{"id":3745,"date":"2025-11-28T09:27:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-topic-sentence\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:27:20","slug":"how-to-write-a-topic-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-topic-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Topic Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you, I used to hate<\/em> writing topic sentences. Back in high school, I\u2019d sit there staring at my essay draft like it was a calculus problem (and math isn\u2019t my thing either). My English teacher once handed me a paper with \u201cWHERE\u2019S THE GPS??\u201d scribbled in red ink. Turns out, a topic sentence is like giving your reader directions \u2014 and I was leaving them lost in a cornfield.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned since then, mostly through cringey trial and error:<\/strong><\/p>\n

That GPS comment? It stuck with me. Picture this: You\u2019re driving to Target for toothpaste, and Google Maps just says, \u201cGo somewhere.\u201d Useless, right? My early topic sentences were like that. I\u2019d write things like \u201cThis paragraph discusses climate change\u201d \u2014 vague as a gas station coffee. What worked? Pretending I\u2019m explaining my point to my coffee-addicted college roommate. If she\u2019d stare at me over her Dunkin\u2019 cup and say, \u201c\u2026Cool story, but what\u2019s your point<\/em>?\u201d I rewrote it.<\/p>\n

My messy breakthrough:<\/strong>
\nI bombed a community college essay hard (RIP my GPA) because every paragraph started with \u201cAnother example is\u2026\u201d My professor wrote, \u201cAre you cataloging trivia or making an argument?\u201d Ouch. But she was right. Now I treat topic sentences like Twitter headlines \u2014 if it wouldn\u2019t make someone stop scrolling, it\u2019s not sharp enough.<\/p>\n

3 things I actually test with my own writing now:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The \u201cSo What?\u201d Test<\/strong>: If my sentence could work for a totally different paragraph (like \u201cSocial media impacts society\u201d), it\u2019s too floppy. Nail it down: \u201cTikTok\u2019s algorithm fuels teen burnout by glorifying 18-hour study routines.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. The Standalone Rule<\/strong>: Highlight just your topic sentence. Can your cousin in Ohio get the gist? If not, add context. (Mine once texted, \u201cWait, are you pro-goat or anti-goat?\u201d after reading one of my farm blog drafts. Lesson learned.)<\/li>\n
  3. Steal from fiction<\/strong>: Novelists hook you fast. I mimic that urgency. Instead of \u201cThis paragraph covers recycling,\u201d try \u201cPortland\u2019s plastic bottle recycling program accidentally increased Starbucks cup waste by 200%.\u201d Specificity is your friend.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Real talk:<\/strong> Your first draft\u2019s topic sentences will probably suck. Mine still do sometimes! I\u2019ve spent 20 minutes agonizing over a single sentence while my Keurig overflowed. But here\u2019s the secret \u2014 write the rest of the paragraph first. Half the time, your last<\/em> sentence is the real gem. Copy-paste it to the top, tweak, and suddenly you sound like you\u2019ve got your life together.<\/p>\n

    One last thing:<\/strong> If you\u2019re stuck, rant your point out loud into your iPhone Notes app. I\u2019ve done this in the Trader Joe\u2019s parking lot more times than I\u2019d like to admit. Play it back and transcribe the passionate parts. Topic sentences thrive on that raw \u201cI need to say this\u201d energy.<\/p>\n

    You\u2019ve got this. And if all else fails, just ask: What\u2019s the one thing I\u2019d yell through a megaphone about this paragraph?<\/em> Start there, then edit the megaphone out. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Let me tell you, I used to hate writing topic sentences. Back in high school, I\u2019d sit there staring at my essay draft like it was a calculus problem (and math isn\u2019t my thing either). My English teacher once handed me a paper with \u201cWHERE\u2019S THE GPS??\u201d scribbled in red ink. Turns out, a topic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}