Building Strong Introductions

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Building Strong Introductions

• Presenter Armenuhi Ananyan,
• Writing Consultant at the Math and Writing Center

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Outline

• Getting Started
• Core Structure and Components of Intros
• DOs and DONTs
• QA

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Getting Started

• Brainstorming
• Planning
• Researching

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Recipe for a Delicious Introduction
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Which of these sentences are good hooks?

• In this paper, I will tell about Orwells Animal
  Farm.
• The idyllic setting of life on the farm provides
  little clue of the harsh realities Orwell (1945)
  portrays in Animal Farm.
• The day of his birth began with Hurricane Charlie
  pounding at their door.
• He was born on August 9, 2004, the day of
  Hurricane Charlie.
• I have seen the seven wonders of the world, and
  if there is an eighth, I have seen it, and if a
  ninth, it (Saroyan,1975, p. 236).
• I want to tell that I have seen all the wonders
  of the world though I dont know the exact number
  of the wonders.

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Types of Hooks

• Startling Fact or Statistic
• Thought-Provoking Question
• Strong Opinion
• Anecdote or Personal Experience
• Description

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Background

• Context
• Brief History of the Topic
• Explanation of the Importance of the Topic
• Explanation of the Controversy of the Topic

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Thesis Statement

• Fact vs. Opinion
• Answer to a question you have posed
• Solution to a problem you have identified
• Statement that takes a position on a topic

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Thesis Statement (contd.)

• Topic Comment Thesis Statement
• The shift from print to online news provides
  unprecedented opportunities for readers to become
  more engaged with the news, to hold journalists
  accountable, and to participate as producers, not
  simply as consumers.
• - Jacobs (as cited in Hacker Sommers, 2011,
  p.81)

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DOs and DONTs

• DONT lose the link between the introduction and
  the rest of the paper
• DO support arguments with evidence in the body
• DONT answer all the questions in the
  introduction
• DO pose questions to spark curiosity
• DONT make infeasible promises in the
  introduction
• DO accomplish your promises
• DONT add words to meet word limit
• DO avoid redundancies
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vnpjqdj-gR8o

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Recap

• When should you write the intro?
• What are the components of intros?
• How can you grab readers attention?
• What kind of statement is the thesis?
• Do you have questions?

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References

• Hacker, D. Sommers N. (2012) Rules for writers.
  (7th ed.). New York Bedford/St. Martin's.
• Lunsford, A. A. (2011). The St. Martins
  Handbook. (7th ed.). New York Bedford/St.
  Martin's.
• Saroyan, W. (1975) Selected short stories.
  Moscow Progress Publishers.
• Shmoop (2014, July 8). What Not to Do in an
  Introduction Vidio File. Retrieved from
  https//www.youtube.com/watch?vnpjqdj-gR8o

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• THANK YOU!