9 1 Read the theory. For-and-against essays give the good and the bad points of a topic. In the first paragraph, we state the topic. In the second paragraph, we write what the advantages are. For each advantage, we write an example to illustrate it. In the third paragraph, we write the disadvantages of the topic. For each disadvantage, we write an example to illustrate it. In the last paragraph, we summarize the arguments. We start each main body paragraph with a topic sentence. This is a sentence which summarizes the paragraph or introduces the main idea of the paragraph. Each topic sentence is followed by supporting sentences which exp in the topic sentence.