"Achilles exists only through Homer. Take away the art of writing from this world, and you will probably take away its glory." - Francois Rene de Chateabriand
In this section, you will find
Having come up with topic sentences for your paragraphs, you might well feel that you've said what you want to say and be at a loss for material for your paragraphs. However, every topic sentence needs explanation and discussion for form a paragraph. Luckily, there is a certain technique that will allow you to develop a paragraph from a topic sentence when you have difficulty thinking of supporting statements.
A Method for Developing Paragraphs from Topic Sentences
When you begin with a bare topic sentence, the best thing to do is to ask yourself certain questions about the sentence and answer them in written form. Your answers will provide you with both generalizations and specific examples to support your topic sentence. The following questions are particularly productive.
How?
Why?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
In what way?
Examples from your own experience?
Examples from your reading?
The answers that you choose for your paragraphs should relate to the topic sentence. Remember that every sentence in the entire essay must in some way develop the main idea of its paragraph and the thesis statement of the essay.
Example
Imagine that you are writing an essay about whether or not young people should live away from home.
Thesis Statements: Eighteen and nineteen-year-olds should be allowed to live away from home.
Topic Sentences: Young people learn to make decisions for themselves
They learn to handle money.
They develop their own personalities.
Now ask yourself questions about these topic sentences. Keep the thesis statement in mind as you answer the questions.
Q: Why do they learn to make decisions for themselves?
A: Because there is no one to tell them what to do.
Q: How do they learn to make decisions for themselves?
A: They learn to make decisions for themselves by making decisions for themselves.
Q: Where do they learn to make decisions for themselves?
A: They learn to make decisions for themselves in their apartments, in the supermarkets, and at the cleaners.
Q: Who learns to make decisions for themselves?
A: Eighteen and nineteen-year-olds who live alone to do so.
Q: In what way do they learn to make decisions?
A: If, when shopping for food the first few times, they buy only exotic items, they soon discover than there are no eggs for breakfast and no milk to drink during the day. The next time, they will buy essentials first.
Q: Can you think of any examples from personal experience?
A: All of the above answers are based on personal experience.
Q: Can you think of any examples from your reading?
A: One of the most famous examples of someone who was forced to make decisions for himself and thereby survived is Robinson Crusoe.
These are just some of the possible answers that you could give to these questions. After you have generated plenty of material for your paragraph, you can pick and choose the best material for your paragraph and then place it in a logical and coherent order, which we will discuss in the following chapter.