Topic Sentences

Strong Topic Sentences

While the thesis statement presents the unifying idea for the entire paper, topic sentences present the unifying idea for body paragraphs. Good topic sentences come in all sorts of varieties. What they have in common is that they:

  • encompass the entire argument of the paragraph
  • are clearly linked to the thesis statement
  • clearly develop one aspect of the thesis

One strategy that can help you devise strong, focused topic sentences is the use of a dependent clause and an independent clause. Using this strategy, you can establish a range of actions in the dependent clause, and a statement of the significance of those actions in the independent clause:

Example: When Jack find the mask and kills the pig, he leads the boys away from their long-term goal of rescue.

In this sentence, "When Jack finds the mask and kills the pig" focuses the range of action the paragraph will address; "he leads the boys away from...rescue" is an interpretive statement that examines the significance of the actions. The paragraph can now look carefully at the moment when Jack finds the mask, and how it relates to the boys' actions on their first successful hunting expedition.

Weak Topic Sentences

The narrative topic sentence: This sentence tells a part of a story without relating the event to an idea. For example, "After the play, Jem and Scout walk home," and "Caesar marched his legions into Gaul," lead you into paragraphs that can only summarize what you’ve already read.

  • Avoid narrative by thinking about significance; for example, "When Caesar marched his legions into Gaul, he began his career as a military hero to the Roman people."

The listing topic sentence : "The next thing is when…" This is very similar to the narrative topic sentence, only this one is more vague and is typical of essays that don’t show that the writer understands the relationships between ideas.

The quote topic sentence : When you use a quote as a topic sentence, you’ve doomed your essay to the quote/explanation pattern of development. Quotes are only to be used as evidence for your ideas about the essay. When you use a quote as a topic sentence, the only thing you can do in your paragraph is explain the quote.