Where does the topic sentence go?
Usually, your topic sentence goes at the beginning of your paragraph, so your reader knows from the beginning where you’re headed, as is the case in this example (also from LBH): Most of the evening news programs consist of commercials, and most of the commercials are for products to treat the infirmities of old age. On “The CBS Evening News” last night I watched a commercial for an iron and vitamin tonic from 6:33 to 6:34. From 6:34 to 6:35 appeared a commercial for arthritis remedies. And that was followed by a thirty-second commercial for sleeping pills. At 6:40 appeared three more commercials: One showed an elderly man eating bran cereal; a second showed a hemorrhoid salve; a third showed a salve for aching muscles. A few minutes later another barrage of commercials came on, and two more series of them appeared still later. These ads dealt with such products as laxatives, life and health insurance, and pain relievers for head and stomach. Of course, the topic sentence doesn’t have
