Writing Good Topic Sentences

So, once you’ve got an idea for an essay, what’s next? 

First, put your idea into a clear topic sentence. Try to make it short and simple. Don’t take on too many themes. Godzilla is dangerous is a clear topic. Godzilla is cute and misunderstood but dangerous is not because it takes on too many themes (“cute”, “misunderstood” and “dangerous”).

Try to pick a topic sentence that you can explain well. Don’t worry about finding the “perfect” topic sentence because there is usually not just one correct answer. This is a difficult concept for students from rote-learning education systems. Any topic sentence will work if you can support it in your essay. You may think Godzilla is dangerous, but you may think Godzilla is cute. Either of these topic sentences is fine as long as you can explain it well.

What if you really want to say that Godzilla is cute and misunderstood but dangerous? Then you need to generalize – capture all of these ideas in one topic sentence, something like this: Godzilla is a complex character. Or: Godzilla has contrasting characteristics. 

This is tricky, but non-native English speakers can become very good at creating complex topic sentences with a little practice.

If you are interested in learning how to write an essay in English, give me a shout!