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What Is a Topic Sentence? Know Best Writing Techniques and Examples

by Jonathan Naylor - 21 Feb 2022, Monday 268 Views Like (0)
What Is a Topic Sentence? Know Best Writing Techniques and Examples

Have you ever composed a piece of writing in your college or school? Yes, every student does this at their early stages of education. But at those stages, you may not be able to differentiate between an ordinary sentence and a topic sentence. Yes, the topic sentence is different from other sentences in a paragraph. It differs from other sentences in many senses.

Many students do not know about the usage of this sentence and hence fail to grab good marks in the class. Thus, the epicentre of our today’s discussion is knowing about a topic sentence. You will learn how to use it in your paragraphs and about its structure. Do not skip this article, as there will also be examples of some good topic sentences at the end. So, let’s begin our discussion with the following question.

What Is A Topic Sentence Idea?

A topic sentence is always the opening sentence of writing. It is not centric to any particular genre of writing. Every writing, whether it is a dissertation, essay, thesis, or assignment, this sentence comes in each time. It gives a general idea of what is coming next in the discussion. This sentence also contains very broad information that is going to be subdivided into the later sections of the writing.

What Is A Topic Sentence In A Paragraph?

A paragraph is a group of sentences supporting the central theme of the writing. The topic sentence comes only once in the entire paragraph, and it is at the start of each paragraph. Basically, it is the opening sentence that opens the doors for the next discussion. It also provides a sense of unity of the information. For example, a paragraph starts with a sentence. It should be clear that the information in that particular paragraph should be related to that sentence. The writer should not stray away and only give information related to the topic sentence until the very last sentence.

How To Write A Topic Sentence?

Like any other type of writing, writing a topic sentence is also not easy. All the information followed by the topic sentence must be centric to the main idea. Thus, writing a topic sentence is not an ordinary thing. It requires some skills to identify the potential points and develop an opening sentence based on those points. However, some guidelines by affordable assignment writing services can help you write an eye-catching opening sentence.

Identify the main point

The most important thing is the identification of the main point of your discussion. This identification can eliminate most of your problems. You need to think about the whole topic and decide how to develop an attractive opening sentence. The sentence should be short and eye-catching that the reader does not go somewhere else.

For example, you are going to write a pollution essay. There are multiple types of pollution, like air, water and land pollution. You need to identify which type of pollution you are talking about and develop the topic sentence according to that.

Emphasise what and why

A topic sentence must emphasise ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the paragraph. Create a strong topic sentence by discussing what and why of the central idea. In simple words, you need to explain what the topic is and why it is important. Let’s take the example mentioned above. The topic is pollution; this is related to ‘what’ of the sentence. Now, why you are discussing it is another question. The answer to why can be the potential threats pollution poses to human life.

New Information

Readers do not like to read the straightforward and general unless you provide new information. The new information can potentially be used as a topic sentence. This kind of topic sentence sticks the reader to your writing and does not let him go somewhere else. Starting with an obvious statement has become old. Nowadays, eye-catching fact-based or question-based topics draw more readership. Thus, you should build your topic sentence with new and addictive information.

Transition words

When writing a topic sentence, the use of transition words can help a lot. They help the reader understand that new information is coming in this paragraph. Some of the transition words are “although”, “another”, and “even though.” These words tell the reader that the previous paragraph has ended, and the upcoming information is in support of the preceding paragraph. The topic sentences can also include these words as they are the opening sentences of the new paragraphs.

Refine the sentence

After working on all the points mentioned above, you should refine and re-read your topic before incorporating it into the paragraph. The topic sentence seems to be a simple sentence, but it is not that simple in reality. Thus, refining it after its development is necessary.

What Is An Example Of A Topic Sentence?

After reading the details above, you must have known what a topic sentence is and how to formulate it. Let’s talk about an example of a topic sentence and explain it.

Example

President James Polk expanded the physical land of the United States during his presidency. Before leaving his office, the President acquired lands in the Western USA.

Now, the first sentence is the topic sentence in the above example. It states that President Polk acquired some lands before leaving his office. The first sentence does not give any specific information about the lands. It is a piece of broad information, and the coming sentences will support it as in the second sentence. The second sentence supports the first sentence, which is a topic sentence. Thus, this is how a topic sentence works in writing.  

Conclusion

A topic sentence, the opening sentence of a paragraph, gives information about what is coming next. The ways of writing can vary from audience to audience and genre of writing. Thus, different stages of writing a topic sentence need to be learnt to use it effectively.