As we write, our ideas often grow and sometimes finish in places wildly disparate from where we expected them to end. Indeed, the work of writing changes our way of thinking. During the drafting process, it’s not uncommon for the purpose you establish in a given topic sentence to end up having little to do with how the ensuing paragraph turns out. This dissonance can be very confusing to your reader. It’s a bait-and-switch that sets up an idea, only to unpack a different but ostensibly related one. Paragraphs that do not maintain fidelity to their topic sentences fracture the logic of your argument, disrupt the structure and narrative arc of your text, and alienate your reader. This entry focuses on making sure our topic sentences reflect the work we do in our paragraphs by employing a form of reverse outlining that specifically targets that alignment.

Like many of the revision strategies presented in this guide, “Thinking Through the Vacuum” is a labor of love. It takes time. But we believe that this is time well-spent. Ultimately, this entry encourages you to practice a kind of mindfulness in making sure that your topic sentences and paragraphs align that will, eventually, render the advice below superfluous.

Step 1: Choose a section of your work where you want to check the focus of your paragraphs. Identify and highlight each topic sentence. Then, assign the topic sentence and its corresponding paragraph a number.

Step 2: Create two new blank documents. In the first, cut and paste each numbered topic sentence. In the second, cut and paste each numbered paragraph without its topic sentence. These documents constitute The Vacuum, a space separate from your main text where you can isolate the parts of your writing you want to focus on more intentionally.

Now repeat the following steps for each topic sentence-paragraph pair:

Step 3: Start with the numbered topic sentences. In a phrase or a sentence at most, write down the paragraph purpose that the current topic sentence establishes for your reader (e.g. defining a key term, providing evidence to support a claim, introducing a counterargument, etc). If you can’t find a purpose in your topic sentences, hit pause and check out the entry titled, “Does Each Topic Sentence State the Purpose of That Paragraph? Check Topic Sentences for Signaling.” Move to the numbered paragraphs. Read each paragraph and, in a phrase or sentence, write down the purpose.

Step 4: Check each topic sentence-paragraph pair to see if they align. Ask yourself, Does the purpose established in my topic sentence accurately reflect the content of my paragraph? If yes, great! Move on to the next pair. If not, revise your topic sentence so that it better reflects the work you actually did in your paragraph or revise the paragraph so that it does what you said it was going to do.

After aligning your topic sentences and paragraphs, you may find that you created a new problem in your writing while solving the first. For instance, the transitions between paragraphs might feel choppy, the narrative of your project might feel less coherent, or your argument’s hierarchy may be less clear.

For help with these common issues, check out: “Is Your Essay’s Structure Clear? Try this First and Last Sentence Exercise,” “Sentences and Paragraphs Out of Order? Rearranging/Reconfiguring as a Tool to Restructure,” “Lost Your Work’s Narrative: Reverse Outlining and Storyboarding as a Method of Reordering Your Work’s Structure,” “Is Your First Draft Disorganized? Reverse Outlining as a Method to Discover Structure,” and “Where are My Section Breaks? Reverse Outlining as a Tool to Find Them.”