Writing a Topic Sentence in a Body Paragraph
The topic sentence is the first sentence of a body
paragraph. It introduces the point that your body paragraph will explore. Each
topic sentence has to accomplish a few key things:
·
Link to the previous paragraph
·
Link back to the thesis statement
·
Introduce a new point that will be explored in
the rest of the paragraph
A good topic sentence can do all of the above at the same
time. It needs to clarify the new direction that you are taking your discussion
in, but do it in a way that doesn’t confuse your reader.
Let’s look at an example to clarify what a topic sentence
should look like. For the essay topic on sleeping times we introduced above,
your first paragraph would be on why sleep is important and how it affects people.
Your topic sentence could be something like the following:
Sleep is a fundamental part of maintaining health and mental
functioning.
Now, the reader knows that the paragraph will explain why
sleep is important and how it affects health and functioning. You’ve
effectively transitioned into your new paragraph. You’ve also linked to your
thesis statement because you are talking about the effects of sleep, and laying
the groundwork for the comparison of different amounts of sleep which your
essay will do later.
However, there are times when your “topic sentence” might be
more than just one sentence. You
might have to spend a bit more time establishing the important transitions from
the previous idea and setting up your new idea. For example, if we were to
write the topic sentence component of the third paragraph, about how less than
seven hours is detrimental, we might write it as follows:
However, despite the aforementioned benefits of sleep, one has
to consider that different amounts of sleep affect individuals in different
ways. Studies have shown that sleeping for less than seven hours per night can
lead to a loss of functioning and less mental acuity.
These two sentences were needed here to perform the function
of introducing your topic or idea for this paragraph. One sentence was used to
transition from the previous paragraph, showing that not all sleep is equal by
using the signpost word “however”. The second sentence indicated that this
paragraph will talk about the detrimental effects of getting less than seven
hours of sleep.
Make sure that your topic sentences clearly state what your
paragraphs will be about. This makes it easier for readers to scan the contents
of your essay by only reading the first sentence or two of each paragraph, and
still being able to easily find their way.
Review Your Learning:
•
A topic sentence (or topic sentences) come at
the start of each body paragraph
•
Topic sentences need to transition from previous
paragraphs, show a link to the thesis statement, and introduce the main idea of
the current paragraph
•
You can use signposting to improve the logical
flow of your paragraphs