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What Makes a Good Introduction and Conclusion?. Ms.Wetzel’s Language Arts Class. Expository Writing Introductions What are expository writers trying to accomplish in introductions?. To tell the reader what they are writing about.
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What Makes a Good Introduction and Conclusion? Ms.Wetzel’s Language Arts Class
Expository Writing IntroductionsWhat are expository writers trying to accomplish in introductions? • To tell the reader what they are writing about. • I believe that standards for bus drivers should be raised due to more accidents, frequent complaints, and lack or student centered training. • To capture the reader’s attention. • I was clawing at the door, but it was too dark to see anything. I knew if I didn’t get out of t here fast, I would turn into one of “THEM”!
Introduction Don'ts • DO NOT introduce yourself as the author • Hello, my name is Ms. Wetzel… • DO NOT begin with "I am going to write to you about” Professional writers DO NOT do this! • And now I am going to tell you about the time my Grandma dropped the cat.
Introduction Do’s • 1st Sentence: State your subject through a hook. • “OMG, is the bus pulling over again. I am late for my piano lesson. I understand that sometimes the kids on the bus do crazy things, but it is not ALL OF US!” • 2nd Sentence: Give background information on your subject • In our community, over half of students ride the bus to school.
Introduction Do’s • 2nd Sentence: Tell how you feel about the subject. • Riding the bus these days can be such a pain. • 3rd Sentence: State your Thesis Statement and reasons. • I often wonder if the students are the reasons for the delays, accidents, and lack of management, or if the problem lies within the lack of bus driver training.
In a sporting culture that boasts figures like Babe Ruth and Jesse Owens, and institutions like the Yankees and Bears, it seems unlikely that a team of college hockey players would make a lasting impression. But as 1999 drew to a close, most surveys declared the “Miracle On Ice” America's greatest sports achievement of the 20th century. A few years later it was immortalized by Hollywood in the movie Miracle.
How Can I Write an Introduction? • There are three basic ways to write an introduction: • You can write the introduction after you write the body of your essay. • You can write the introduction before you write the body of your essay. • You can rough out the introduction first and then focus and revise it once you have written your essay.
Model of an Expository Introduction (Label Each Sentence) The one job around the house that I hate to do more than anything else is to take out the garbage. In a survey of teens, taking out the garbage was the second most despised chore, second only to cleaning the bathroom. Sometimes I wish that the garbage would just learn to take itself out. Taking the garbage out is such a horrible task because it stinks, it is sticky, and the dogs always carry it away.
Expository Writing Conclusions What are expository writers trying to accomplish in conclusions? • To sum up the entire writing piece up I thought I would spend a few hours at Disneyland, but here I was at 1:00 A.M., closing time, leaving the front gates with the now dark towers of the Magic Kingdom behind me. I could see tired children, toddling along and struggling to keep their eyes open as best they could. Others slept in their parents' arms as we waited for the parking lot tram that would take us to our cars. My forty-year-old feet ached, and I felt a bit sad to think that in a couple of days I would be leaving California, my vacation over, to go back to my desk. But then I smiled to think that for at least a day I felt ten years old again.
Conclusion Don’ts and Do’s • Don’ts • Do Not Simply Rewrite your Thesis Statement • Write only one sentence • Do’s • 1st Sentence: Restate your subject • 2nd Sentence: Restate your reasons • 3rd Sentence: State a sentence about the future of the subject
Conclusion Suggestions • Answer the question "So What?" • Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper was meaningful and useful. • Synthesize, don't summarize • Don't simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it. Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you used were not random, but fit together. • Redirect your readers • Give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general. Think globally. • Create a new meaning • You don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. By demonstrating how your ideas work together, you can create a new picture. Often the sum of the paper is worth more than its parts.
Conclusion Strategies • Challenging the reader: By issuing a challenge to your readers, you are helping them to redirect the information in the paper, and they may apply it to their own lives. • Example • Though serving on a jury is not only a civic responsibility but also an interesting experience, many people still view jury duty as a chore that interrupts their jobs and the routine of their daily lives. However, juries are part of America's attempt to be a free and just society. Thus, jury duty challenges us to be interested and responsible citizens.
Conclusion Strategies • Look to the future: Looking to the future can emphasize the importance of your paper or redirect the readers' thought process. It may help them apply the new information to their lives or see things more globally. • Example • Without well-qualified teachers, schools are little more than buildings and equipment. If higher-paying careers continue to attract the best and the brightest students, there will not only be a shortage of teachers, but the teachers available may not have the best qualifications. Our youth will suffer. And when youth suffers, the future suffers.
Conclusion Strategies • Pose questions: Posing questions, either to your readers or in general, may help your readers gain a new perspective on the topic, which they may not have held before reading your conclusion. It may also bring your main ideas together to create a new meaning. • Example • Campaign advertisements should help us understand the candidate's qualifications and positions on the issues. Instead, most tell us what a boob or knave the opposing candidate is, or they present general images of the candidate as a family person or God-fearing American. Do such advertisements contribute to creating an informed electorate or a people who choose political leaders the same way they choose soft drinks and soap?
Model of an Expository Conclusion(Label Each Sentence) • Taking out the garbage is the worst household job in the world. No one should have to suffer through the smell, stickiness, or aggravation of the dogs. One day, I hope to be able to have a machine to carry it away for me.
Memories are inexact, and legend can obscure fact. People tend to exaggerate the underdog factor, thinking of the 1980 Olympic team as a rag-tag bunch, not a fast and disciplined group that produced several excellent NHL players. They forget that after the amazing upset of the Soviet Union, Team USA had to beat Finland to win gold. Even some sports reporters have written erroneous articles, combining events and images from the two games into one. The details are important to the hockey community, where the Miracle On Ice represents an international breakthrough and a huge step forward for the domestic game. But in the country's sporting imagination, the Miracle On Ice endures because it stands as that rarest of fairy tales: the one that came true.
