Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

• These are sentences that writers use to focus their ideas and express the main point of their writing.    A strong set of topic sentences will work together to support a thesis

Thesis Statement

• This is the main point of the essay which is usually found at the end of the introduction or the first paragraph.

Topic Sentence

• This is the main point of the paragraph which is usually found at the beginning of the paragraph

• Both thesis statements and topic sentences are similar because:
  • They are full sentences that communicate a full idea
  • They should state or show, rather than announce the main idea
  • They should not be too broad or too narrow
  • They explain what the main ideas are of your essay (thesis statement) or paragraph (topic sentence)