Develop a strong outline for your paper. Developing a strong outline will help you realize what message you are really trying to convey to your audience. Your outline should include a space for your introduction, your conclusion and a section for each of the main points that will later make up your paper's body paragraphs.
Highlight the main points of your essay, which will be the main body paragraph topics in your outline. If you are writing a five-paragraph essay, you will generally have three main body paragraphs that serve as your analysis.
Include the main arguments from your main body paragraphs in your topic sentence. You should present the reader with your argument for the paper in the topic sentence and then include the main ideas of your essay in the topic sentence. This will give your reader a clear idea of the direction your paper is headed.
Place your topic sentence in your introduction paragraph. A topic sentence usually comes at the end of your introduction paragraph, but it does not have to.
Edit your topic sentence once you have finished your paper. Make sure that your topic sentence highlights all of the main points that you covered in your essay and that there are no silly errors.