How to Write a Great Topic Sentence for a Paragraph

© Ugur Akinci
A TOPIC SENTENCE is the first lead sentence in a paragraph consisting of multiple sentences.
The topic sentence summarize the main idea of the paragraph.
It sets the expectation about what is to follow in the rest of the paragraph. You can even say it’s a “commercial” so to speak that “sells” the paragraph.
Here are two examples:
PARAGRAPH TOPIC: Gentrification of inner cities.
THE TOPIC SENTENCE: “Many cities went through the gentrification process for various reasons.”
PARAGRAPH TOPIC: The importance of math education.
THE TOPIC SENTENCE: “Since the invention of algebra, mathematics has solved many  social, legal, and commercial problems that were deemed unsolvable earlier.”
EXERCISE 1:
Write an appropriate topic sentence for the following paragraph topic:
PARAGRAPH TOPIC: Rules of success in life.
TOPIC SENTENCE: ………………………………………………………
EXERCISE 2
For the following  topic sentence, come up with an appropriate paragraph topic:
PARAGRAPH TOPIC: …………………………………………………….
TOPIC SENTENCE: There are many reasons why dogs are known as “mankind’s best friends.”
(Photo courtesy of Tamarcus Brown at Unsplash-dot-com)