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2.3: Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

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Thesis Statement and Topic Sentences

It is important to distinguish between thesis statements and topic sentences. An essay can have only one thesis statement, but it can have three to five topic sentences. While the thesis is the main idea of the whole essay, the topic sentences are the main ideas of the body paragraphs. The thesis statement is always placed at the end of the introduction while the topic sentences appear at the beginning of the body paragraphs. Most importantly, the topic sentences must always support the thesis statement.

The following video, Thesis Statements vs Topic Sentences created by Worldwide Speak is a step by step guide to writing thesis statements and topic sentences.

Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

Learning objectives.

• Identify strategies for using thesis statements to predict content of texts

We’ve learned that a thesis statement conveys the primary message of an entire piece of text.  Now, let’s look at the next level of important sentences in a piece of text: topic sentences in each paragraph.

A useful metaphor would be to think of the thesis statement of a text as a general: it controls all the major decisions of the writing.  There is only one thesis statement in a text.  Topic sentences, in this relationship, serve as captains: they organize and sub-divide the overall goals of a writing into individual components.  Each paragraph will have a topic sentence.

It might be helpful to think of a topic sentence as working in two directions simultaneously. It relates the paragraph to the essay’s thesis, and thereby acts as a signpost for the argument of the paper as a whole, but it also defines the scope of the paragraph itself. For example, consider the following topic sentence:

Many characters in Lorraine Hansberry’s play  A Raisin in the Sun have one particular dream in which they are following, though the character Walter pursues his most aggressively.

If this sentence controls the paragraph that follows, then all sentences in the paragraph must relate in some way to Walter and the pursuit of his dream.

Topic sentences often act like tiny thesis statements. Like a thesis statement, a topic sentence makes a claim of some sort. As the thesis statement is the unifying force in the essay, so the topic sentence must be the unifying force in the paragraph. Further, as is the case with the thesis statement, when the topic sentence makes a claim, the paragraph which follows must expand, describe, or prove it in some way. Topic sentences make a point and give reasons or examples to support it.

The topic sentence is often, though not always, the first sentence of a paragraph.

• Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Topic Sentences. Authored by : Ms. Beardslee. Located at : http://msbeardslee.wikispaces.com/Topic+Sentences?showComments=1 . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Image of Parts of a Paragraph. Authored by : Enokson. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/ak9H3v . License : CC BY: Attribution

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• Thesis Sentence v. Topic Sentence

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

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One night only! Exclusive cage match between Thesis Sentence and Topic Sentence! Pick up your tickets at Will Call!

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00:00 Thank you We sneak in thesis Sentence versus topic sentence 00:06 Allah shmoop some things are very similar and yet not 00:11 quite the same skateboards and surfboards workstations and playstation network 00:19 programming and calpis If you miss take any of these 00:25 for their counterparts You could wind up skating along in 00:28 title wave Wondering why your controller is broken this games 00:35 Thanks We're spending all evening staring mindlessly into a pasture 00:42 by the same token It's important to understand the difference 00:44 between a thesis is on a topic sentence A thesis 00:50 is usually one or two cents is at the end 00:52 of your introduction that states the main point of the 00:56 entire essay Clearly he's a pretty big deal you know 01:02 tend to run things around here like a huge deal 01:06 When he enters a room we suggest you give up 01:08 your seat take mine The thesis makes a clear arguable 01:13 assertion that will be developed in the following paragraph Wow 01:17 he is so assertive it's sort of like your uncle 01:22 harold who uses every family gathering is an excuse to 01:26 make bold claims in front of an involuntarily rapt audience 01:30 Sask watch superman global warming look just think about it 01:35 However unlike uncle harold your essay is actually going to 01:39 substantiate the claims you make Also it won't end up 01:43 passed out in the tuna casserole after dinner Everything that 01:47 comes after the thesis yeah should support and relate back 01:52 to this main sense If anything doesn't relate to the 01:56 pieces well then it's probably a tangent and can be 02:00 cut Tangents air fine and geometry They're not quite so 02:06 popular in the essay writing world A strong thesis demonstrates 02:12 a unique perspective on the topic at hand It's something 02:18 that can be debated and is hopefully somewhat interesting You 02:22 any people like wearing shoes isn't a great basis Million 02:28 It may be true but the new york post probably 02:30 isn't going to stop the presses for that one And 02:36 now yeah he often gets confused with the topic sentence 02:42 The topic senses sort of many pieces Instead of being 02:47 the central point of an entire essay He's really just 02:50 in charge of previewing the content of his own paragraph 02:55 If the thesis is general The topic sentences are his 03:01 lieutenants reporting for duty sir Topic senses make a point 03:05 in support of the thesis Remember everything has to relate 03:10 back to the big guy and ideally helped convince the 03:14 reader to understand where you're coming from So there you 03:18 go A thesis is the head honchos in charge of 03:20 the whole essay and the topic senses are his minions 03:25 in charge of making sure that the body paragraph runs 03:28 smoothly Pick up the vice paragraph three pastor boys faster 03:32 Don't confuse the two They hate that please he wishes 03:37 you look this good Why i oughta Shmoop i'm not 03:51 saying cats are from outer space but i'm not saying 00:03:54.575 --> [endTime] they are either Full Transcript

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Paragraphs: Topic Sentences

Topic sentences video playlist.

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

• Academic Paragraphs: Introduction to Paragraphs and the MEAL Plan (video transcript)
• Academic Paragraphs: Examples of the MEAL Plan (video transcript)

The best way to understand the role of the topic sentence in paragraph development is to imagine that any given paragraph is a miniature essay that has its own thesis, support, and conclusion. The parts of a paragraph easily correspond to the parts of an essay:

Just as an effective essay starts off with an introduction that presents the paper's thesis statement and indicates the specific claim or argument that the essay will develop, each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that indicates the focus of that paragraph, alerting the reader to the particular subtopic that the paragraph will provide evidence to support.

A strong topic sentence should be placed at or near the beginning of a paragraph. In addition, this sentence should focus on a specific issue, avoid the use of direct quotations, and leave room for support and analysis within the body of the paragraph. Read on to learn more about creating an effective topic sentence.

The topic sentence does not have to be the first sentence in the paragraph; however, it should come early in the paragraph in order to orient the reader to the paragraph's focus right away. Occasionally a writer may place a transition sentence before the topic sentence, to create continuity between topics.

Topic Sentence to begin paragraph:

In the novel Sula , Morrison uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her characters into self-awareness.

Transition Sentence + Topic Sentence to begin paragraph:

However, Morrison does not only use the emotional and spiritual bonds between her female characters to initiate their coming-of-age. In addition, the author uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her adolescent protagonists into self-awareness.

Specificity

Your topic sentence should be more narrowly focused than your thesis sentence, and you will want to make sure the claim you are making can be supported, argued, and analyzed within the body of your paragraph.

Example: In the novel Sula , Morrison uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her characters into self-awareness.

In this topic sentence, the essayist is arguing that physical bonds of friendship, specifically, make the female characters more self-aware. Because this idea can be refuted or supported by readers (based on how successfully the essayist persuades his or her readers with examples and analysis from the novel), and because the claim is narrow enough to address within a single paragraph, the above sentence is a successful topic sentence.

Direct Quotations (Are Best Avoided)

Although it might be tempting to begin a paragraph with a compelling quotation, as a general rule, topic sentences should state the main idea of the paragraph in your own words. Direct quotations have a place later in the paragraph, where they may be incorporated to support the topic sentence.

Needs Improvement: As Morrison (1982) conveyed, the girls' "friendship let them use each other to grow on…they found in each other's eyes the intimacy they were looking for" (p. 52).

Better: In the novel Sula , Morrison uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her characters into self-awareness. Pointing to the connection of eyes meeting and bodies growing together, Morrison makes coming-of-age an interactive physical process between the adolescent protagonists. Specifically, Morrison describes how Sula and Nel have used "each other to grow on…they found in each other's eyes the intimacy they were looking for" (p. 52).

In this second paragraph, the topic sentence appears first, immediately orienting readers to the main focus (or topic) of the paragraph. The quotation is used later in the paragraph as a form of evidence or support for the topic sentence.

If you are finding it challenging to create effective topic sentences, you might consider outlining before beginning to write a paper. The points and subpoints of an outline can then become the topic sentences for the paper's paragraphs.

Additionally, because the topic sentence functions similarly at the paragraph level to the thesis at the essay level, you may also find it helpful to check out our thesis statement construction information. Our resource on paragraphs has helpful information about the scope of a paragraph, as well.

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• Next Page: Organization (MEAL Plan)
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Thesis Statement or Topic Sentence?

• High School

Occasionally at IEW our customer service team will receive questions about the differences between topic sentences and thesis statements. Hopefully this blog post will dispel any confusion between the two and empower you to help your students assail the essay in style!

Thesis statements summarize the central position of an entire essay and typically appear at the end of the introductory paragraph. Think of them as guideposts for the entire essay. They provide the reader of the essay an idea of the direction it will take. While beginning essay writers will typically write a single-sentence thesis statement, the thesis can be more than one sentence.

Depending upon the type of essay being written, a thesis statement’s emphasis will vary. In an expository essay, an essay that explains or informs, the thesis will narrow what is being explained. Thesis statements in narrative essays, which are essays that relate a story, paint an overall picture of the story that is being described and as such tend to be more personal in nature. Another type of essay, the argumentative essay, features thesis statements that underscore the writer’s opinion. In contrast, persuasive essays employ a somewhat different approach. In a persuasive essay, the thesis statement is oftentimes replaced with a question. This question serves to entice the reader to continue reading the essay in order to learn the writer’s position.

While you can think of thesis statements as guideposts for an entire essay, think of topic sentences as guideposts for individual paragraphs. Topic sentences appear in the body of the essay and are the first sentence in the paragraph. Not only do topic sentences focus the content in the paragraph, they also support the thesis statement made in the introduction.

So what might thesis statements and topic sentences look in a real-life example? Let’s consider a narrative essay prompt that asks the writer to describe someone who challenged him or her to work hard. A thesis statement might look something like this: “My gym teacher, Mr. Hernandez, never stopped encouraging me to do ‘hard things’ in high school.” This thesis statement helps the reader prepare to read some of the ways that Mr. Hernandez encouraged the writer. The topic sentences would support the thesis. Consider the following potential topic sentences:

• Mr. Hernandez encouraged me to enroll in an honors English class my senior year in high school.
• When he learned of an opportunity to help a family who had fallen on hard times, Mr. Hernandez reached out to me to help organize a clothing drive.
• Once I began to apply to colleges, Mr. Hernandez encouraged me to apply to a selective college and even offered to write a reference letter on my behalf.

These topic sentences all support the thesis of the paper by showing how Mr. Hernandez supported the writer of the essay. In the conclusion of the essay, the writer would reiterate the topics one more time before finishing the paper by emphasizing the most important point that underscores the thesis. That point might be something like this:

Mr. Hernandez saw something in me that I didn’t recognize in myself. He helped me to grow in confidence and take on challenges I would never have considered on my own. I’m excited to say that this next fall I’ll be attending ____________ University as an honors student majoring in English. And I even received an academic scholarship thanks in part to his letter of recommendation. I am so thankful he took the time to help me on my path!