2. It supplies any background information that the reader may need to understand the essay. 3. It presents a thesis statement. This clear, direct statement of the main idea of the paper usually appears near the end of the introductory paragraph.
4. It indicates a plan of development. In this \thesis are listed in the order in which they will be presented. In some cases, the thesis and plan of development appear in the same sentence. However, writers sometimes choose not to describe the plan of development.
1.2 Common Methods of Introduction
Here are some common methods of introduction. Use any one method, or a combination of methods, to introduce your subject to the reader in an interesting way.
1. Begin with a broad, general statement of your topic and narrow it down to your thesis statement. Broad, general statements ease the reader into your thesis statement by first introducing the topic. In the example below, the writer talks generally about diets and then narrows down to comments on a specific diet.
Bookstore shelves today are crammed with dozens of different diet books. The American public seems willing to try any sort of diet, especially the ones that promise instant, miraculous results. And authors are more than willing to invent new fad diets to cash in on this craze. Unfortunately, some of these fad diets are ineffective or even unsafe. One of the worst fad diets is the \plan. It is impractical, doesn't achieve the results it claims, and is a sure route to poor nutrition.
2. Start with an idea or a situation that is the opposite of the one you will develop. This approach works because your readers will be surprised, and then intrigued, by the contrast between the opening idea and the thesis that follows it.
When I decided to return to school at age thirty-five, I wasn't at all worried about my ability to do the work. After all, I was a grown woman who had raised a family, not a confused teenager fresh out of high school. But when I started classes, I realized that those \around me were in much better shape for college than I was. They still had all their classroom skills in bright, shiny condition, while mine had grown rusty from disuse. I had to learn how to locate information in a library, how to write a report, and even how to speak up in class discussions.
3. Explain the importance of your topic to the reader. If you can convince your readers that the subject in some way applies to them, or is something they should know more about, they will want to keep reading.
Diseases like scarlet fever and whooping cough used to kill more young children than any other cause. Today, however, child mortality due to disease has been almost completely eliminated by medical science. Instead, car accidents are the number-one killer of our children. And most of the children fatally injured in car accidents were not protected by car seats, belts, or restraints of any kind. Several steps must be taken to reduce the serious dangers car accidents pose to our children.
4. Use an incident or a brief story. Stories are naturally interesting. They appeal to a reader's curiosity. In your introduction, an anecdote will grab the reader's attention right away. The story should be brief and should be related to your main idea. The incident in the story can be something that happened to you, something you have heard about, or something you have read
- 111 -
about in a newspaper or magazine.
Early Sunday morning the young mother dressed her little girl warmly and gave her a candy bar, a picture book, and a well-worn stuffed rabbit. Together, they drove downtown to a Methodist church. There the mother told the little girl to wait on the stone steps until children began arriving for Sunday school. Then the young mother drove off, abandoning her five-year-old because she couldn't cope with being a parent anymore. This incident is one of thousands of cases of child neglect and abuse that occur annually. Perhaps the automatic right to become a parent should no longer exist. Would-be parents should be forced to apply for parental licenses for which they would have to meet three important conditions.
5. Ask one or more questions. You may simply want the reader to think about possible answers, or you may plan to answer the questions yourself later in the paper.
What is love? How do we know that we are really in love? When we meet that special person, how can we tell that our feelings are genuine and not merely infatuation? And, if they are genuine, will these feelings last? Love, as we all know, is difficult to define. But most people agree that true and lasting love involves far more than mere physical attraction. Love involves mutual respect, the desire to give rather than take, and the feeling of being wholly at ease.
6. Use a quotation. A quotation can be something you have read in a book or an article. It can also be something that you have heard: a popular saying or proverb (\give advice to a friend\a current or recent advertising slogan (\out and touch someone\or a favorite expression used by friends or family (\father always says . . .\Using a quotation in your introductory paragraph lets you add someone else's voice to your own.
\Last summer, when my sister and her family came to spend their two-week vacation with us, I became convinced that Franklin was right. After only three days of my family's visit, I was thoroughly sick of my brother-in-law's corny jokes, my sister's endless complaints about her boss, and their children's constant invasions of our privacy.
Exercise:
The box below summarizes the six kinds of introduction. Read the introductions that follow it and, in the space provided, write the letter of the kind of introduction used in each case.
A. General to narrow D. Incident or story
B. Starting with an opposite E. Questions C. Stating importance of topic F. Quotation
1. The ad, in full color on a glossy magazine page, shows a beautiful kitchen with gleaming counters. In the foreground, on one of the counters, stands a shiny new food processor. Usually, a feminine hand is touching it lovingly. Around the main picture are other, smaller shots. They show mounds of perfectly sliced onion rings, thin rounds of juicy tomatoes, heaps of matchstick-sized potatoes, and piles of golden, evenly grated cheese. The ad copy tells you how wonderful, how easy, food preparation will be with a processor. Don't believe it. My processor turned out to be expensive,
- 112 -
difficult to operate, and very limited in its use.
2. My father stubbornly says, \comes to certain paperbacks, he's right. When you're browsing in the drugstore or supermarket and you see a paperback featuring an attractive young woman in a low-cut dress fleeing from a handsome dark figure in a shadowy castle, you know exactly what you're getting. Every romance novel has the same elements: an innocent heroine, an exotic setting, and a cruel but fascinating hero.
3. We Americans are incredibly lazy. Instead of cooking a simple, nourishing meal, we pop a frozen dinner into the oven. Instead of studying a daily newspaper, we are contented with the capsule summaries on the network news. Worst of all, instead of walking even a few blocks to the local convenience store, we jump into our cars. This dependence on the automobile, even for short trips, has robbed us of a valuable experience—walking. If we drove less and walked more, we would save money, become healthier, and discover fascinating things about our surroundings.
2. Concluding Paragraph
A concluding paragraph is your chance to remind the reader of your thesis idea and bring the paper to a natural and graceful end.
Common Methods of Conclusion
You may use any one of the methods below, or a combination of methods, to round off your paper. 1. End with a summary and final thought. When army instructors train new recruits, each of their lessons follows a three-step formula: a. Tell them what you're going to tell them. b. Tell them.
c. Tell them what you've told them.
An essay that ends with a summary is not very different. After you have stated your thesis (\them what you're going to tell them\and supported it (\them\you restate the thesis and supporting points (%used before. Here is a summary conclusion:
Catalog shopping at home, then, has several advantages. Such shopping is convenient, saves you money, and saves you time. It is not surprising that growing numbers of devoted catalog shoppers are welcoming those full-color mail brochures that offer everything from turnip seeds to televisions.
Note that the summary is accompanied by a final comment that \ the paper and brings the discussion to a close. This combination of a summary and a final thought is the most common method of concluding an essay.
2. Include a thought-provoking question or short series of questions. A question grabs the reader's attention. It is a direct appeal to your reader to think further about what you have written. A question should follow logically from the points you have already made in the paper. A question must deal with one of these areas:
a. Why the subject of your paper is important b. What might happen in the future
c. What should be done about this subject
- 113 -
d Which choice should be made
In your conclusion, you may provide an answer to your question. Be sure, though, that the question is closely related to your thesis. Here is an example:
What, then, will happen in the twenty-first century when most of the population will be over sixty years old? Retirement policies could change dramatically, with the age-sixty-five testimonial dinner and gold watch postponed for five or ten years. Even television would change as the Metamucil generation replaces the Pepsi generation. Glamorous gray-haired models would sell everything from toilet paper to televisions. New soap operas and situation comedies would reveal the secrets of the \outnumbered.
3. End with a prediction or recommendation. Like questions, predictions and recommendations also involve your readers. A prediction states what may happen in the future:
If people stopped to think before acquiring pets, there would be fewer instances of cruelty to animals. Many times, it is the people who adopt pets without considering the expense and responsibility involved who mistreat and neglect their animals. Pets are living creatures. They do not deserve to be treated as carelessly as one would treat a stuffed toy.
A recommendation suggests what should be done about a situation or problem:
Stereotypes such as the helpless homemaker, harried executive, and dotty grandparent are insulting enough to begin with. In magazine ads or television commercials, they become even more insulting. Now these unfortunate characters are not just being laughed at; they are being turned into hucksters to sell products to an unsuspecting public. Consumers should boycott companies whose advertising continues to use such stereotypes.
Exercise:
In the space provided, note how each concluding paragraph ends: with a summary and final thought (write S in the space), with a prediction or recommendation (write P/R), or with a question (write Q).
1. Disappointments are unwelcome, but regular, visitors in everyone's life. We can feel depressed about them, or we can try to escape from them. The best thing, though, is to accept a disappointment and then try to use it somehow: Step over the unwelcome visitor and then get on with life.
2. Holidays, it is clear, are often not the fulfilling experience they are supposed to be. They can, in fact, be very stressful. But would we rather have a holiday-free calendar?
3. Some people dream of starring roles, their names in lights, and their pictures on the cover of People magazine. I'm not one of them, though. A famous person gives up private life, feels pressured all the time, and is never completely safe. So let someone else have that cover story. I'd rather lead an ordinary, but calm, life than a stress-filled one.
3. Titles
- 114 -
A title is usually a very brief summary of what your paper is about. It is often no more than several words. You may find it easier to write the title after you have completed your paper.
Following are the introductory paragraphs for two of the essays in this text, along with the titles of the essays.
Introductory paragraph: I'm not just a consumer—I'm a victim. If I order a product, it
is sure to arrive in the wrong color, size, or quantity. If I hire people to do repairs,they never arrive on the day scheduled. If I owe a bill, the computer is bound to overcharge me. Therefore, in self-defense, I have developed the following consumer's guide to complaining effectively.
Title: How to Complain
Introductory paragraph: Schools divide people into categories. From first grade on up,
students are labeled \or \or
\or \Students pigeonhole their fellow students, too. We've all known the \the \the \labels are misleading and inaccurate. But there is one label for a certain type of college student that says it all: \
Title: Student Zombies
Note that you should not underline the title. Nor should you put quotation marks around it. On the other hand, you should capitalize all but small connecting words in the title. Also, you should skip a space between the title and the first line of the text.
Exercise:
Write an appropriate title for each of the introductory paragraphs that follow.
1. For my birthday this month, my wife has offered to treat me to dinner at the restaurant of my choice. I think she expects me to ask for a meal at the Chalet, the classiest, most expensive restaurant in town. However, I'm going to eat my birthday dinner at McDonald's. When I compare the two restaurants, the advantages of eating at McDonald's are clear.
Title: _____________________________________________________________
2. I've been in lots of diners, and they've always seemed to be warm, busy, friendly, happy places. That's why, on a recent Monday night, I stopped at a diner for a cup of coffee. I was returning home after an all-day car trip and needed something to help me make the last forty-five miles. A diner at midnight, however, was not the place I had expected. It was different—and lonely.
Title: _____________________________________________________________
3. If you see rock-concert audiences only on television or in newspaper photos, the people at these events may all seem to be excited teenagers. However, if you attended a few rock shows, you would see that several kinds of people make up the crowd. At any concert, you would find the typical fan, the out-of- place person, and the troublemaker.
Title: _____________________________________________________________
- 115 -