3-2 Lecture
INTRODUCTIONS & CONCLUSIONS
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Page updated:
08-Sep-2009 05:18 PM |
By the end of this week, you should be comprehend what
introductions and conclusions are and how they function in an essay.
Additionally, you should understand the various types devices listed below that can be used in introductions and conclusions:
- anecdotes
- striking statements
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description of a place/person
- general question
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hypothetical question
- quotation
- summary
- framing
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Introductions
As you work on this second essay, the bulk of your energy should be spend on the process section of the paper, for that's the meat of the essay. It is okay to focus on the introductory paragraph later because the essay, remember, does not have to be written in a linear fashion. By that, I mean that you do not have to start at the beginning with the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph. Few writers ever begin a piece of writing that way. But for this lecture, I want to turn your attention to that first paragraph of the essay called the introduction.
As you remember from a previous lecture, the introductory paragraph must accomplish 3 primary tasks:
- hook the reader
- establish the subject of the essay
- assert the thesis statement
The hook (sometimes called a lead sentence, especially in journalism classes) usually is the very first sentence of the introduction. It's job, quite literally, is to yank, reel, pull, or entice the reader into the essay. Notice the fishing metaphors. If you ever wondered why writers complain of writer's block, often it is because they are laboring over the precise words to use in this opening sentence--because it is such a crucial sentence in the essay, perhaps second in importance to the thesis statement. With the lead sentence readers are won over or lost. So, yes, it's pretty crucial.
A variety of ways exists for
starting an introduction, and you will want to choose the one appropriate for your topic. Often it works well to combine some of these together.
- Anecdotes: An anecdote lead is a brief humorous story, usually with a point. This lead is especially adapted to profiles and personality sketches.
- Example: Mrs. Towner, a sweet, conservative lady in her mid sixties, is extremely proud of her five children.
Her eldest son is a sales executive for General Electric. Her second oldest is a systems analyst for Atlantic Richfield. Her third son is executive vice-president of the tax department at Union Oil, and her daughter, Linda, is an executive secretary at Hughes Aircraft. When she speaks of her youngest son, Mark, however, her eyes brighten with special pride and admiration. Mrs. Towner's youngest son is also a professional, but the tools of his trade are not a brief case or a computer. Instead, Mark carries a makeup bag and wig box. When Mark dresses for work, he doesn't put on the customary blue business suit and winged tip shoes, but instead wears eyeliner, yak hair, and sequins. Mrs. Towner's youngest son, you see, is a clown for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus.
- Striking Statements
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One day, when Mark Towner was about 12 years old, his mother found him in the bathroom trying on her makeup. "I didn't know what to think," she says with a knowing smile. "I'd heard stories about young men putting on women's clothes and singing in night club, and naturally, I was concerned. But when I saw what Todd was actually doing with my eyeliner and lipstick, drawing stars around his eyes and painting his lips twice their size, I realized that I'd stumbled upon a totally different obsession." As it turns out, Todd did not grow up to be a female impersonator. Instead, he grew up to be a professional clown.
- Description of a place:
- The lights are dim in the large sports auditorium, and the seats are filled with the colorful, moving, talking shadows of people. Muted strains of organ music mingle with sounds of laughter, and the aroma of popcorn and hotdogs linger deliciously in the air. There is no tent; there is no sawdust on the ground, but the auditorium is alive with the sights, sounds, and smells of a circus.
- Description of a person:
- The tall, pink-haired clown in electric blue satin bloomers, holding a small rodent-like mongrel in his arms, does not look happy. Instead, his lips are painted in an exaggerated crimson frown, and a sequined teardrop stains his smooth, white cheek. Standing alone in the flow of a thin white spotlight, he beckons to a child in the audience, imploring her with his eyes to pet the little dog in his arms. The child carefully reaches out and scratches the dog's head. The clown smiles shyly and offers the child an enormous crepe paper daisy, which she accepts delightedly. In spite of the magic of the moment, this is just a regular working day for Mark Towner, the young man in the electric blue bloomers. pink wig, and white makeup. Todd is a professional clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
- General Question:
- What makes a young man give up home and family to run away and join the circus? This was one of many questions which I asked Mark Towner, a recent graduate of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College, as we sat together in his apartment drinking coffee and leafing through photo albums and souvenir books filled with circus memorabilia.
- Hypothetical Question:
- Is the old clich¨¦ of a young man running away to join the circus a phenomenon that still happens in the 21st Century?
Perhaps not many people ponder this question, but Mark Towner is a real human who decided to "run off" to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College so that he could study to become a professional circus clown and entertain people all over the world.
- Quotation:
- "The clown is a divine spirit invented to rejoice and delight the heart." This inscription, found in the pyramid of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, is the earliest known reference to the art of clowning. Clowns, with their ready wit and colorful dress, have been delighting audiences for thousands of years. In order to learn a little bit about these age old emissaries of laughter, I spoke with Mark Towner, a bright and funny young man who has dedicated his life to the art of being a clown.
- Summary:
- Ever since he was a young boy, Mark Towner has wanted to be a clown. When Todd graduated from high school, the first step he took toward his professional career was to enroll in Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College. After graduation, Todd began to work for the circus full time, and now his life revolves around grease point, yak hair wigs, and red rubber noses.
- Disclaimer: Some of the above examples are derived from a handout of a handout and are not my own.
Conclusions
Believe it or not, conclusions can be written with the same tools as introductions, except that conclusions have no thesis statement in them. You can use anecdotes, striking statements, description, questions, quotations and other methods to bring closure to your essay. A particular technique that good writers use is "framing". By framing, a writer will return to an idea mentioned in the introductory paragraph and essentially "frame" the essay by using this reference to create a top and bottom boundary with words, very much like a wooden frame that can enhance the meaning of an oil painting.
Whatever method you choose, it is usually best to avoid the summary method that involve restating your main points you just mentioned in your essay. Why? Well, summaries can actually backfire on the writer and have a negative impact on your audience.
Readers who are intently following your essay, don't need to be hit over the head with a verbal bat to remind them what they just read. Quite frankly, it's insulting to the reader to be told "Hey, I don't think you were paying attention, so I'm going to outline my whole essay for you in the conclusion--just in case you were sleeping." Summary-type conclusions are a sign that the writer really has not done her job at focusing on the audience.
No, the conclusion really is an important paragraph, even though it sometimes is difficult to write. It is your last chance to connect with the audience; it is a precious amount of real estate on the page that you don't want to squander by writing just anything.
You may want to:
- call the reader to action and motivate him to do something
- leave the reader with an open-ended question that will cause him to ponder related ideas (remember the whole point of writing in the first place was to test an idea you have, to communicate to the world your thoughts)
- point out the larger implications of your topic or illustrate how your narrow topic fits into the larger scheme of related ideas or issues.
- project the future consequences if relevant for your essay
Overall, you want your essay to have an impact upon your reader because, remember, the essay is not a silly little paper for the professor. You, the writer, actually have something important to say, and you want readers to take their valuable time to consider what you have on your mind.
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