Everything Exams

I just love to see topic sentences when I’m reading something quite long and complicated. It’s frustrating when you’re half way through a paragraph, you lose the thread, and you suddenly think, “What was this bit all about again?” and then…you go back and reread what you’ve waded through once already, looking for the key elements of the paragraph. If clearly written topic sentences had been used at the start of each paragraph then you would have been able to quickly locate the subject matter at the beginning of the paragraph you are on, get your thoughts back on track, and the chances are that you probably wouldn’t have lost the point in the first place. This is one advantage of using topic sentences, but another bonus is that when you’ve finished reading an extended piece of writing, topic sentences make it very easy to scan through the material once more to gain an overall picture of the content. I’m talking about myself here, as a reader and a teacher, but clarity of content and readability becomes especially important when you are writing to impress an examiner, sell your book, or announce the results of your research to the world…

What is a topic sentence?

So, what is a topic sentence? This is the first sentence of a paragraph which indicates to the reader what the theme or subject of that paragraph will be. It may also include the point which is being made in that paragraph. A topic sentence should only include the general subject and point of the paragraph. Subsequent sentences are used to elaborate and explore further details, backing up the point and expanding on the subject in more detail. 

For example, in a persuasive letter to a headteacher to ban school uniform, a student might have three main points to make in three paragraphs, one of which is that school uniform is uncomfortable and can therefore be a distraction to students in lessons. A topic sentence for this paragraph might be, Many students find school uniform uncomfortable and this can affect their work.

Where are topic sentences particularly effective?

Topic sentences can be used in most creative writing tasks but they lend themselves particularly well to certain forms of writing. In 11 plus and 13 plus creative writing exams, typical writing exercises include creative descriptions, short fiction writing, continuing a given story, and sometimes writing to persuade or argue.

Persuasive writing

As in the example above, topic sentences work really well when used to structure persuasive writing pieces, such as a persuasive letter. Each point made will have its own paragraph and topic sentence to help the narrative flow from one idea to another in order to convince the reader of their cause. Continuing the example above about school uniform, two further paragraphs might begin with the following topic sentences: School uniform can be expensive for families…Lastly, students wearing school uniform feel restricted and find it difficult to express themselves. (This is just an example btw, not my belief). With a persuasive letter, opening and concluding paragraphs would also need to be written, but I’m just focussing on the use of topic sentences here. Writing to argue would work in a similar way.

Descriptive writing

Descriptive writing tasks also gel together when they include topic sentences to guide the reader from one aspect to another. Effective descriptions flow well from one area of description to another and topic sentences can provide the signposts for this to happen. For example, a creative writing task might ask for a description of a student’s favourite animal. One paragraph might discuss the animal’s appearance, another might address its behaviour, and a third might tackle the special relationship the writer has with it. Topic sentences for these might be: Dobbin has an especially intriguing appearance…Some of the things Dobbin gets up to are crazy…Despite being rather unusual, Dobbin is my very best friend…To maximise marks against an independent school 11 plus or 13 plus creative writing mark scheme here and make the writing as interesting and high quality as possible, I would expect the sentences following these topic sentences to be packed with literary devices such as similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, and alliteration. 

Short stories

Paragraphs within short stories and responses to continuing a story creative writing pieces can also benefit from topic sentences. They can be used to guide readers from one part of the action to another in lots of original and surprising ways. To give you a simple example of how topic sentences might work in a short story, let’s look at a creative writing prompt about visiting a haunted house. Potential topic sentences could be the following: It didn’t look like much from the outside…Long, white cobwebs hung from the ceiling of the narrow hallway leading into the heart of the house…I felt drawn to one door in particular…I needed to escape…Relief coursed through my veins as I felt the sun’s rays bathe my face once more…Paragraphs describe the outside appearance of the house, the interior, the inside of one room which has some horror in it, navigating an escape route, leaving the house and perhaps a reflection on the experience. Again, in order to give examiners opportunities to tick  off elements of their mark schemes, I would expect liberal use of figurative language within the main body of the paragraphs, I would be looking for a matching and consistent writing style if the exercise was the continuation of a story, and I would want to see sentence variation with a mixture of sentence types to build or reduce tension and keep the reader interested and on their toes.  Most creative writing mark schemes would cover writing skills and English grammar basics such as sound punctuation and spelling, but I would expect to see use of some higher level vocabulary and punctuation too.

As with all exam preparation, regular practice makes perfect and learning to maximise use of topic sentences to add clarity and flow to a creative writing piece takes time and effort but it also happens to be a wonderful life skill which colid help a student’s future self sail through university essays and company reports using their superior creative writing skills…