Skills Strategies Tips Techniques

•
Topic Sentence at the Beginning of the Paragraph
Concluding remarks of a paragraph do not always restate the topic sentence and, in fact, in
some paragraphs may be missing altogether. However, a topic sentence is still needed.
A second and also common placement for the topic sentence is in the lead position with no
repetition in the last sentence.
A paragraph of this nature starts with a strong, general topic statement with subsequent
supporting details narrowing from this broad beginning. Such a structure provides the reader
with immediate knowledge of the topic and scope of the paragraph and thus serves as a map
for the details that follow. This type of structure is most frequently found in newspaper
articles, where the headline may also assume the role of topic sentence. A diagram of this
paragraph type would be the top half of the above hourglass, or an inverted triangle.
Topic Sentence 
Details 
The following sample paragraph 
begins 
with a topic sentence. The details which follow it repeat 
the controlling idea of the paragraph and are arranged in chronological order, that is, from first to 
last: 
� Constructing a wedding cake is a complicated process. Before any baking takes place, 
the size of the cake and the decorative design to be used must be determined. Then the layers are 
baked. On a large cake the bottom layers may be as much as sixteen inches in diameter. Because 
of their size, these layers must be baked one at a time, a process which may actually take an 
entire day. Once the layers are cooled, same-size pairs are matched and frosted. Since large 
wedding cakes are surprisingly heavy, half-inch dowel rods must be measured, cut, and carefully 
driven into the bottom layers. These wooden posts provide hidden support for the weighty upper 
layers. When all the layers are set in place, flowers, garlands and leaves of frosting are added. 
These delicate touches individualize the wedding cake and trans
.
form it from merely a cake into a 
culinary work of art. 
In the paragraph above, the topic sentence is