Writing 101: The Paragraph and the Topic Sentence

A paragraph is a sentence or group of closely related sentences that develop or represent one unit of thought. The mark, which signifies the beginning of a paragraph, is indention. Consequently, a paragraph is a mark of punctuation. It marks the beginning of a new unit of thought and signifies that a group of sentences taken together develops a thought.

Paragraphing is necessary in three ways. First, it breaks up the monotony of a solid printed page, in itself is a device agreeable to the eyes. Secondly, it breaks up a composition into convenient units and promotes the coherent treatment of a subject by attending to one thing at a time. Thirdly, it has a psychological value that every new paragraph marks a beginning; the reader feels stimulation of renewed interest with each indention that appears on the page.

A good paragraph has a beginning sentence, a middle sentence, and an end sentence. The beginning sentence should attract the reader’s attention; the middle sentence should develop the idea, and the ending sentence should strengthen the idea and make it stay in the mind of the readers. There are also three parts of a paragraph: a topic sentence, support sentences, and a conclusion.

The topic sentence is one-sentence controlling idea or summary of the fundamental thought developed in a paragraph. Frequently, the topic sentence may be the beginning sentence of a paragraph. However, it may be the middle sentence or the end sentence in which case called as support sentence and summary sentence.

A topic sentence maybe expressed or it may be implied. It is expressed when it is actually one of the sentences in the paragraph. It is implied when although not actually in the paragraph, it can easily be formulated.

Examples:

With his telescope, Galileo made some important astronomical discoveries. For instance, he discovered that satellites around the planet Jupiter. He saw the moon was not flat, as people commonly believed, but that it had high and low areas. He even calculated the height of some mountains. The Milky Way revealed itself to him as a vast collection of stars, and by studying sunspots, he reached the conclusion that sun rotates.

Galileo was the first man to discover that there are satellites around planet Jupiter. He saw that the moon was not flat, as people commonly believed, but that it had high and low areas, and he even calculated the height of some mountains. The Milky Way revealed itself to him as a vast collection of stars, and by studying sunspots, he reached the conclusion that sun rotates. Thus, with his telescope Galileo was able to make some important discoveries in astronomy.

Many people have heard about the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, but few know that Pisa also has a university of ancient origin. In about 1850, its most illustrious student was a mathematical genius named Galileo Galilei, who would soon invent the hydrostatic balance, a thermometer, and a proportional compass. But, Galileo’s greatest invention was the telescope, which enabled him to make some important contributions to Astronomy. It was this instrument that made it possible for Galileo to discover satellites around Jupiter, the unevenness of the moon’s surface, the Milky Way’s vast collection of stars, and by studying sunspots, to infer the rotation of the sun.

Among the great mean of the Renaissance, many were artists, like Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Van Dyke, and Rembrandt. Others were poets, such as Spencer, Shakespeare, Tasso, and Ronsard. Still other were pioneers in science Galileo and Kepler in Astronomy, for instance, and Vessalius and Harvey in medicine. (The Renaissance produced many creative men).

A topic sentence has two parts: a topic, key word or phrase, and a direction or general word, which may be a conclusion, an opinion, or a statement about the topic.

For example, the following sentences could be topic sentences:

• Doing housework can be very boring.
• Browsing books in a library is an exciting experience.
• My trip to the botanical garden taught me a lot.