Academic Writing—Topic Sentences and Body Paragraphs (For Assignment #3)

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The Scream (Vertical Mirror Image), Edvard Munch
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After reading this page, please fill in this worksheet.

I. “Working” Thesis Statement:

Important:

Your thesis statement is the foundation upon which your essay will be built.

· By the time you are ready to work on topic sentences and body paragraphs, you must have already developed a “working thesis statement,” which simply means that you have created a thesis sentence that (as you work on your issue or call-to-action essay) will be subject to minor changes and “tweaking.”

· Eventually, your final thesis statement will be part of your introductory paragraph.

1. Paragraph #1: Introduction: (To be developed later)

RESIST the temptation to begin your paper by writing the introduction first.

· You should delay working on the introduction because you are still developing your topic sentences and body paragraphs. In other words, you cannot develop an introductory paragraph when your body paragraphs have not yet been written.
· The introduction should be the second-to-last paragraph that you write.

2. Paragraph #2 (Each paragraph MUST support your overall thesis sentence, which is why numbers 1-6 are subsets of “I.”

· Topic Sentence:

This sentence is a summary of the argument or possible solution being covered in this body paragraph.

· Body of paragraph:

Support for your argument or proposed solution, which will consist of solid evidence, offered by expert authors and authoritative publications (both print and electronic), and inferences/interpretations of your findings.

3. Paragraph #3

Topic Sentence: (Same as paragraph #2)
Body of paragraph: (Same as paragraph #2)

4. Paragraph #4

Topic Sentence: (Same as paragraph #2)
Body of paragraph: (Same as paragraph #2)

5. Paragraph #5: Counterargment Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

6. Paragraph #6: Concluding Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

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