consider the"level" of various sentences and paragraphs. at the top, you will find the general, expansive or sweeping statements that establish location or facts that will be used subsequently in the paper. beware of generalization that are unsupported by either examples or actual references in a note or in-text parenthetical citation. unsupported generalizations are a symptom of sloppy thinking, especially when the author hopes you'll just agree without asking what evidence there is for these statements.