THE TOPIC SENTENCE AND THE THESIS

A Body Paragraph's Topic Sentence (often its first sentence) functions as a subset of the Thesis
by providing a narrowed version the essay's main claim.

A Topic Sentence (TS) should accomplish two things:
a. Look back to the thesis. (In this assignment, it references your term for and/or explanation of the artist's persona.) ↑
b. Look ahead to the rest of the Body Paragraph (BP) by identifying the specific topic the BP explores. ↓ 

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EXAMPLE

An essay's thesis followed by the Topic Sentences of its first two BPs:

Thesis
Unlike the darkly dressed, brooding males who dominate contemporary Death-Metal, Morty Mortician
embodies a comical and self-mocking form of masculinity.

BP 1 TS
The visual landscape of MM's most famous video relies on a color that negates ↓ the conventional
darkness of ↑Death-Metal masculinity: Pink. His "Barbeque All Barbies" opens in a pink house with . . . .

BP 2 TS
While other genre performers such as Maxim Carnage scream lyrics about their own titanic suffering ↑,
MM jokes (and screams) about life's little problems ↓ . In "Every-Day Death Rattle" he yells, "I go into a
rage when the toothpaste tube runs out. / When you eat the last pizza roll, I release a blood-curdling shout!"

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TIPS

For this assignment, I strongly recommend that each BP begin with a TS.

Since a TS announces the BP's SPECIFIC topic and its connection to the Thesis, it should never
just restate or paraphrase the Thesis.

Since a BP focuses on a single topic, it should be free of material that does not address the SPECIFIC
topic as indicated in the TS. When you edit, eliminate irrelevant facts, judgments, impressions, etc. . . .