Topic sentences

The best advice I ever received about thesis writing was to structure my paragraphs around topic sentences.  The phrase "topic sentence" makes it sound like it should be polished for a good copy, but that isn't necessarily so.  Even in the beginning when all you write is crap, I've found that using topic sentences helps structure your thinking.

The topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph and should should state the point of the paragraph.  The rest of the sentences in the paragraph will link back to the first point to support it or expand on it.

In the early phases of writing, your topic sentences help you to cluster your nebulous thoughts into actual shapes.  It's OK to write a topic sentence that is crappy and that will never actually appear in the final thesis.  Don't let your fear of errors interrupt this early writing.  The point is to get your thoughts out so they can grow and be shaped by your other thoughts as those get written down, too. 

You can worry about making your topic sentences all nice and fitting with your thesis outline later, when you're editing or polishing.

During thesis editing, your topic sentences become little "hooks" that you can use to think of your thesis in larger chunks.  Being able to think of your thesis in chunks will make it easier to wrap your head around the whole thing.  You can mentally grab onto the chunks in your mind.

Inevitably, at some point you're going to need to restructure the whole thing.  You might change your thesis focus, or your supervisor might realize that your point could be better conveyed if explained from a new angle.  When that happens, you'll be grateful that you've left yourself "hooks" to grasp on to!

Hurrah for topic sentences!