what are the difference between thesis and topic sentence

Difference Between Topic Sentence Vs. Thesis Statement

After being introduced during the K-12 years of a student's education, academic writing is a mainstay in college and higher education. With proper format and technique being a major aspect of academic writing, it is essential for students to understand the differences between a topic sentence and a thesis statement.

Explore this article

• Essay Format
• Topic Sentences
• Thesis Statement
• Differences

1 Essay Format

Before delving into the differences between topic sentences and thesis statements, it is important to first establish the general format for a written essay. For K-12 students, written essays can commonly require the five-paragraph format, which consist of an introduction, three paragraphs that make up the body of the paper and the final paragraph as the conclusion. By understanding this general format of academic writing, it is easier to understand where topic sentences and thesis statements fit into place.

2 Topic Sentences

Topic sentences are used in each major paragraph of an essay paper. The purposes of these sentences are to develop and state the key idea of each paragraph in an effort to define the point of the paragraph. For example, when writing an essay paper on the effects of the Gettysburg Address, one of the paragraphs in the body of the paper could discuss how the audience received President Lincoln's famous speech. The topic sentence for this paragraph could be, "With the brief yet poignant nature of the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln reminded his audience why the country was fighting so desperately to conserve the Union."

3 Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a single sentence that is used to define the purpose of your paper. Thesis statements inform readers as to the purpose of your paper. After reading your thesis statement, anyone reviewing your paper should be able to determine what your paper is going to prove or argue. For example, a thesis statement for a paper about William Shakespeare's famous play "Romeo and Juliet" could be as follows: "The play 'Romeo and Juliet' demonstrates the incredible power and impatient nature of young love, as the star-crossed lovers' inability to exercise patience or control their passion for one another results in their deaths."

4 Differences

With the purposes of both topic sentences and thesis statements established, the differences between the two are clear. Thesis statements need to be more broad and leave room to expand on further points to support the paper's argument. With the thesis statement in the previous section, a writer could continue explaining his argument about Romeo and Juliet by providing sub-points, demonstrating instances where the pair made hasty choices that had fatal consequences. Topic sentences are more specific in their purpose. For example, with the topic sentence in section two, it is clear that the next paragraph will discuss how President Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to remind his countrymen about the purpose of the Civil War.

• 1 Indiana University: Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

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Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

• Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

• Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

• Do I answer the question? Yes!
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

You can turn a subject into a central idea by focusing. Begin by reviewing what you know about your subject or by looking over notes you have made about it through listing, brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, or other prewriting activities.

With these details fresh in your mind, ask yourself:

What is my purpose in writing about this topic? What main point do I want to make about the topic?

WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

Let's say you decide to write about high school. You might tell a story about your history class, compare two schools you attended, or argue that high schools should require foreign-language study.

If you want to compare the two high schools you attended, you can include details about their academic programs, athletic teams, students, or teachers. But you probably wouldn't argue that high schools should stay open in summer because doing so would take you outside your declared purpose.

WHAT IS MY MAIN POINT?

The next step in focusing is to decide what to say about your subject. What is the most interesting or important point you want to make about the schools you are comparing? The answer will be your main point, which ties all the details of the essay together.

Again, you turn an abstract subject into a central idea by stating a main point about that subject. If your main point is that entering a new school improved your attitude about education, your central idea might read:

Changing high schools made me a more serious student.

MAKING A POINT ABOUT A SUBJECT

In the box below, main points have been added to subjects to form working topic sentences or thesis statements.

Back to Top

CHECK YOUR WORKING CENTRAL IDEA

After writing a working central idea, check it for qualities that will make it effective as the basis of a paragraph or essay. Ask yourself:

Is my central idea expressed in a complete thought? Is it specific? Does it express an idea that is worth developing in a full-length paragraph or essay? Is it limited enough to discuss in a short piece of writing?

Never confuse a central idea with a simple subject. Central ideas are expressed in complete sentences; subjects are words or phrases. Take these subjects:

The city zoo. Professional athletes. Majoring in foreign languages.

Can you write a paragraph or essay on one of these subjects? Only if you decide on the main point you want to make about it. Try these as working central ideas:

The city zoo is in great need of repairs. Professional athletes are overpaid. Studying foreign languages leads to many career choices.

A CENTRAL IDEA IS SPECIFIC

Make your central idea specific. The key to this step is to focus your main point as precisely as you can. That will give you a clear direction to follow as you develop an essay or paragraph. Take this central idea:

Jogging isn't for everybody.

It is correct, but it leaves questions unanswered. For example, what kind of people should not jog? What ill effects might jogging cause them? Now, try this:

Jogging can be harmful to people who suffer from heart, back, or joint problems.

A CENTRAL IDEA CONTAINS A MAIN POINT THAT IS WORTH DEVELOPING

Make sure your main point is an idea-not just a fact-that is worth developing in a full-length paragraph or essay. Read these two sentences:

The War Memorial is in Ottawa. The War Memorial has been severely vandalized.

The first sentence is a statement of fact; it does not call for discussion. The second lends itself to discussion. For example, you might describe what the vandals did, explain how much repairs will cost, or discuss ways to prevent future problems.

A CENTRAL IDEA IS LIMITED

Essays that beginning college or university students write usually contain approximately five to seven paragraphs of about 50 to 100 words. Therefore, you should limit your working topic sentence or thesis, making it as specific as you can. Otherwise, you won't be able to make your point clearly and completely.

LIMIT THE DISCUSSION TO A MANAGEABLE LENGTH

Let's say you want to convince someone to stop smoking. You might limit yourself to three reasons to stop smoking: the health risks, the costs, and its effects on others.

Here's your working thesis:

Break the habit: otherwise, it will ruin your health, empty your wallet, and annoy your friends.

Your working topic sentences, which will control the three body paragraphs, could be as follows:

Smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. You can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year by quitting. Smoking is offensive to friends and family.

LIMITING YOUR CENTRAL IDEA FURTHER

You begin a rough draft by discussing illnesses caused by smoking. However, you soon realize that you can't cover all three reasons for quitting and still keep the essay short. So you limit yourself to the issue of health risks.

Your thesis statement becomes:

Break the habit: smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, and cancer.

Your topic sentences become:

Smoking weakens the heart and impairs circulation. Smoking is a major cause of emphysema. Smoking has been linked directly to cancer of the mouth and the esophagus.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A TOPIC SENTENCE AND A THESIS

A topic sentence is the sentence that expresses the central idea of a paragraph. A thesis statement is a sentence that expresses the central idea of an essay.

It's a good idea to decide the topic sentence of a paragraph after writing the working version of an essay's thesis. A topic sentence explains one aspect or point in the thesis and, therefore, should always be more specific and limited than a thesis.

REVISE AND REFINE THE CENTRAL IDEA AS YOU WORK

You can revise a central idea whenever you need to. The working version of a topic sentence or thesis statement provides only a starting point and a sense of direction. Don't be afraid to look back to your central ideas and rewrite them often. As a matter of fact, focusing is something you should do throughout the writing process.

Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

Learning objectives.

• Identify strategies for using thesis statements to predict content of texts

We’ve learned that a thesis statement conveys the primary message of an entire piece of text.  Now, let’s look at the next level of important sentences in a piece of text: topic sentences in each paragraph.

A useful metaphor would be to think of the thesis statement of a text as a general: it controls all the major decisions of the writing.  There is only one thesis statement in a text.  Topic sentences, in this relationship, serve as captains: they organize and sub-divide the overall goals of a writing into individual components.  Each paragraph will have a topic sentence.

It might be helpful to think of a topic sentence as working in two directions simultaneously. It relates the paragraph to the essay’s thesis, and thereby acts as a signpost for the argument of the paper as a whole, but it also defines the scope of the paragraph itself. For example, consider the following topic sentence:

Many characters in Lorraine Hansberry’s play  A Raisin in the Sun have one particular dream in which they are following, though the character Walter pursues his most aggressively.

If this sentence controls the paragraph that follows, then all sentences in the paragraph must relate in some way to Walter and the pursuit of his dream.

Topic sentences often act like tiny thesis statements. Like a thesis statement, a topic sentence makes a claim of some sort. As the thesis statement is the unifying force in the essay, so the topic sentence must be the unifying force in the paragraph. Further, as is the case with the thesis statement, when the topic sentence makes a claim, the paragraph which follows must expand, describe, or prove it in some way. Topic sentences make a point and give reasons or examples to support it.

The topic sentence is often, though not always, the first sentence of a paragraph.

• Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Topic Sentences. Authored by : Ms. Beardslee. Located at : http://msbeardslee.wikispaces.com/Topic+Sentences?showComments=1 . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Image of Parts of a Paragraph. Authored by : Enokson. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/ak9H3v . License : CC BY: Attribution

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10.2: Topic Sentences

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WHAT IS A TOPIC SENTENCE?

The PIE paragraph strategy begins with a topic sentence, and knowing how to build a strong topic sentence is the foundation of writing a convincing paragraph.

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF A TOPIC SENTENCE?

The main point (claim) of a paragraph is often indicated in a single sentence called the topic sentence. A topic sentence is like a thesis in that you can also ask yourself: Can I disagree? You want to be able to answer YES to show that there is an arguable claim that needs to be proven. While it is true that in published writing you’ll sometimes find topic sentences in the middle or even at the end of a paragraph, placing your topic sentences at the beginning of each of your paragraphs is useful because:

• A strong topic sentence can help you, the writer, to focus each paragraph on one main point.
• A strong topic sentence can help your reader to see where you are headed with your ideas in a particular paragraph; topic sentences help your reader form a mental map of your essay.

WHY USE TOPIC SENTENCES?

A strong topic sentence connects back to your overall thesis and connects forward to the specific supporting point you are making in the paragraph to prove and illustrate your thesis and this makes the paragraph focused and unified. Here is a visual:

HOW CAN I WRITE STRONG TOPIC SENTENCES?

What differentiates a strong topic sentence from a weak one.

The chart below points out some of the main differences between a topic sentence that is genuinely helpful to you and your readers, and one which is not:

SOME GUIDELINES FOR WRITING STRONG TOPIC SENTENCES:

A topic sentence must predict or promise what follows, so it cannot be a question. To orient the reader, you may use a question as the first sentence, with the topic sentence as the answer to that question.

Weak: Should schools provide free computers for their students?

Strong: Schools must provide free computers for their students to assist them in their studies and prepare them for their future careers.

Phrases such as “I think” or “in my opinion” may muddle or weaken topic sentences. Your writing is always your opinion, so you don’t need these phrases unless they are central to the idea that you are trying to convey.

Weak: I think that it is important for every woman to carry pepper spray.

Strong: As violent criminals take over the city streets, women must carry pepper spray to protect themselves.

The topic sentence should provide clear relationships among all of its elements so that it can provide a framework for understanding the rest of the paragraph.

Weak: Historians record only dry statistics; we should read novels.

Strong: Accurate historical novels give us a deeper understanding of the past than do the dry collections of facts and statistics that pass for history texts.

A topic sentence needs to be clear and specific, so that it can predict and summarize the rest of the paragraph for the reader.

Weak: Public transit is terrible.

Strong: Incapable of providing reliable, comfortable service, the San Francisco Municipal Transit System is failing its ridership.

Practice: Choosing the topic sentence that fits

The topic sentence of the paragraphs below has been removed. Read them carefully and then choose the best topic sentence among the four choices below. Be prepared to explain your choice.

Paragraph 1: _________________________________________________________________________________________.

This belief is especially common among weight lifters who often consume large quantities of high protein foods and dietary supplements, thinking it will improve their athletic performance. Like weightlifters, football players consume too much protein, expecting it to produce additional muscle energy. Although it is true that muscles contain more protein than other tissues, there is no evidence that a high protein diet actually constructs more muscle tissue than a normal diet. Nutritionists point out that muscle cells grow not from excess protein but from exercise: when a muscle is used, it pulls in protein for its consumption. This is how a muscle grows and strengthens. If athletes want to increase their muscle mass, then they must exercise in addition to following a well-balanced, normal diet.

• Many athletes have false ideas regarding proper nutrition.
• My brother, a weightlifter, is an example of someone who consumes a lot of protein because he thinks it will make him bulky.
• Many athletes falsely believe that protein improves athletic performance by increasing muscle mass.
• The public is often confused by the seemingly conflicting advice nutritionists give us about our health.

Paragraph 2: _________________________________________________________________________________________.

Lately parents and critics across the country have been making a bigger fuss about the number and content of commercials aimed at children, and it seems as though the media has become a scapegoat for adults who have set questionable health guidelines for their children. It is both logical and factual to state that parents are the number one authority for most everything in their child’s life, which of course includes food choices. Recent studies from the Institute of Medicine found that the easiest and most reliable measure of understanding a child’s health and diet is to look at the health and diet of the parents. It is very likely that a child’s obesity did not come from the media, but from behaviors within the family. Even if advertisements became restricted or more limited, if parents do not enforce healthy diets or teach nutrition, the children will have learned nothing. Timothy J. Muris of The Wall Street Journal realizes that without addressing the issues of parental control, the ban on child food advertisements are “appealing on the surface, but ultimately useless.”

• Despite increasing rates of childhood obesity, we should not ban junk food ads aimed at children.
• According to Andrew Martin of the Chicago Tribune , “… the rates of obesity among 6 to 11-year-olds more than tripling during the last three decades, doubling for children ages 2 to 5 and increasing even more for adolescents 12 to 19 years old.”
• The staggering figures regarding childhood obesity alone are alarming enough to generate a stir.
• Although junk food advertisements are being blamed for children’s poor dietary habits, regulating these ads would not address the real source of the problem: lack of parental guidance.

Paragraph 1: 3. Many athletes falsely believe that protein improves athletic performance by increasing muscle mass.

Paragraph 2:

4. Although junk food advertisements are being blamed for children’s poor dietary habits, regulating these ads would not address the real source of the problem: lack of parental guidance.

Practice: Creating a topic sentence that fits

Now try creating your own topic sentences for the following paragraphs: 1) _______________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

Famous inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, did so poorly in his first years of school that his teachers warned his parents that he'd never be a success at anything. Similarly, Henry Ford, the father of the auto industry, had trouble in school with both reading and writing. But perhaps the best example is Albert Einstein, whose parents and teachers suspected that he was mentally disabled because he responded to questions so slowly and in a stuttering voice. Einstein's high school record was poor in everything but math, and he failed his college entrance exams the first time. Even out of school the man had trouble holding a job-until he announced the theory of relativity.

2) Eating disorders afflict as many as ten million women and one million men in the Unites States. But why? _____ _____________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

Young girls not only play with Barbie dolls that display impossible, even comical, proportions, but they are also bombarded with images of supermodels. These images leave an indelible mental imprint of what society believes a female body should look like. Carri Kirby, a University of Nebraska mental health counselor, adds that there is a halo effect to body image as well: “We immediately identify physical attractiveness to mean success and happiness.”

3) From Deborah Blum’s “What’s the Difference between Boys and Girls?” _____ _____________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

Boys tend to gather in large, competitive groups. They play games that have clear winners and losers and bluster through them, boasting about their skill. Girls, early on, gather in small groups, playing theatrical games that don’t feature hierarchy or winners. One study of children aged three to four found they were already resolving conflict in separate ways—boys resorting to threats, girls negotiating verbally and often reaching a compromise.

1) On inventors: Doing well in school does not always demonstrate intelligence or future success. 2) On eating disorders: The images of beauty we are surrounded by are unrealistic and impossible to attain and make many women feel unattractive and deeply unhappy with themselves. 3) On Deborah Blum’s article: The female approach to interacting with one another is more harmonious and democratic.

Thesis Statement or Topic Sentence?

• High School

Occasionally at IEW our customer service team will receive questions about the differences between topic sentences and thesis statements. Hopefully this blog post will dispel any confusion between the two and empower you to help your students assail the essay in style!

Thesis statements summarize the central position of an entire essay and typically appear at the end of the introductory paragraph. Think of them as guideposts for the entire essay. They provide the reader of the essay an idea of the direction it will take. While beginning essay writers will typically write a single-sentence thesis statement, the thesis can be more than one sentence.

Depending upon the type of essay being written, a thesis statement’s emphasis will vary. In an expository essay, an essay that explains or informs, the thesis will narrow what is being explained. Thesis statements in narrative essays, which are essays that relate a story, paint an overall picture of the story that is being described and as such tend to be more personal in nature. Another type of essay, the argumentative essay, features thesis statements that underscore the writer’s opinion. In contrast, persuasive essays employ a somewhat different approach. In a persuasive essay, the thesis statement is oftentimes replaced with a question. This question serves to entice the reader to continue reading the essay in order to learn the writer’s position.

While you can think of thesis statements as guideposts for an entire essay, think of topic sentences as guideposts for individual paragraphs. Topic sentences appear in the body of the essay and are the first sentence in the paragraph. Not only do topic sentences focus the content in the paragraph, they also support the thesis statement made in the introduction.

So what might thesis statements and topic sentences look in a real-life example? Let’s consider a narrative essay prompt that asks the writer to describe someone who challenged him or her to work hard. A thesis statement might look something like this: “My gym teacher, Mr. Hernandez, never stopped encouraging me to do ‘hard things’ in high school.” This thesis statement helps the reader prepare to read some of the ways that Mr. Hernandez encouraged the writer. The topic sentences would support the thesis. Consider the following potential topic sentences:

• Mr. Hernandez encouraged me to enroll in an honors English class my senior year in high school.
• When he learned of an opportunity to help a family who had fallen on hard times, Mr. Hernandez reached out to me to help organize a clothing drive.
• Once I began to apply to colleges, Mr. Hernandez encouraged me to apply to a selective college and even offered to write a reference letter on my behalf.

These topic sentences all support the thesis of the paper by showing how Mr. Hernandez supported the writer of the essay. In the conclusion of the essay, the writer would reiterate the topics one more time before finishing the paper by emphasizing the most important point that underscores the thesis. That point might be something like this:

Mr. Hernandez saw something in me that I didn’t recognize in myself. He helped me to grow in confidence and take on challenges I would never have considered on my own. I’m excited to say that this next fall I’ll be attending ____________ University as an honors student majoring in English. And I even received an academic scholarship thanks in part to his letter of recommendation. I am so thankful he took the time to help me on my path!

What Is The Difference Between Thesis And Topic Sentence

Writing academic papers can be a daunting task, and one of the most important steps is understanding the difference between a thesis and a topic sentence. A thesis is a statement that conveys the main idea of an entire paper, while a topic sentence is a statement that conveys the main idea of a single paragraph.

In this blog post, we’ll explore these concepts in greater detail, examining how to craft effective thesis and topic sentences, when to use them, and the different purposes they serve in a paper.

The difference between a thesis and a topic sentence is that a thesis is a statement that expresses the main idea of an essay or research paper, while a topic sentence is a sentence that introduces a new idea or concept in a paragraph. A thesis is usually more specific and takes more research to create than a topic sentence, which is generally more general.

A thesis statement is used to provide the reader with an overview of the paper and to help the writer stay focused on their argument, while a topic sentence provides a bridge between the ideas in the current paragraph to the ideas in the next paragraph. In short, a thesis serves as the central point of an essay, while a topic sentence helps guide the reader through the essay by connecting different ideas and concepts.

A topic sentence

The main difference between a thesis and a topic sentence is that a thesis serves as the main argument or claim of an entire piece of writing, while a topic sentence serves as a stepping stone to the main argument and helps to introduce the main idea in the body of the paper. A thesis is a statement that expresses the main point, idea, or argument of a paper, while a topic sentence is a sentence that introduces the main idea in a paragraph. The thesis should be specific and focus on one main idea, while the topic sentence should be supported by evidence and explain the main idea of the paragraph.

In short, the thesis is the backbone of an essay, and the topic sentence is its supporting structure.

The role of thesis and topic sentences in an essay

The difference between a thesis and a topic sentence is often confusing. A thesis statement is a statement that summarizes the main point or claim of an essay. It is usually found at the end of the first paragraph of an essay.

It is usually found at the end of the first paragraph of an essay. On the other hand, a topic sentence is a sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph. The topic sentence usually appears at the beginning of a paragraph and is followed by evidence and analysis that support the main idea.

In short, a thesis is a statement that sums up the overall main point of an essay, while a topic sentence is a statement that introduces and summarizes a single paragraph within the essay.

How to write a thesis and topic sentence

Writing a thesis and topic sentence can be a challenging task, and understanding the difference between them is key to crafting an effective essay. The thesis is the main point of your essay, and it should be stated in your introduction. It is the central argument you will be discussing and defending throughout the paper.

On the other hand, a topic sentence is a sentence that introduces the main idea of a paragraph. It should provide a clear indication of what the paragraph is about and be supported by the rest of the sentences in the paragraph.

Knowing the difference between a thesis and a topic sentence can help you effectively organize your essay and ensure that your argument is clearly expressed.

Examples of thesis vs. topic sentences

The difference between a thesis and a topic sentence is often confusing. A thesis is a statement that expresses the main idea of an essay or other written piece.

It concisely summarizes the main point or claim of the essay. A topic sentence, on the other hand, is a sentence that expresses the main idea of a paragraph or section within a piece of writing. It is typically found at the beginning of the paragraph and helps to introduce the main point of the paragraph.

While both a thesis and a topic sentence are important elements of an essay or other written work, the main difference is that a thesis conveys the main point of the entire piece, while a topic sentence conveys the main point of a single paragraph within the piece.

In conclusion, the main difference between a thesis and a topic sentence is that a thesis serves as the main argument or claim of an essay, while a topic sentence serves as a summary of the main point of a paragraph. Thesis statements are specific, while topic sentences are more general. A thesis should be supported by evidence and research, while a topic sentence should only be supported by the rest of the paragraph.

A thesis should be supported by evidence and research, while a topic sentence should only be supported by the rest of the paragraph. Knowing the difference between a thesis and a topic sentence can help writers create more effective and organized essays.

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