Scrib.sheet: Topic Sentences. How to Orient Your Reader

"There are many reasons why social media is important."

That's a real topic sentence pattern, and it's almost content-free; swap "social media" for any noun and the sentence still works, which is exactly the problem. It names a topic without committing to a claim the rest of the paragraph could prove or disprove. Compare: "Social media's constant notifications and infinite scroll undermine sustained attention, making focused study difficult." Same territory, but now there's a mechanism a paragraph can be built around.

This Scrib.sheet gives you the Scrib. formula for building topic sentences that do real work: Claim + Link to thesis + Paragraph focus. You get worked examples across seven disciplines (History, Literature, Biology, Computer Science, Economics, Public Health and Engineering), a three-step process for turning a vague sentence into a specific claim, and a look at how a topic sentence functions inside a real multi-sentence paragraph, not just in isolation.

Three exercises take you from spotting the stronger sentence, to writing your own from a given thesis, to rewriting a vague one, each with detailed reasoning for why the stronger version works, not just what it says. A bonus challenge walks you through planning a full paragraph from topic sentence to evidence to conclusion, mapped out visually.

What you get 14-page PDF, instant download, yours to keep. Best for IB, undergraduate, postgraduate and international students writing in English. 3 exercises with detailed reasoning for every model answer. Bonus: a full paragraph-planning challenge, from topic sentence to evidence to conclusion, mapped visually.

Built by Anna Yeadell, a professional academic editor and lecturer with over 20 years' experience helping international students and researchers write clearly and get better results.

One of seven standalone Scrib.sheets. Working on the essay itself? Scrib.how: The Complete Essay-Writing Series (introductions, thesis statements, body paragraphs, conclusions) is £19: https://payhip.com/b/Ltk0U. Got comments back on a draft? The Feedback Bundle is £16: https://payhip.com/b/s439Q

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