Goldilocks and the Three Topic Sentences Please be advised. WARNING: Strange sound effects will play throughout this presentation.

Once upon a time, a reader came upon a paragraph. Wow! That paragraph looks just like a house!

Where can I sit and read this paragraph? I need a chair!

She looked at the first topic sentence chair. Topic Sentence: “Beautiful things are wonderful.” Maybe I can sit there…

She read the topic sentence, but it was TOO BROAD! That topic sentence chair is HUGE! I’ll fall through the seat!

She looked at the second topic sentence chair. Maybe I’ll just climb in the paragraph and sit there… Topic Sentence: “My watch is one inch wide.”

She climbed in the window, read the topic sentence, and tried to sit down.

But the chair was too small! It shattered into splinters, and she fell to the floor. Oh, no! Ouch! This topic sentence is too narrow and small! HELP! There’s nowhere for me to go!

“Oh, dear!” she said. “I can’t read this paragraph without a comfortable topic sentence!”

Is this paragraph about every beautiful thing on the planet? Too broad topic sentences go in too many directions:

Too narrow topic sentences won’t go anywhere! My watch is two inches wide. Where is the main idea? What is left to prove?

Announcements give no main idea! I am writing this paragraph about a watch. What is important about the watch? Why state what the reader can already see just by looking at the page?

What makes a topic sentence good? ?

See Real Writing: Chapter 5, page 58 A good topic sentence has the following:

A good topic sentence needs to be… Comfortable: fitting the assignment Focused: stating a single point or position about a topic Specific Workable: something you can show, explain, or prove Forceful: confident in tone

This topic sentence is just right! My grandfather’s watch is my most beautiful possession.

And they all lived happily ever after…… Hey! Who’s been reading my topic sentence?