Recognizing Strong Topic Sentences

Thesis: Statement: Families with young children are better off adopting dogs than cats.

Claim: Dogs are loyal creatures that can help care for a young child.

Not a claim: Some families choose to adopt dogs, while others select cats.

(This sentence is not a claim because it simply states a fact)

Thesis: Statement: Schools should require students to wear a uniform.

Claim: Uniforms conveniently save students from having to select an outfit.

Not a claim: Next, I will tell you about how uniforms save students time.

(This sentence is not a claim because it simply states what the author is going to talk about next instead of sharing the author's viewpoint)

Let's take a look at some sentences and evaluate whether these sentences are strong or weak claims.