Some questions to ask before writing a topic sentence:

            Journalistic Questions

                        Who?

                        What?

                        When?

                        Where?

                        Why?

                        How?

            Is this too Broad/Narrow?

            Is it clear?

            How can I support this?

            Will it predict what will come next in the paragraph?

Some questions to ask after writing a topic sentence/paragraph:

            Journalistic questions  (who, what, when, where…)

            Can you give an example?

            Can this be compared/contrasted to something?

            Are there enough details?

            How can I prove this?  (I don’t believe you—prove it!)

            Can you be more specific?

            How is this organized?

            Are the steps/parts clear?

            What order does it follow?

                        Chronological  (time sequence)

                        Spatial  (on the right/at the top/next to the…)

                        Order of Importance  (The most important…)