Topic Sentences

A topic sentence is the first sentence of a body paragraph. It tells the reader what you will be discussing in that particular paragraph. The topic sentence is a link between your thesis (in the introduction) and the support (in your body paragraphs).

For example, my thesis might be "When scrutinized carefully, the sentences for the death penalty reveal a cultural bias against people of lower economic classes." This is my argument, found in the introduction. Now I need to support it. I need to find five different topics that I can use to support this statement. Here are five topic sentences that I could use to outline my paper:

1. Criminals sentenced to the death penalty typically come from families with severe economic difficulties. 
2. These men and women do not have the same ability to afford private legal representation, often having to rely on overworked, court-appointed lawyers. 
3. Because these criminals came from lower-income families, they were not presented with the same educational opportunities as others, which has affected their ability to support themselves. 
4. Additionally, this lack of education decreases their knowledge regarding their legal rights and can affect the appeals process. 
5. Many of these criminals never had the finances to be checked for mental competency, so their economic situation has affected their ability to attain help for mental diseases which led to the crimes.

Do you see how all five of these topic sentences can be the topic of a paragraph that supports my thesis statement? They are topics that support my thesis, and which I will support with my research.