Topic sentence: What is the paragraph about. Get my attention.

3 lead-offs: separate details to support your main idea.

3 follow ups: one for each lead-off. These just give a hint of an example. Don't tell everything until the body paragraphs.

Thesis: This is your main idea + opinion without using the words "I".

Example:

Topic: Branches of Government

Thesis: The three branches of government work together, but it may not be as good of a system as it seems to be.

So now, my paper will talk about the three branches of government, but it will also talk about what doesn't work so well within the governement.

Introduction Paragraph