When you describe the topic sentences of your essay in the special way that I will teach you, the idea level of your essay will not only be clearly organized, but will also attract readers to read the paragraphs in the body of your essay.
Here’s the deal: The key ingredients for topic sentences are keywords, and there are two types:
1. MAIN KEYWORDS, which are the main ideas of your thesis
2. Novelty Keywords, linking your stories, examples, and reasoning support to your MAIN KEYWORDS
Identify BASIC KEYWORDS
For example, suppose you are writing an essay on salads.
You start off by saying that most people love salads, and so do you. And, like most people, he likes all kinds of salads, even fruit ones. But you’re different in the sense that you can’t stand fruit salads with apples, bananas, or pears.
So here is his thesis (BASIC KEYWORDS ARE IN CAPITAL LETTERS):
Like most people, I love salads, even FRUIT SALADS, but I CAN’T STAND FRUIT SALADS with APPLES, BANANAS, or PEARS.
Here’s a topic sentence for the first body paragraph that accompanies that thesis:
I just CAN’T STAND APPLES in FRUIT SALADS.
Although the topic sentence is linked to the thesis with BASIC KEYWORDS, that’s a pretty boring topic sentence, isn’t it? Can you see why? Think about it for a moment. Something is boring and boring whennnnnnnn— You can think of when?
Well, here it is — something is boring, boring and uninteresting when there is nothing new on it (you knew that, right?). There is nothing new in that topic sentence, it has already been said in the thesis. You have no novelty keywords to pique readers’ curiosity about what’s next.
Create general novelty keywords
To provide interest to the BASIC KEYWORDS and the main idea in your thesis, add Novelty Keywords.
New Keywords are generalities, that is, they are a bit more general than the details of the stories, examples, or reasoning they introduce in your paragraph, and they generally summarize the paragraph. The next two sentences are preferred alternatives to that boring and deadly topic sentence above, and illustrate some general Novelty keywords (on italic):
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I can’t stand apples in fruit salads —not the red ones anyway.
I can’t stand apples in fruit salads due to some very bad experiences I had with apples in different foods.
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You can see that by adding general information as novelty keywords, you are telling your reader what kind of details appear in the paragraph. The first example indicates that the paragraph will say something about “no reds”; It may seem specific, but it is not too specific, as we do not know which “reds” are being referred to or why.
The second example suggests that you will reveal those “bad experiences” that have caused you to dislike apples in fruit salads. But again, we don’t know what specific “bad experiences” are, so it’s a generality. Those novelty keywords make those topic sentences more interesting because they prompt readers to want to keep reading and discover the specific details, the interesting details.
New Keywords are the secret sauce that attracts your reader’s curiosity.
Combine CORE and Novelty keywords in topic sentences
When you combine novelty keywords with BASIC KEYWORDS in a topic sentence, you connect to the main idea of the thesis and hint at interesting details that will appear in the next paragraph, as you will see in the next three examples.
Example 1. Here’s a thesis supported by an outline of topic sentences. The schematic shows the use of specific BASIC KEYWORDS (IN UPPER CASE) and General Novelty Keywords (on italic):
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Thesis
After my parents’ DIVORCE, I GET MORE CLOSER TO MY ABSENT FATHER in EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, and FINANCIAL WAYS.
Outline of thematic phrases that attract readers
Despite the DIVORCE, I HAVE EMOTIONALLY GROWN UP CLOSER TO MY FATHER because now he lets me talk to him about important things, like boys.
Even though HE IS NOT AROUND EVERY DAY, MY FATHER does SOCIAL things with me today, like going on “dates.”
Best of all, MY DAD’S FINANCIAL WAYS they are better now, and it buys me a lot of fun things and gives me more money than before the divorce.
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You’ve heard that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, a good example is too, and I think the example above speaks volumes. So I’ll just show you those topic sentences without their Novelty. Keywords and allow you to compare and see how much those novelty keywords helped generate attractive interest:
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Despite the divorce, I have become emotionally close to my father.
In comparison with —
Despite the divorce, I have become emotionally close to my father. because now he lets me talk to him about important things, like boys.
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Although he is not here every day, my father does social things with me today.
In comparison with —
Although he is not here every day, my father does social things with me today, like going on “dates.”
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Best of all, my father’s financial ways are better now.
In comparison with —
Best of all, my father’s financial ways are better, now,and he buys me a lot of fun things and gives me more money than before the divorce.
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Pretty cool differences, huh?
Without novelty keywords, readers won’t have much interest in reading further. But with the general Novelty keywords added, readers are spurred to discover —
- that “important things” that he talks about with his father, especially since there is a hint that one of those things is the “boys”, whether you are a boy or a girl, you are probably thinking: Hmm … could be something juicy, although this is a rehearsal… you never know… I’ll check this …
- what kind of “Dates” he will talk about — it could be some fancy restaurants you’ve heard of, or some concerts that probably only a parent could afford, or maybe go see the Grand Canyon or Disneyland or the Cayman Islands, many possibilities … it might be worth reading on to find out …
- that “Fun stuff” is your dad buying it now? And he is giving her more money what before the divorce? I don’t know about you but I am interested in hearing the specifics, especially if those they really are “fun stuff” and just how much more money is giving you now …
Do you see what I mean?
Example # 2. This student example with BASIC KEYWORDS and Novelty Keywords offers another good illustration of how to entice readers to read on for interesting details:
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Thesis
I never would have imagined that riding a noisy and dirty city bus WOULD TEACH ME TO RELAX, GET HIGHER GRADES, and APPRECIATE THE HUMOR IN PEOPLE.
Outline of thematic phrases that attract readers
That loud and dirty city bus taught me to RELAX because I finally realized that no amount of cursing could rush him.
After learning to RELAX on the BUS, I started studying French regularly while riding which introduced me to my French angel and I DROP much BETTER GRADES in French.
RIDING THE CITY BUS TAUGHT ME TO APPRECIATE THE HUMOR IN PEOPLE showing me a lot of silly personal dramas.
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Of course, learning to relax on a bus is a yawn, but the first main sentence suggests that there is an interesting story about curses that goes along with it, that it might provide some interesting phrases … it might be a bit shocking and fun to read …
In the second topic sentence, the familiar, old-fashioned view of getting nothing but irritation when riding the bus might have some positives, but better grades because …?! And what is that Angel thing about ?! Hmmm … I might have some tips that might be interesting and even useful …
The Novelty keywords in the third topic sentence look tempting too, with the hint about “a lot of silly personal dramas.” It looks like some funny stories are going to be told in the following paragraphs …
Example n. 2 shows once again the usefulness of novelty keywords and the clarity and interest they can bring to your topic sentences while at the same time staying focused on the main ideas of the thesis.
Example # 3. Here’s another example of using topic sentences to outline your thesis support and get the reader’s curiosity flowing:
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Thesis
Due to the NAKED CRITICISM OF MY TYPOLOGY TEACHER in my sophomore year, I came across an UNEXPECTED MOTIVATION TO BECOME A SECRETARY, as evidenced by MY PRACTICE, MY SECRETARIAT BUSINESS SCHOOL, and MY FIRST JOB.
Outline of thematic phrases that attract readers
For her, more than two years I PRACTICED so much so that I developed wrists almost as strong as my athletic brother’s.
Since MY NASTY TYPOGRAPHY TEACHER graduated from a local business school, I got my own education there just to show it off — and I did!
Finally, I got MY FIRST SECRETARY JOB, earning roughly double what he earns — and cleverly let him find out.
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In the first topic sentence above, “For HER” summarizes “For my typing teacher’s nasty criticisms” of the thesis. One reason this works is that the first topic sentence immediately follows the thesis in the essay, as usual, so we can easily see the connection. This may not have worked with any of the other topic sentences because they would be too far from the thesis.
The novelty keywords in the first topic sentence make us look forward to knowing how strong her wrists really got … Could you hit your brother, now? … it seems to lean a bit in that direction … I wonder if that’s the case … I think I’ll find out …
The novelty keywords in the second topic sentence also pique our curiosity. … how much he managed to show that nasty typing teacher … ‘supporting the little one’ …
The third topic sentence uses Novelty keywords to let us know that there is a final blow to the writer’s long-crafted plan of revenge … I can’t wait to read about how he cleverly let her know about it, how he reacted, I bet that’s cool …
As you can see from these three example topic sentence outlines that I have shared with you, any essay writer can write novelty keywords in such a way that they will pique their readers’ curiosity and desire to keep reading.
Wouldn’t that be a nice change in the status of student essay writing, especially yours?