Of these elements, the topic sentences are the most important to building a strong essay, and deserve the most attention. A clear topic sentence in each paragraph will assist with essay organization.
You can return later to fill in the rest of the paragraph. Having these single sentences figured out early makes the rest of the essay much easier to write! Devote each body paragraph of an essay to discussing only the point of its topic sentence. If something is interesting to you, but not directly related to the topic sentence, save it for elsewhere in the essay or hang on to it for a future writing task!
This will help keep your essay focused and effective. Thomas Jefferson, who was born in , became one of the most important people in America by the end of the 18th century.
A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with. Although not all paragraphs have clear-cut topic sentences, and despite the fact that topic sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph as the first sentence, the last sentence, or somewhere in the middle , an easy way to make sure your reader understands the topic of the paragraph is to put your topic sentence near the beginning of the paragraph.
This is a good general rule for less experienced writers, although it is not the only way to do it. Regardless of whether you include an explicit topic sentence or not, you should be able to easily summarize what the paragraph is about. The topic which is introduced by the topic sentence should be discussed fully and adequately.
Again, this varies from paragraph to paragraph, depending on the author's purpose, but writers should be wary of paragraphs that only have two or three sentences. It's a pretty good bet that the paragraph is not fully developed if it is that short. Two very important elements of paragraphing are signposts and transitions. Signposts are internal aids to assist readers; they usually consist of several sentences or a paragraph outlining what the article has covered and where the article will be going.
Transitions are usually one or several sentences that "transition" from one idea to the next. Transitions can be used at the end of most paragraphs to help the paragraphs flow one into the next. Without well-written paragraphs that flow logically from one idea to the next and that inform and help support in some meaningful way the central research problem being investigated, your paper will not be viewed as credible and, well, you'll probably receive a poor grade.
Here are some suggestions for troubleshooting common problems associated with developing paragraphs:. The paragraph has no controlling idea. Imagine each paragraph as having three general layers of text. The core content is in the middle. It includes all the evidence you need to make the point. However, this evidence needs to be introduced by a topic sentence in some way or your readers don't know what to do with all the evidence you have given them.
Therefore, the beginning of the paragraph explains the controlling idea of the paragraph. The last part of the paragraph tells the reader how the paragraph relates to the broader argument and often provides a transition to the next idea. Once you have mastered the use of topic sentences, you may decide that the topic sentence for a particular paragraph really should not be the first sentence of the paragraph. This is fine—the topic sentence can actually go at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph; what's important is that it is there to inform readers what the main idea of the paragraph is and how it relates back to the broader thesis of your paper.
The paragraph has more than one controlling idea. This is the most common reason why a paragraph is too long. If a paragraph is more than a page long, it likely contains more than one controlling idea. In this case, consider eliminating sentences that relate to the second idea, with the thought that maybe they don't really inform and help support the central research problem, or split the paragraph into two or more paragraphs, each with only one controlling idea.
Transitions are needed within the paragraph. You are probably familiar with the idea that transitions may be needed between paragraphs or sections in a paper.
Sometimes they are also helpful within the body of a single paragraph. Within a paragraph, transitions are often single words or short phrases that help to establish relationships between ideas and to create a logical progression of those ideas in a paragraph. This is especially true within paragraphs that discuss multiple examples or discuss complex ideas, issues, or concepts. AP English Literature and Composition. Edublogs, ; Paragraphing.
Centre for Applied Linguistics. University of Warwick. General Structure. Most paragraphs in an essay parallel the general three-part structure of each section of a research paper and, by extension, the overall research paper, with an introduction, a body that includes facts and analysis, and a conclusion.
You can see this structure in paragraphs whether they are narrating, describing, comparing, contrasting, or analyzing information.
Each part of the paragraph plays an important role in communicating the meaning you intend to covey to the reader. Introduction : the first section of a paragraph; should include the topic sentence and any other sentences at the beginning of the paragraph that give background information or provide a transition. Body : follows the introduction; discusses the controlling idea, using facts, arguments, analysis, examples, and other information.
For long paragraphs, you may also want to include a bridge sentence that introduces the next paragraph or section of the paper. In some instances, the bridge sentence can be written in the form of a question.
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