George Bradford's List: Towards a Pivotal Analysis of Topic Content

"Teachers and textbook writers should exercise caution in making statements about the frequency with which contemporary professional writers use simple or even explicit topic sentences in expository paragraphs. It is abundantly clear that students should not be told that professional writers usually begin their paragraphs with topic sentences."

Drafting effective, well-organized body paragraphs takes a great amount of thought and revision. In American academic and business writing, writers are encouraged to discuss one topic per paragraph. Writers usually indicate to the reader what that one topic is with a topic sentence. Indeed, the topic sentence is often referred to as the most important sentence in the paragraph because it states what the paragraph is about for the reader.

A well-organized paragraph supports or develops a single controlling idea, which is expressed in a sentence called the topic sentence. A topic sentence has several important functions: it substantiates or supports an essay’s thesis statement; it unifies the content of a paragraph and directs the order of the sentences; and it advises the reader of the subject to be discussed and how the paragraph will discuss it. Readers generally look to the first few sentences in a paragraph to determine the subject and perspective of the paragraph. That’s why it’s often best to put the topic sentence at the very beginning of the paragraph. In some cases, however, it’s more effective to place another sentence before the topic sentence—for example, a sentence linking the current paragraph to the previous one, or one providing background information.

The two teaching styles on exhibit at this conference demonstrated one of the main reasons why people from the liberal arts and from the field of education have difficulty collaborating on the preparation of school teachers: the instructional practices of the two sectors of the teaching profession appear to be worlds apart. I will examine this apparent dichotomy by discussing stereotypes of the teaching by professors in universities, school teachers in elementary and secondary schools, and teacher educators and others who seem to be trapped in limbo between lower and higher education. Then I will suggest a resolution of the problem based on the ideas of John Dewey.

A typical expository paragraph starts with a controlling idea or claim, which it then explains, develops, or supports with evidence. Paragraph sprawl occurs when digressions are introduced into an otherwise focused and unified discussion. Digressions and deviations often come in the form of irrelevant details or shifts in focus.

As early as the 1950s, the term scientific literacy was used in discussions of science in general education when Paul DeHart Hurd drew connections between society and scientific and technological innovation (Bybee, 1997). The term technological literacy was employed by C. Dale Lemons at the 1972 Mississippi Valley Industrial Teacher Education Conference (Bouhdili, in Cajas, 2001) and by James A. Hale (1972) as a fundamental focus of his dissertation research. In both instances, technological literacy embodied the knowledge and skills needed to function in a society dominated by technological innovation and its impact upon society. The use of this term heralded philosophical and curriculum debates (for an overview, see Zuga, 1989) where factions struggled over the mission, goals, and content of an educational program which eventually emerged as technology education.