Introductory Paragraphs

Today we discussed introductory paragraphs. For tomorrow, you need to write out your entire introductory paragraph on a lined piece of paper, with skipped lines, according to the outline we handed out today in class. Here are the six elements you need for your introductory paragraph:

1) Hook
2) Transition
3) Summary of Point #1
4) Summary of Point #2
5) Summary of Point #3
6) Thesis

There are three types of hooks:

™Surprising fact:

(ex) The Pentagon has twice as many bathrooms as are necessary.

™Humor:

(ex) When my older brother substituted  fresh eggs for our hard-boiled Easter eggs, he didn’t realize our father would take the first crack at hiding them.

™Quotation:

(ex) Hillary Rodham Clinton once said that “There cannot be true

democracy unless women's voices are heard.”

Your transition is the sentence that connects your hook with what you'll actually be writing about. Here's the example we went over in class:

 

The pentagon has twice as many bathrooms as are necessary. The famous government building was constructed in the 1940s, when segregation laws required that separate bathrooms be installed for people of African descent. This building is not the only American icon that harkens back to this embarrassing and hurtful time in our history. Across the United States there are many examples of leftover laws and customs that reflect the racism that once permeated American society.

The italisized section is the transition. Notice how it still brings in the idea of the bathrooms, but now brings in the idea of segregation. That is what the essay will be about.

All you need to do is summarize your main points after that. These should be short and sweet sentences that get to the point and address those themes we talked about in your thesis statements.

Here are the themes you should be hitting:

Benefits:

--engaged students in learning

--increased social awareness

•--provides a new form of self-expression

•--develops technical skills

•

--expands social circles

Risks:

--possibility of alcohol and/or drug abuse

•--Internet addiction

•--identity theft

•--loss of privacy

•

--loss of self-identity

Please get these introductory paragraphs done, because tomorrow we're moving on to the conclusion paragraph. Rough drafts are due Monday!

DEETS:

In-class:

--Thesis Work

--Intro Paragraph Organizer

HW:

--Write out Introductory Paragraph

--Rough Draft due Monday

--Read up to pg. 65 in Night due Monday