WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:10.360 OK so we just finished taking a look at the introductions and again normally I'm sure you're thinking 00:10.450 --> 00:10.780 all right. 00:10.780 --> 00:13.420 So now we're going to talk about body paragraphs. 00:13.420 --> 00:22.090 Well before we talk about the body paragraphs as a whole let's talk about the most important sentence 00:22.210 --> 00:26.520 in a body paragraph the topic sentence. 00:26.650 --> 00:34.840 In fact the topic sentence is the second most important sentence or the second most important sentences 00:35.620 --> 00:45.040 in the entire essay because the topic sentence directs and controls the paragraph. 00:45.040 --> 00:52.390 The thesis statement is the most important because it directs and controls the entire essay The topic 00:52.390 --> 00:58.810 sentences are the second most important because they direct and control individual paragraphs 01:01.520 --> 01:08.390 so see when you have really good thesis statements and really good topic sentences you end up having 01:08.390 --> 01:10.520 great coherence. 01:11.210 --> 01:19.400 You have great coherence you have great organization you end up answering the question so many problems 01:19.400 --> 01:31.100 I see in in in these timed essays revolve around topic sentences writing bad topics sentences if you 01:31.100 --> 01:38.960 write a bad topic sentence while you're you're in trouble because there's a good chance that you're 01:38.960 --> 01:42.410 about to write an incoherent paragraph. 01:43.140 --> 01:46.700 So let's look at what what is a topic sentence or how to do it do it correctly 01:49.580 --> 01:56.720 the topic sentence of course it starts the body paragraphs it allows for you to see what the entire 01:56.720 --> 02:03.830 paragraph is going to be about is a complete sentence you don't talk about details in a topic sentence 02:04.940 --> 02:12.800 you don't talk about details in a topic sentence you don't talk about details in a topic sentence no 02:12.800 --> 02:18.680 the video is not broken I repeated that three times because that's one of the biggest mistakes that 02:18.680 --> 02:29.750 I see over and over again right the topic sentence you know can have a transition write a topic sentence 02:30.230 --> 02:34.970 when you're when you're talking about a topic sentence really what you're talking about are the questions 02:34.970 --> 02:42.200 to ask what is the general statement that organize it is this paragraph under one idea and also you 02:42.200 --> 02:48.470 could talk about how was connected to my previous paragraph or idea so really what this is talking about 02:48.470 --> 02:55.550 here is that a topic sentence sometimes can transition from the previous paragraph and that's really 02:55.550 --> 02:59.750 how you go about building coherence. 02:59.750 --> 03:07.670 So again what is the topic sentence the topic sentence is a sentence that summarizes the topic for your 03:07.670 --> 03:13.820 reader just like when you look at a thesis statement you should know what the entire essays about in 03:13.820 --> 03:19.790 your position and blueprint when you look at a topic sentence I should know exactly what that entire 03:19.790 --> 03:29.480 paragraph is going to be about right the topic sentence makes it easy to stay focused on the topic and 03:29.480 --> 03:38.700 then you have to develop the ideas in that topic sentence when you're writing a body paragraph you can 03:38.700 --> 03:47.790 not go outside of what's in that topic sentence you can not go outside of it you have to stay inside 03:47.790 --> 03:54.060 the box of the topic sentence that's why writing a topic sentence and knowing how to write them correctly 03:54.090 --> 03:55.490 is so so important 03:59.930 --> 04:09.300 I think of the topic sentence as a mini thesis write the topic sentence has to relate to the thesis 04:09.300 --> 04:15.620 statement the topic sentences are going to support that these statement they're going to give unity 04:15.630 --> 04:26.370 and focus to the entire essay topic sentences are so so important right now. 04:26.370 --> 04:31.540 Earlier I was talking about different ways of writing a topic sentence right. 04:31.620 --> 04:38.310 Is that the beginning of a paragraph or you can have it where it's a transition sentence and the topic 04:38.310 --> 04:40.950 sentence right. 04:40.960 --> 04:46.570 So here in this example right here however Morrison does not only use the emotional and spiritual battles 04:46.570 --> 04:50.710 between her female characters to initiate their coming of age. 04:50.860 --> 04:55.210 In addition so in the second set right here is a topic sentence. 04:55.210 --> 04:59.990 This first sentence is a transition from the previous paragraph. 05:00.370 --> 05:03.870 And then the second sentence is the topic sentence for this paragraph. 05:05.390 --> 05:05.770 Right. 05:07.420 --> 05:14.080 So topic sentences can really be used to have great great coherence. 05:14.080 --> 05:20.570 Topic sentences can connect the ideas from the previous paragraph and lead into the next paragraph. 05:20.590 --> 05:22.870 That's how you have to know how to write topic sentences. 05:22.870 --> 05:24.060 That's why they're so important. 05:27.640 --> 05:28.100 Right. 05:28.120 --> 05:32.660 So just like we talked earlier about testing a thesis statement. 05:32.770 --> 05:38.210 You can also test the topic sentence when you're testing a topic sentence. 05:38.560 --> 05:45.420 You should be able to look at that sentence and identify the controlling idea right. 05:45.460 --> 05:52.870 Then look at the other sentences in that paragraph and make sure that those sentences all address that 05:52.870 --> 06:00.610 controlling idea and also answer the question in that answer the position in the thesis statement 06:03.860 --> 06:09.890 if you have the same topic sentence more than once you have two paragraphs with the same work. 06:09.890 --> 06:18.010 One of them out if you look at the paragraph and you have sentences that don't relate to that topic 06:18.010 --> 06:20.010 sent to the topic sentence. 06:20.320 --> 06:25.300 You need to take those sentences and form a different paragraph or just cut them out altogether.