Writing the Topic Sentence for your Essay

You've just been assigned an essay question to write. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Your essay question is:
African-American leaders have responded to racial discrimination in the United States in a variety of ways. Compare and contrast the goals and strategies of African American leaders in the 1890s – 1920s with the goals and strategies of African American leaders in the 1950s – 1960s. 

What is your first step?  Figure out what the purpose of the essay is and write that down!


The Purpose of the Essay  
Compare and contrast the goals and strategies of African-American leaders in the 1890s-1920s and their goals and strategies in the 1950s-1960s.
Our entire essay should be information related to answering this question. 


Key Terms
Now, let's come up with a topic sentence. What are the key terms in the statement that we wrote?
We need 3 - 4 key terms.  What are they?  

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

• African American leaders 

Could it just be leaders?  No, not really.  The African-American part is essential, that's why that adjective becomes part of the key term. 

• Goals and strategies

Anything else?

• 1890s-1920s and 1950s-1960s 

Does the when matter? Of course it does! 

So, let's highlight our key terms: Compare and contrast the goals and strategies of African-American leaders in the 1890s-1920s and their goals and strategies in the 1950s-1960s.


Writing the Topic Sentence

So, what are some possible topic sentences ?

• The goals and strategies of African-American leaders changed dramatically from the 1890s-1920s to the 1950s-1960s.

We can use some synonyms and make it a little better:

• African-American leaders' goals and strategies changed dramatically from the late to early 1900s to what is known as the Civil Rights Era.

Malcolm X

 Does that say about the same thing?  Sure it does. How about:

• Over time, the goals and strategies used by African-American leaders to achieve civil rights changed.

It works.  It's not as specific as far as the time period, but as long as you go back to the purpose of the essay when writing, it can work.


How about:

• Many African-American leaders helped gain civil rights during the 1890s-1920s and 1950s-1960s. 

Why does this not work?  It doesn't mention goals and strategies.  Now it sounds like it is just about the leaders.  Also, it sounds as if you can discuss either the 1890s-1920s OR the 1950s-1960s.  The original essay question asked you to do both. This is not an acceptable topic sentence.  

Booker T. Washington

Writing the Essay
Once you pick your topic sentence, make sure that everything that is going into your essay goes back to that statement!  Sometimes that is hard.  You may know so much on a broad topic, and want to share all of it!  But that's not the point of an essay.  
The point of an essay is: To determine if you can answer a specific question well. To determine if you can decide which information is important when answering a question. To determine if you can decide which information is unneeded.  
Make sure, that at all times, you are answering the essay question!


Conclusion Sentence
When you are done, it's time to write your conclusion sentence.  Go back to your key terms.  Your conclusion sentence should not simply restate your introduction; it should add to it.  But, if your key terms, or their synonyms, are not in your conclusion sentence, then you likely need to rewrite your conclusion sentence!  (Or... you got too far off from the purpose of the essay when writing.  If that is the case, go back to the essay and fix it!)
Example:

• Over time, leaders of the African-American community decided to aim higher and demand change immediately.  (This last part basically states the change in goals and strategies)

Remember:  It doesn't have to be word for word, 

but keep your key terms in mind!

Hope this helps! 

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