How a Topic Sentence Improves Your Dissertation Committee’s Reading Comprehension + Recall
As a doctoral student, you have brilliant ideas and research to share. You have worked long hours building your argument, searching for literature, and chasing supportive evidence to write your dissertation.
Despite this effort, you must still engineer your thoughts so your words will be understood and your voice will be heard. While you have likely heard about the importance of writing your ideas clearly, have you ever thought strategically about the importance or structure of the sentence, particularly the first and most crucial sentence of each paragraph – the topic sentence?
Good, clear writing that gets gobbled-up starts by sculpting strong sentences.
Emphasizing Your Position
Many doctoral students have great ideas and conduct meaningful research. However, communicating these thoughts without a logical flow is like having a befuddled conversation. The random thoughts lead to incoherent communication, leaving the other person frustrated.
To avoid this confusion, developing a logical flow of ideas keeps the reader focused. One key element to master in scholarly writing is constructing the topic sentence. This sentence stems from your thesis statement, which summarizes the purpose of your entire dissertation.
While writing a topic sentence may sound like a tedious exercise, it’s actually quite simple. To begin, you’ll need to embrace the core, or main idea, of each paragraph. This main idea serves as your topic sentence that emphasizes your position. Because the topic sentence focuses on a main idea for each paragraph, it is considered to be a valuable rhetorical device that helps you organize ideas.
The paragraph is easier for the reader to digest if the main idea is presented first. Then, supportive information follows throughout the remainder of the paragraph in the form of evidence and analysis. Finally, all sentences should be linked to the others and be closely related to the preceding sentence or to the one following. An easy mnemonic device to remember this structure is the MEAL Plan paragraph structure (main idea, evidence, analysis, and link).
According to the American author Joan Didion, the tricky part about that first sentence is that…everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. When you stick with one topic for each paragraph, your paragraph develops unity and your ideas will be easier to follow, your readers will also appreciate the opportunities you give them to engage their mind.
Precise Elements
From a desire to construct interesting prose, you may have been taught to use synonyms. After all, adding variety to your writing has been shown to make text captivating. However, frequently changing important key terms can confuse your reader. Suppose, for example, that your study explores the topic “Business Operations.” In this case, “Business Operations” may become “Corporate Activities,” and then “Company Processes.” While changing key terms with acceptable synonyms may work for other types of writing, scholarly work must use clear and precise terms. Using precise key terms not only helps you craft a clearer message but also helps you communicate your research with improved clarity and strength.
In addition, repeating relevant terms, typically nouns, helps improve your reader’s understanding and comprehension. For example, read the following two sentences. See how the second version provides details to add clarity.
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- The leadership team conducted research and planned their annual capital campaign. The estimated cost was more than $150,000. In this case, your dissertation committee may wonder if the cost involved both the research and planning?
- The leadership team conducted research and planned the organization’s annual capital campaign. The estimated cost of the research exceeded $150,000.
To avoid repeating yourself too much, you can change your verbs and less meaningful words as long as you maintain clarity and the meaning of your sentence. This strategy helps you dodge dull and excessively repetitive text. For instance, each of the following sentences conveys the same core message even though the word choice varies slightly.
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- The goal of the capital campaign includes improving the city’s air quality to enhance public health. We expect to see an improvement in air quality by the next fiscal year.
- The capital campaign aims to boost the city’s air quality to promote public health. We expect to enhance air quality by the next fiscal year.
In addition to keeping your reader focused throughout your discussion by reiterating key terms, you can also use demonstrative pronouns – that, this, these, and those. Using these pronouns deliberately followed by a noun can help your reader easily link your ideas together. See the following two examples:
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- The committee advocated against hazardous emissions. This aimed to advance the environmental agenda.
- The committee advocated against hazardous emissions. This effort aimed to advance the environmental agenda.
Reiterating key terms and using demonstrative pronouns in your writing make your thoughts clearer and more cohesive. Using these techniques can help your dissertation chair follow your ideas throughout your entire dissertation.
Adding Value
So what is the true value of a topic sentence?
Your dissertation committee is task-oriented and likely faces multiple demands throughout the day. How much time do they have to read your work? Without a clear topic sentence, your professors may have difficulty comprehending your work and miss the main ideas that you’re trying to convey. Reading becomes inefficient and difficult.
Starting your paragraphs with a topic sentence is invaluable for quickly getting your point across because the reader knows the paragraph’s main idea in advance. Organizing your writing in a logical fashion facilitates reading comprehension. Readability research supports this notion. It reports that readers read, comprehend, and retain material faster when reading is simplified. Using topic sentences organizes your discussion into meaningful units that helps the reader follow your thoughts better than if you shared the same information in a disorderly way.
The Reality of Writing
You and I both know scholarly writing, particularly dissertation writing, is hard.
Scholarly writing requires the ability to write clearly, cohesively, and use precise key terms to convey accurate meaning and engage your dissertation committee.
At times, you may feel overwhelmed. So, start small by taking your doctoral professors on a knowledge-sharing journey. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, which serves a three-pronged role. First, it serves as the lead organizer of the main idea in your paragraph. Second, it facilitates comprehension and recall. And third, a good sentence helps engage your reader and invites them to read the next.
So, commit to your dissertation and get started writing.
Keep moving forward.
That’s how progress on your dissertation is made.