2.5 Writing Techniques- Effective Introductions and Conclusions

Part One

Introductions and conclusions are often overlooked elements of a text, but they are crucial to engaging a reader. An essay with an awkward or ineffective introduction may discourage the reader from reading the text or seriously interfere with the reader’s understanding of the text. A weak conclusion will often leave the reader without a sense of closure; it can also leave the reader dissatisfied with the text and, therefore, hostile to the ideas presented by the author.

As with the rest of your text, you should spend some time consciously crafting an effective introduction and conclusion. Often though, writers get stuck on an introduction when they first start writing. For Essay #2, you should spend some time specifically focusing on your introduction and conclusion. Crafting a good introduction and thesis will pull your essay together and make it engaging and cohesive.

Your textbook presents many strategies for writing introductions and conclusions. For this assignment, please review the strategies for introductions and conclusions presented in Back to the Lake on pages 86-88 and 91-92. Also you should review the professional essays we have read so far and analyze their introductions and conclusions.

Look at how the introductions and conclusions work with the rest of the essay; look specifically at the strategies the authors use. You may want to compare the professional essays to the student essays to see how different introductions can have different effects on the text as a whole. Determine which strategies are more effective, which engage your interest or pull the essay together best.

Part Two

Now that you have examined introduction and conclusion strategies, you will write an introduction and conclusion for Essay #2. In this assignment, you will specifically choose an introduction and conclusion strategy and use it (them) to write an introduction and conclusion for Essay #2. You should write with the intention of including them in your rough draft of Essay #2.

Theme: Understanding My Culture

Mode: Comparison and Contrast

Objectives:

• Use the writing process to develop a comparison and contrast essay

• Develop an effective thesis statement

• Use an outline to organize an essay

• Craft an effective introduction and conclusion

Essay 2 Overview:

In this essay, you will use the comparison and contrast mode to develop your ideas about culture (theme). You will use comparison and contrast to help your reader better understand both your subjects. Your essay will need to have all the characteristics of comparison and contrast including an effective comparison and contrast thesis, strong topic sentences, an effective comparison and contrast method of organization, equal and balanced development of relevant points of comparison, and an effective introduction, and conclusion.

Your essay will need to have all the characteristics of an academic essay including an effective thesis statement, focused topic sentences, strong organization, unified paragraphs, and a well-crafted introduction and conclusion.

Important: In selecting your topic and developing your ideas, be sure that your comparison points to a larger purpose: some lesson, insight or point that makes the comparison important. Additionally, you should support your essay with specific, clear, well developed examples all related to the unit theme.

 Essay Two Topic Reminders:

Option A: David Sedaris and Hugh Hamrick had markedly different experiences as children. Compare and contrast your childhood with that of someone you know who was raised in another culture. For example, you might have a friend raised from a different religious perspective than yours or raised by parents with different value systems or expectations than those of your own family.

Option B: David Sedaris and Hugh Hamrick are both products of their experiences. Ask a friend or colleague to share the most important experiences they have had, the ones that have shaped their identity and made them who they are. Then, using this information for support, write an essay that compares and contrasts those with the experiences that have shaped your own identity.

Option C: David Sedaris says of Hugh Hamrick’s family: “Theirs was the life I dreamt about.” Compare and contrast your own childhood experiences with the fictional ones of a character with whom you’re familiar. How did your childhood experiences compare with those of an imaginary character like Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, or Bart Simpson?

Essay Guidelines

• Your essay should be 3-5 pages long.

• It should be typed using a standard 12 point font. MLA standard pagination is required. See The Little Seagull Handbook pg. 149 for a sample essay in MLA format.

• Follow directions carefully.

• It should be double-spaced with margins no bigger than 1 inch. (These are standard settings in Microsoft Word.)

• You should carefully review the strategies for writing a Comparison and Contrast essay.

• Be sure to include your name on your essay.

• Create a Works Cited page and cite the essay you respond to. Cite any other outside sources used in the essay.