Organizing/Topic Sentences

Topic Sentences

An effective topic sentence should begin each new paragraph by informing your reader what the upcoming paragraph is about, and it should also link the flow of your argument from the previous paragraph to the current one. The key is to be specific enough so that a reader knows exactly what to expect, and which direction your writing is heading in, without being so specific that it only applies to part of the paragraph.

As a rough indicator of whether you have written clear topic sentences, a reader in a real hurry should be able to read these, and these only (i.e. avoid the detailed information in all the paragraphs), and still be able to understand the backbone of the argument you are making. You can do this yourself, when you have finished writing, as a guide to see whether your writing flows smoothly and follows a logical path.