five-paragraph theme and current-traditional rhetoric's emphasis on method reflect further the expediency and utility of unity." However, Crockett also notes that "for rhetoricians, the achievement of unity has never been taken for granted" (Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, 1996).
