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1

Creating a Topic SentenceIN 3 EASY STEPS

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2Step One: Question

What question is the information in the body paragraph answering?

Example: Why teach high school classes instead of other levels?

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3Step Two: Answer

What is the most concise and simple way to answer the question?

Example: A high school teacher can make better connections with students, do more interesting projects, and teach a variety of units.

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4Step Three: Spice it Up

Now that you have a simplistic and basic statement (Step Two) that answers a research question (Step One) it is time to add variety and detail to the sentence.

Step Two Example: A high school teacher can make better connections with students, do more interesting projects, and teach a variety of units.

Example: Though high school teachers face many obstacles in today’s technology and test-driven society, there are still myriad reasons why a person should consider the profession; the main reasons being the strong connection that can be formed with high school-aged students, the vast array of creative projects that can be done, and the freedom to teach a variety of complex units instead of being limited to a single topic.

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5More Tips

Avoid making all topic sentences sound the same or have the same structure. Create variety among all topic sentences while still maintaining each sentence’s purpose.

Do not create a simple list as a topic sentence. Mention the information in the body paragraph without listing it.

Feel free to make the topic sentence more than one sentence. It is called a topic “sentence” only by title, that doesn’t mean that it must be limited to a single sentence.

Avoid using quotes and discussing researched sources in the topic sentence. Save those for the body of the paragraph.

From reading your topic sentence, your reader should have a general idea of what he will learn in the body of the paragraph.