Monday, April 30, 2012

Topic Sentences in Academic Writing

Annotated Research

 Question: Do students use topic sentences in academic writing?

Answer: “Found a heavy reliance on topic sentences and topic sentence-like features, such as headings.” RL Popken. 1987. P. 432.

Comment: Of course. Aids in readability, flow from beginning to end, organization. Why wouldn’t students use topic sentences in academic writing? [Well, one reason they might not is when the paragraph is broken up in order to reduce length of the paragraph. Then the paragraph is an extension of the original topic sentence.] RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1987), 422-443.

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