It states, clearly and directly, your position on this topic or question (i.e., your thesis). In addition to grabbing the reader’s attention, the opening sentence of an essay sets up the structure of ...

The goal of any topic sentence is to make a claim that you will defend ... build upon these ideas in some way. Here is an example of a research paragraph that we will analyze sentence by sentence: ...

Writing a strong topic sentence that establishes the subject of the paragraph Using "echo words" -- i.e., consistent terms for the concepts throughout Applying transitions to link sentences logically ...

In the example below, the author uses the topic of reading strategies to both introduce the topic and conclude the first paragraph. Then, the author refers back to those reading strategies to ...

A paragraph is usually created for a new topic or idea. A paragraph is also ... decide to structure paragraphs for pace or flow. For example, a long, flowing description of a setting or a series ...