Thesis Statements
Okay, so now that we have the main idea, we need to prepare ourselves to clearly explain it to our audience, the reader. What we need is a thesis statement! A thesis statement is a one- or two-sentence condensation of your argument or analysis that will follow in your writing. The thesis statement is our narrowing of our overall main idea
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Moving along with our movie idea, let's say our main idea is a romantic comedy about two high school sweethearts. While that helps narrow things a bit from the entire genre of romantic comedy, it doesn't really help give us the detail we need to truly understand what is unique about our movie. However, I can add the thesis statement of Two high school sweethearts ready to embark on the wonderful world of college. Will they follow their dreams and end up at separate colleges, or follow their heart to the same school? Now we can better understand what this movie is about!
Topic Sentence
Of course, there is a bit more narrowing that can be done in this process. Sometimes space does not allow us to give a longer explanation. Sometimes people really need us to get to the point quickly. This is where our topic sentence comes into play. A topic sentence is generally at the beginning of the opening paragraph and gives a one-sentence summary of the main point. Think of the topic sentence as our movie blurb that everyone grabs a hold of. It's that bit of information the producers want us to hold onto that will allow us to build excitement for the movie and remember with ease the main point of the film.
In our fictional romantic comedy, our topic sentence might be Jordan and Willow must decide if their high school love is big enough to span not just one college, but two. In this sentence I now clearly see that this movie is about two high school students named Jordan and Willow. They are about to go to college, and they may even end up at two different colleges. They will be analyzing if their love really is big and broad enough to move from being a high school romance to an adult, long-distance relationship. In one sentence I have given a summary of the film - without giving away the neat surprises viewers may find along the way. The hope is that it generates interest and leaves the person wanting more. The same is true with the topic sentence. People are much happier reading an essay when they understand what it is supposed to be about. They can grab a hold of the context and read with purpose, thereby allowing a much easier and memorable reading experience.