Topic Sentence and Thesis Statement: The Keystones of Organized Writing

 Topic Sentence and Thesis Statement: The Keystones of Organized Writing

Thesis

A thesis statement is the basic stand that an author takes, the opinion that he expresses, and the major point that he wishes to make about his subject. It contains the controlling idea of the essay, and therefore, gives the direction and the unity to all the separate elements of the writing. The purpose of the essay is to convince the reader that the thesis is indeed a valid one.

1. The first step in writing an effective thesis statement involves the focusing, limiting, or narrowing of the topic. The scope of the thesis will depend on length, purpose, audience, occasion, and knowledge (see handout—Narrowing the topic)

2. Each thesis will (a) state the subject clearly and specifically so that it can be broken into parts; (b) take a stand or attitude about the subject; and (c) provide the direction by indicating, implicitly or explicitly, the order in which the essay will develop the points.

3. The controlling idea in the thesis is a word, phrase, or clause that states the opinion, attitude, or stand that the writer takes about the subject; it provides the angle from which the writer wishes to approach his subject.

4. The thesis is always a single declarative statement

Topic Sentence

The topic sentence and the thesis are analogous. In other words, the topic sentence is to the paragraph what the thesis is to the entire essay, chapter, or book. While the thesis gives unity to the essay, the topic sentence gives unity to the paragraph by developing one major point suggested in the controlling idea of the thesis. Like the thesis, the topic sentence is integral to the organization of the essay. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence.

1. It contains the dominating idea that the paragraph will develop.

2. It normally appears as the first sentence in each paragraph.

3. The controlling idea of the topic sentence is the essential descriptive or judgmental or argumentative part of the sentence and falls in the predicate of the sentence

4. The topic sentence, like the thesis, is also focused.

5. It is never a prediction nor a question, but rather a single declarative statement.

Beginnings: Things to Avoid and Things to Do.

Avoids:

1. Avoid high sounding truisms about life in general.

2. Avoid the traditional complaint about the difficulty of writing on either the assigned or chosen topic.

3. Avoid the personal apology to the teacher (or to any reader). In fact, never apologize to your reader for your lack of knowledge or your poor style. Why should the reader waste time reading something that even the writer believes is bad?

4. Avoid the dictionary definition (I'll explain why when we discuss definitions-unless someone asks the questions).

5. Avoid boring your reader with such openings as "I am going to tell you about."

6. Avoid leading up to your subject through a string of irrelevancies. Stay with your subject and its implications.

Do's:

1. Do directly state the facts and details.

2. Do announce your subject in an effective introduction.

3. Begin with a blunt statement of fact intended to startle your reader, as long as the fact relates to your subject.

4. Begin with a dramatic incident followed by the steps leading up to it.

5. Present an answer to some pending problem.

6. Begin with a quotation but make sure that the quotation is intimately related to your subject.

7. Begin with a narrative, a relevant experience that can lead to your subject.

8. Use the first paragraph to direct your essay, but do not crowd too many details into it. Leave something for the body of the paper.

9. Use description, if it relates to your subject.

SOURCE: INTERNET