TODAY’S GOALS:

• You will learn how to set up an introduction paragraph

• You will write your best introduction paragraph

WHAT’S MY MOTIVATION?

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”

~Winston Churchill

Introductions

EXIT

An introduction should capture a reader’s interest and tell what the writing will be about.

MENU

Continue…

Introductions

EXIT

An introduction should capture a reader’s interest and tell what the writing will be about.

PREVIOUS MENU

Why is the second introduction more successful than the first? Click on the i-icons to find out.

Everywhere, over the entire earth, volcanoes constantly spewed gases into the sky. As heat and gas rose into the atmosphere, massive clouds formed, blotting out the stars. From one end of the globe to the other, lightning storms cracked and flashed. This is what the earth was like four and a half billion years ago.

Four and a half billion years ago, there were lots of volcanoes that were erupting all the time. The heat and gases from the volcanoes created huge clouds and lightning storms as well.

i

i

Next

An introduction should capture a reader’s interest and tell what the writing will be about.

Why is the second introduction more successful than the first? Click on the i-icons to find out.

Everywhere, over the entire earth, volcanoes constantly spewed gases into the sky. As heat and gas rose into the atmosphere, massive clouds formed, blotting out the stars. From one end of the globe to the other, lightning storms cracked and flashed. This is what the earth was like four and a half billion years ago.

Four and a half billion years ago, there were lots of volcanoes that were erupting all the time. The heat and gases from the volcanoes created huge clouds and lightning storms as well.

Introductions

EXITMENU

i

ii

This introduction paints a picture of what earth was like. It creates excitement and helps readers imagine an earth completely different from what they see around them.

CLOSE

i

An introduction should capture a reader’s interest and tell what the writing will be about.

Why is the second introduction more successful than the first? Click on the i-icons to find out.

Everywhere, over the entire earth, volcanoes constantly spewed gases into the sky. As heat and gas rose into the atmosphere, massive clouds formed, blotting out the stars. From one end of the globe to the other, lightning storms cracked and flashed. This is what the earth was like four and a half billion years ago.

Four and a half billion years ago, there were lots of volcanoes that were erupting all the time. The heat and gases from the volcanoes created huge clouds and lightning storms as well.

Introductions

EXITMENU

i

ii

This introduction is flat and uninteresting. It gives information, but it doesn’t capture the reader’s imagination or draw readers into the essay.

CLOSE

MENU EXITPREVIOUS

Introductions

A successful introduction

• captures the reader’s interest• communicates the topic and purpose

Next

You can use a variety of strategies to catch your reader’s attention. Click on the strategy you want to explore.

EXIT

MENU

Introductions

MENU

•Lively Description

•Surprising Statements

•Quotations

•Questions

•Direct Address

•Strong Opinions

•Anecdote

EXIT

Introductions

Lively DescriptionSensory details and figurative language can add energy and interest to an introduction. Description can engage readers by painting a picture and establishing a mood.

MENU

Next

EXIT

Introductions

Lively Descriptions

How could description be used to improve this introduction?

Winter came upon us suddenly. It seemed like overnight that we went from autumn leaves to early-morning frost.

Click to see a revision

PREVIOUS MENU

EXIT

Introductions

Lively Descriptions

The writer uses details to paint a vivid picture of fall turning into winter.

Winter came upon us like the sudden opening of a tomb. Almost overnight it seemed that the last multicolored banners of autumn leaves had been wrenched from the trees by the wind. . . . Then came the early-morning frost that turned the long grass white and crisp as biscuit.

—Gerald Durrell, A Bevy of Beasts

PREVIOUS MENU

Menu

EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsGrab a reader’s attention by beginning with a surprising statement or a startling fact.

MENU

Continue…

EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsGrab a reader’s attention by beginning with a surprising statement or a startling fact.

MENU

Here are some examples:

• Three years after they’re introduced, about 75 percent of all consumer goods are no longer on the market.

• The city of Vernon, California, has a daytime population of about 44,000 people, but only 93 people actually live there.

• Six thousand languages are spoken in the world today. At the current rate of extinction, we may be down to 200 at the end of the century.

Next

PREVIOUS

PREVIOUS EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsA surprising statement or a startling fact can make your reader want to keep reading.

MENU

Continue…

PREVIOUS EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsA surprising statement or a startling fact can make your reader want to keep reading.

MENU

How does the first sentence grab your attention?

Every year in the Danish town of Silkeborg, thousands of visitors file past the face of a murder victim. No one will ever know his name. It is enough to know that 2,000 years ago he was as human as ourselves.

—Maurice Shadbolt, “Who Killed the Bog Men of Denmark? And Why?”

Click to see the answer

PREVIOUS EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsA surprising statement or a startling fact can make your reader want to keep reading.

MENU

How does the first sentence grab your attention?

Every year in the Danish town of Silkeborg, thousands of visitors file past the face of a murder victim. No one will ever know his name. It is enough to know that 2,000 years ago he was as human as ourselves.

—Maurice Shadbolt, “Who Killed the Bog Men of Denmark? And Why?”

Menu

i

EXIT

Introductions

Surprising StatementsA surprising statement or a startling fact can make your reader want to keep reading.

MENU

How does the first sentence grab your attention?

Every year in the Danish town of Silkeborg, thousands of visitors file past the face of a murder victim. No one will ever know his name. It is enough to know that 2,000 years ago he was as human as ourselves.

—Maurice Shadbolt, “Who Killed the Bog Men of Denmark? And Why?”

ii CLOSE

It grabs your attention because you don’t expect that thousands of people will gather every year to look at a dead person.

EXIT

Introductions

QuotationsBeginning with a quotation can lend impact and authority to an introduction.

MENU

Continue…

EXIT

Introductions

Quotations

Click to see a revision

PREVIOUS MENU

How would a quotation give this idea more impact?

You have only to take a look at Lorin Adkins to know he believes in taking care of his health. His trim, muscular, 79-year-old body is in great shape.

Beginning with a quotation can lend impact and authority to an introduction.

EXIT

Introductions

Quotations

PREVIOUS MENU

Menu

The quotation gives the introduction more credibility—it is not just what the writer thinks, it is what the subject believes.

You have only to take one look at Lorin Adkins to know why he says things like: “No wealth is greater than your health.” His trim, muscular, 79-year-old body tells the rest of the story.

—Jan Elerman, “World Class at 79”

Beginning with a quotation can lend impact and authority to an introduction.

EXIT

Introductions

Strong OpinionsBeginning with a strong opinion is likely to get your readers’ attention because it might challenge their beliefs.

MENU

Continue…

EXIT

Introductions

Strong Opinions

How could this introduction to a persuasive essay be made more compelling?

Many people think that there is life on other planets.

Click to see a revision

PREVIOUS MENU

Beginning with a strong opinion is likely to get your readers’ attention because it might challenge their beliefs.

EXIT

Introductions

Strong Opinions

PREVIOUS MENU

Beginning with a strong opinion is likely to get your readers’ attention because it might challenge their beliefs.

In this revised introduction, the writer starts with a strong statement of opinion and then elaborates on the experience.

There is life on other planets. Communications from extraterrestrials have come to us in many forms. Midwestern farmers, southern blue-collar workers, Massachusetts bankers—even the government—have seen evidence of the existence of other life forms in the universe.

Menu

EXIT

Introductions

AnecdoteAn anecdote is an interesting or amusing brief story, often about a person.

MENU

Continue…

EXIT

Introductions

Anecdote

What kind of anecdote could make this introduction more interesting?

Al Capone was one of the most famous gangsters of the 1920s. He was a powerful figure who also seemed mysterious.

Click to see a revision

PREVIOUS MENU

An anecdote is an interesting or amusing brief story, often about a person.

EXIT

Introductions

Anecdote

This brief story hooks readers at the beginning of an essay about gangsters in the 1920s.

The man, in an immaculate suit with broad lapels, narrowed his eyes against the sun as he stepped from the shadowy doorway. Pulling his hat down, he tossed a dime to the dazed, grubby boy standing before him. “Go get me a couple Cokes, willya?—and step on it kid!” So it was that my grandfather met Al Capone.

PREVIOUS MENU

An anecdote is an interesting or amusing brief story, often about a person.

Menu

INTRODUCE YOUR TOPIC

Make sure to include: The title of the article you’re summarizing/analyzing The author/s of the article A small intro to the topic you’re going to discuss/what the article is about/what

the prompt is asking

FINALLY!

Add a smooth transition and then your thesis statement!

And TADA! You have an introduction!

INTRO OUTLINE

•Hook/Attention Grabber•Introduction to Issue/Topic•Thesis Statement

EXAMPLE (STANDARD)

“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but

progress” (Joseph Joubert). Famous revolutionaries, powerful leaders, and desperate

housewives are all connected by their unanimous ability to argue well and, in doing

so, create progress. Argument is an art honed and perfected by anyone who wants to

generate change; it is honed through becoming at expert with the tools of argument,

or rhetorical devices. One such man became such an expert with rhetorical devices

that he almost single handedly lead the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson,

author of “The Declaration of Independence,” so effectively uses emotional, ethical,

and logical appeals in his writing that he convinces even the most steadfast of

loyalists to rebel against Great Britain.

EXAMPLE (STANDARD)The music was composed as a drinking song for an 18th-century London social

club. The words were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key to commemorate a battle.

And on March 3, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” officially became the national

anthem of the United States. Ever since then, people have been complaining that the

tune is unsingable and the lyrics are offensive. In response to these complaints, a bil

l was recently filed in Congress to replace “The Star-Spangled Banner” with “America the

Beautiful” as our national anthem. For a number of reasons, this bill deserves wide

support.

(Shelby Wilson, “Time for an Anthem the Country can Sing”)

EXAMPLE (STANDARD)U2 have always produced rhetorically powerful songs. From the spiritually driven

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” to the blantantly sexual “If You Wear That

Velvet Dress,” audiences have been persuaded to examine their religious doubts as

well as to give in to their emotions. Never a band content in sticking to one style, their

music has evolved and taken many forms. Their more recent songs show a level of

complexity so far unsurpassed in music, drawing heavily on the ambiguity of paradox in

songs like “So Cruel” while evoking sensory overload with the aid of the list structure in

“Numb.” But one of the most powerful songs dates back to their early years, when their

style was Senecan-like, seemingly simpler and more direct. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” stands

out as one of U2’s finest songs. Its rhetoric is successful because of its simplicity, not despite it.

(Mike Rios, “The Rhetoric of U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’”)

YOUR WRITING PROMPT

Read the article, “Schools in Ferguson Area

Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day.”

After reading, summarize in your own terms the advantages and disadvantages of discussing the happenings in Ferguson, Missouri in the classroom. Be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your summary. Follow the conventions of standard written English.

INDIVIDUAL TASK

Writ an introduction for the Ferguson writing prompt. Make sure it follows the outline for introduction and includes one type of hook.

Let me or Mrs. Burnett know when you are finished.

PEER REVIEW

Exchange papers and revise and edit.

Is the hook clear and connected to the topic?

Is there an introduction to the topic and the articles/authors alluded to in the prompt?

Are there proper transitions or is it choppy?

Does it make sense to you?

Is the thesis included?

Sign your name. I will take this up for a grade.