Assignment
To writing your introduction paragraph, your professor has asked for you to follow the instructions provided by Jim Donelan of the University of California Santa Barbara. The instructions are found below and also here.
After studying the instructions, writing your introduction paragraph,
which must present three parts: the topic, structure/methodology,
thesis. Please submit your introduction to this thread for review
The Introductory ParagraphThe
paragraph that begins an essay causes students the most trouble, yet
carries the most importance. Although its precise construction varies
from genre to genre (and from essay to essay), good introductory
paragraphs generally accomplish the same tasks and follow a few basic
patterns. I have listed some of them below, but keep in mind that what
follows are guidelines, not immutable templates.
Tasks: The introductory paragraph to a short essay usually attempts to do three things:
- Introduce the topic with some indication of its inherent interest or importance, and a clear definition of the boundaries of the subject area
- Indicate the structure and/or methodology of the essay, often with the major sections of the essay or its structural principle clearly stated
- State the thesis of the essay, preferably in a single, arguable statement with a clear main clause
Not
every essay does all three in the first paragraph, and the degree to
which an essay declares its structure or methodology may vary widely,
depending on how necessary that information will be to the readers.
Sometimes, the entire first paragraph will serve no other purpose than
to generate interest in the subject or raise a question, leaving the
other tasks for the second paragraph. However, this kind of opening
requires a lot of skill, and you can lose your readers in the second
and third paragraphs if do not make your purpose clear.Patterns: The
standard pattern for an introductory paragraph follows the order of the
tasks outlined above. Below is an outline of that pattern, written as
if it were the first section of a formal outline of the entire essay:
I: Introduction
- The topic
- Its boundaries
- Why it is interesting
- Structure and/or Methodology
- The essay’s main sections (structure)
- Why they come in that order (structural principle)
- How the author plans to draw the necessary conclusions from the information available (methodology)
- The Thesis Statement (usually a single sentence)
- Its premise (the general claim about the information available)
- Its conclusion (the consequences of the first claim)
Not
every essay contains every element in precisely this order, but most
good essays cover all of them, either explicitly or implicitly. In
longer and more scholarly essays, the structure/methodology section
should be longer, or can even be its own paragraph. It should also
include some mention of the essay’s position within the field as a
whole.