Writing Academic English 4th Edition

4 Part 1 IWritingaParagraph

Theconcludingsentencesignalstheendoftheparagraphandleavesthereader

withimportantpointstoremember:

Inconclusion,goldis treasurednotonlyforitsbeautybutalsoforitsutility.

Concludingsentencesarecustomaryforstand-aloneparagraphs.However,para-

graphsthatarepartsofa longerpieceofwritingusuallydonotneedconcluding

sentences.

TheTopic Sentence

Everygoodparagraphhasa topicsentence,whichclearlystatesthetopicandthe

controllingideaoftheparagraph.

Atopicsentenceis themostimportantsentenceina paragraph.It blieflyindicates

whattheparagraphis goingtodiscuss.Forthisreason,thetopicsentenceisa helpful

guidetoboththewriterandthereader.Thewritercanseewhatinformationtoinclude

(andwhatinformationtoexclude).Thereadercanseewhattheparagraphis goingto

beaboutandis thereforebetterpreparedtounderstandit.Forexample,inthemodel

paragraphongold,thetopicsentencealertsthereadertolookfortwocharacteristics.

Herearethreeimportantpointstorememberabouta topicsentence.

1.Atopicsentenceis a completesentence;thatis,it containsat leastone

subjectandoneverb.Thefollowingarenotcompletesentencesbecause

theydonothaveverbs:

Drivingonfreeways.

Howtoregisterforcollegeclasses.

Theriseofindiefilms.!

2.Atopicsentencecontainsbotha topicanda controllingidea.Itnamesthe

topicandthenlimitsthetopictoa specificareatobediscussedinthespace

ofa singleparagraph.

TOPIC CONTROLLINGIDEA

Drivingonfreewaysrequiresskillandalertness.

Registeringforcollegeclasses anbea frustratingexperiencefornewstudents.

TOPIC

TOPIC

CONTROLLINGIDEA

CONTROLLINGIDEA

Theriseofindiefilm is duetoseveralfactors.

'indiefilms:independentfilms;filmsnotmadeinorbyHollywoodstudios