INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION



INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

A good introduction should:

1. Attract the readers' attention

a. Begin with a remark that is likely to arouse interest.

b. Be concrete and vivid…don't generalize.

2. Hold the readers' attention and make them receptive to the writer's ideas.

a. Avoid abrupt or argumentative statements of position.

b. Use a gradual, controlled presentation of your thesis or opinion.

3. Move gradually from general opening statements to a specific controlling idea, i.e.,

the thesis statement.

Introductory paragraphs will vary in the way they treat a subject. These examples listed below are the most common forms of introductory paragraphs.

1. Direct Announcement: A straightforward announcement of the argument to follow.

This is a "no frills" approach which boldly moves the reader into the core of the essay.

This approach is best suited for final exams or midterms. The thesis statement may

either be first or last in the introductory paragraph.

2. Quotation or Dialogue: This opening can be effective if the quote or dialogue is well chosen. The chosen quotation should attract interest immediately.

3. Anecdote: A brief anecdote drawn from personal experience or from a recent event may involve your reader immediately.

4. Definition: If the essay has a thesis statement in which the idea(s) are general, abstract, confusing or obscure, the introductory paragraph may wish to define it. Many concepts have more than one meaning and you owe it to your readers to advise them of your intentions.

5. Refutation: The strategy of refutation involves disagreeing with a widely held assumption or belief. This creates interest because it is provocative; contradiction immediately introduces conflict.

6. Presenting a New Slant: If you are writing an essay that is dealing with a very

familiar topic, you may wish to avoid rehashing overused points. A new slant is an

original angle.

7. Series of Unrelated Facts: One way to draw a reader into a paper is to make him or

her curious about how the writer will find a controlling idea among a series of

seemingly unrelated events or details. A personal experience essay may effectively

use this approach.

8. Question: Another strategy begins an essay with a question or a series of questions.

Even a riddle may be provocative. The writer may choose to answer the question, or the writer may decide to leave it hanging; in either care, most readers will want to read on.

WRITING A CONCLUSION

How do I end? The paper's ending is important in proportion to the paper's length. A short essay of two or three hundred words does not need to elaborate termination, but an essay of several thousand words may. Ideally, the good ending will suggest itself, just as the right words to say to a hostess when leaving a dinner party will come to mind spontaneously. In case you cannot find the right words for an original conclusion, you can use stock endings. Most come from the ancient rhetorical tradition that spelled out in detail the precise steps to be taken in the peroration, or formal close, to a speech.

A. End with a Verification: Verifying what you have said previously is the most obvious way to end a paper. It is best reserved, however, for the long essay, where it may really be needed. And so the forces shaping the Tudor dynasty remained throughout the sixteenth century rooted deeply in religious, economic, and political issues. The establishment of a national church assured the triumph of English values over those of the Mediterranean; the increased tempo of trade brought new wealth to the middle classes who supported crown against landowners; and the increased power of the city merchants in turn assured a reservoir of sentiment friendly to the queen, herself the descendant of a commoner.

B. End with a Quotation: A quotation can be as useful at the end of the paper as at the beginning. A theme on Issac Newton (1642-1727), the great astronomer-mathematician, might be ended with Pascal's profound utterance, "The silence of these empty spaces terrifies me." A good trick is to match opening and closing quotations and tie them to each other. In musical composition, this technique is called "restatement of the theme." If a paper on free speech begins with Voltaire's "I wholly disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it," it might be appropriately end with Justice Holme's warning that facing "a clear and present danger," no one has the right "to shout fire in a crowded theater."

C. End with a Striking Statement: In the brief theme, a declarative sentence, set off by itself, can provide a strong conclusion. The following statements are examples of powerful closings: "And what remains of the concept of free speech in American is in the hands of Americans themselves;" "The problem of seating priorities at Midwest U. basketball games still threatens faculty-student relationships;" and "There seems little question that the United States had learned of tariff problems only by trial and error, at great pain and loss to itself."

D. End with a Call for Action: Editorials and themes that argue for a line of action may be terminated with a "call for action," though you owe the reader a full explanation of all the circumstances leading up to the "call for action" before you invoke it. Sometimes a declarative sentence will do the job: "And all that remains of free speech in America is in the hands of Americans themselves;" or "Seating priorities for Northwoods University hockey games will be resolved only when the student association becomes something more than a rubber stamp for the University administration."

E. End with a Warning: A warning hinting that the end is near can include such phrases as: finally, in conclusion, the solution then, as we have seen, to sum up, to recapitulate, to restate the matter, last, and to review the matter again. This strategy extends the thesis into a summarizing sentence, leaving the reader with a sense of finality, a feeling that the last word on the subject has been uttered. Here is an example: "Finally, Socrates was always adroit at manipulating the question to bring out the weakest side of the opponent's argument. The way in which Critio is demolished at the close of the dialogue is the measure of Socrates' prowess as debater and thinker."

F. End with Answer to a Question: The book review by Priscilla L. Buckley, which illustrates opening with a question (sec 7e), terminates by answering the initial question, a neat device sometimes called "the hook." By answering the question raised at the beginning of the review, the author deftly closes the circle. The answer to: "But how would you write a biography of Richard Nixon for teenagers?" is: differently. As Frank Nixon might have said in his salty way: With more of a kick in the seat of the pants. More controversy. More truth. More fun.

Reference:

Rothwell, K.S. (n.d.). Questions of Rhetoric and Usage (2nd ed.) Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

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INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION

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