Topic sentences
A topic sentence contains the main message of the paragraph. If you had time only to read one sentence in a paragraph, the topic sentence would give you the essence or main thrust of that paragraph. Skilled readers look for topic sentences to grasp general meaning quickly. A clear and well-placed topic sentence in each paragraph helps to make your work more accessible.
Usually the best position for the topic sentence is right at the beginning of the paragraph. This enables readers who are too busy to read the whole document to skim through it and capture the main ideas.
You will notice that, as a reader, you immediately develop expectations about the rest of the paragraph based on the topic sentence. It is your job as a writer to fulfil these expectations. If you create expectations and don’t fulfil them, your reader will be confused and may not respond to your document in the way you hope.
Topic sentences serve two main functions.