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In the following passage, Batuman uses a topic sentence to shift the discussion away from an explanation of Wharton’s activities in Paris during World War I to speculation about the inner lives of readers after the war: When a topic sentence appears in a paragraph in the middle of an essay, it can help the writer pivot from one subject to another. Connecting What Came Before to What Follows It also prepares the reader for a notion that the essay concludes with: that a piece of writing, as a “character” imbued with agency, can influence not only its readers but also the wider world in which they live. This idea paves the way for the essay’s subsequent discussion of how Edith Wharton’s background influenced the writing of The Age of Innocence, how the period in which Wharton wrote shaped the novel’s reception, and how Batuman has responded to the work at different times in her own life. The metaphor in this topic sentence implies that one’s interactions with a piece of writing can be as complex and dependent on circumstance as one’s interactions with other people. To ensure that this implied meaning is understood, Batuman uses her second sentence to drive home the point that “ne reads” a classic literary work and later “reads it again.” But why, when all Batuman has to do is introduce the subject of her essay, does she give us this oddball metaphor: that a piece of writing is a character in a larger story? A “recurring character” is therefore a literary work that readers interact with repeatedly over time. The sentence proposes that a work of literature functions as a “character in one’s life,” suggesting that readers can interact with the work in ways reminiscent of how they might interact with other people. But although the meaning is clear, it is implied rather than spelled out. It makes clear that Batuman’s essay reflects on the experience of rereading a classic work of literature. The topic sentence, “A literary ‘classic’ is a recurring character in one’s life,” is exemplary. In a way, in “The Age of Innocence,” Edith Wharton wrote an allegory of this very process: of the way stories acquire new meanings over time.

Eventually, each classic tells two stories: its own, and the story of all the times one has read it. One identifies with the character closest to one in age-and then one’s age changes. One reads it, years go by, one reads it again, and it becomes the sum of those readings over time. Let’s look at Batuman’s opening paragraph:Ī literary “classic” is a recurring character in one’s life. How such a sentence is written will shape the later directions that the essay can take, so it is essential that the topic be introduced clearly and in a manner that does not foreclose subsequent lines of argument. Introducing a Broad Topic ClearlyĪ topic sentence that appears at the beginning of an essay introduces the topic of the entire piece. Elif Batuman’s New York Times piece “ The Age of ‘The Age of Innocence’” uses strong topic sentences to support its discussion. And like a bridge, which can span a greater distance the stronger it is, a well-structured essay can accommodate a wider-ranging discussion than a poorly structured essay can. The better the structure of an argument, the more easily readers will be able to follow it. As this definition suggests, crafting effective topic sentences forces writers to structure their work more rigorously. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a sentence that states the main thought of a paragraph or of a larger unit of discourse and is usually placed at or near the beginning” (“Topic Sentence”). The topic sentence is an unavoidable element in essay writing. This post focuses on how writers can successfully craft effective topic sentences.

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The series Spotlight on Good Writing highlights techniques used in public-facing writing that are widely applicable to writing of all kinds, including research papers and expository essays written by students.

Abridge sentences