Matakuliah
Tahun
Versi
: Writing III
: 2006-2007
:3
Pertemuan 2
The Topic sentence
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Learning Outcomes
• By the end of this session the students are
expected to be able to:
– Write a good topic sentence
– Provide supporting points to a topic sentence
– Revise their paragraphs
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Outline
• Choosing a topic
• Writing your topic sentence
• Writing your supporting details
3
Choosing a topic
• In general for a composition class like Writing III,
the topic has been provided by your lecturer or
the text book.
• However, sometimes the topic may be too broad
and needs limiting to be more specific.
• For example:
Topic: Health
More specific: Health issues among old citizens
More specific: Health care and benefits for the elderly
Or, Preventing hip bone fractures among the elderly.
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Topic Sentence
• It is the most general sentence in a
paragraph
• Its purpose is to help the readers focus on
the main point and prepare them for the
information that follows
• It should be interesting enough to catch
the reader’s attention
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Example
• Topic sentence:
– When I was eight years old, I received the
most wonderful birthday gift – a pair of soccer
shoes.
• Support
– I adore the shoes because soccer was my
favourite past time that I played everyday
– It was given by my cousin, Karl, who had
been a great soccer player
– The shoes were unusual. They had flaps over
the laces with red cougars on them.
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Other examples
1. Topic sentence:
My Mazda RX-7 has been one of my
valued possessions ever since I
purchased it last fall
Supporting points:
• How the exterior looks
• What the interior has
• How it performs and handles
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2. Topic sentence:
I have a special toy, a digital camera, which
has several useful features.
Supporting points:
• ten-times zoom function
• viewfinder and editing
• computer hook-up and e-mail
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Conclusions
• The topic of your paragraph should be limited to
a certain aspect of a broad topic
e.g. Education  Education in Indonesia  Primary
school system in Indonesia  Bilingual primary schools
in Indonesia. (the arrows indicate the limiting process)
• A topic sentence contains the main idea of the
paragraph
• The topic sentence should be supported by
supporting sentences.
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