Lesson Topic 2: Totally on Topic

The thesis statement indicates what the entire essay will be about. Therefore, every topic sentence should relate directly to your thesis statement. Remember that the topic sentence is the sentence that begins each paragraph and reveals what the paragraph will be about.

Topic sentences are important for many reasons. These sentences show that you have the ability to organize your paper and stay on topic (if you make sure that all topic sentences support, or prove, the thesis). Topic sentences also provide you with what secondary sources you need to find for your proof.

Look at the example below.

Example:

Thesis: Spiders are very scary.

Topic Sentence 1: Some spiders are poisonous.

Topic Sentence 2: Some spiders have very strange faces and bodies.

The main idea (or thesis) of the paper is that spiders are scary. The topic sentences give two different ways that spiders are scary. These two topic sentences work because they prove that the thesis statement is true in different ways. Also, you would want to find information from secondary sources that reveal what spiders are poisonous and what spiders might look strange.

Your essay might talk about the characters in a novel. If you want the main idea of your paper to reveal that a particular character is rude, your sentences might look like this:

Example:

Thesis: In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Juliet is rude.

Topic Sentence 1: Juliet is rude to her nurse.

Topic Sentence 2: Juliet is rude to her parents.

Notice how the two topic sentences relate to and support the thesis statement. Then, for your secondary sources, you would need to find examples of how Juliet is rude to her parents and her nurse.

Now, after you complete the brainstorming process, you will be ready to find secondary sources that work together with your primary source to prove your topic sentences and thesis statement.

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