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Topic Sentences |
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Every one of the body
paragraphs you write for your essays should have a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence
that explains what you are going to write about. It is usually at the beginning of the
paragraph, often the first sentence.
It can, however, be placed in a different position in the
paragraph. It should have *
a subject *
a verb *
a controlling idea. A good rule of thumb is to
try for at lease 6-8 words in your topic sentence. |
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*
The
topic sentence contains the main idea of the paragraph. It is more important
that the other sentences in the body paragraphs. It helps light the way for your
reader. With a good topic sentence,
the reader will know what the paragraph is about. *
A
good way to check is to ask yourself, “Is the rest
of the paragraph about the topic sentence?” *
If
you write a paragraph to answer an essay question, don’t restate the whole
question. Your topic sentence in your
answer should use some of the key words in the question. Example: http://www.cheney268.com/MSCom/ParagraphsPoster.final.web.htm |
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