CONSTRUCTING THE PARAGRAPH

1. TOPIC SENTENCES

Tutorial


Dr. Elizabeth Hanson-Smith, Computers for Education 

Professor Emeritus, CSU, Sacramento

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Topic Sentences 2 



Paragraph shape



The hand-written paragraph generally has this basic outline. The first sentence is usually indented 5 spaces, or about 1 inch.

In electronic or single-spaced documents, the paragraph might have no indentation, with a double space between them.
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Topic Sentences 3 



paragraph animation



A good-sized paragraph, the kind you will write most often, is about 4 to 10 sentences long.
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Topic Sentences 4 



Shape 2



Usually, the topic sentence comes at or near the beginning of the paragraph. It tells what the whole paragraph will be about.
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Topic Sentences 5 



Shape 5



But sometimes, for special effect, the topic sentence is placed near the end of a paragraph.
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Topic Sentences 6 



Shape 6



Every sentence in the paragraph refers to and supports the main idea of the topic sentence in some way.
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Topic Sentences 7 



  topic1Animated topic and support sentences  


It's worth repeating: Every sentence in the paragraph refers to and supports the main idea of the topic sentence in some way.
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Topic Sentences 8 



 
Shape 8


To conclude, the topic sentence is the best summary of the whole paragraph.
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This is the end of the Tutorial on Topic Sentences.
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For questions about apropriate uses, please contact the author at ehansonsmi@yahoo.com.