Week 10

1. Week 10 Revision of the Introduction

2. Housekeeping • Drafts are really good so far. I am proud of you. • Cell phones are becoming a problem. Please don’t make me do something drastic to solve this problem • Additionally, make sure that you pay attention to what I am telling you in class. • I will not be having office hours today. If you need to see me, come talk to me after class. • Anyone that understands my costume gets a gold star.

3. Revision • Why do we revise? The obvious answer is to fix mistakes, but it goes beyond this. You are now older and wiser than when you first wrote your draft. You have had new experiences. You probably understand the assignment or article or context better. You can now apply this new wisdom to your writing. • No piece of writing is perfect. Even Shakespeare can be improved upon. The only way to make your writing better is to play with it.

4. Think about the questions that it asks. We will discuss these. Take a few minutes to read the introduction on your handout

5. The Sample Introduction • Is this introduction effective? Why? • Does it use one of the techniques for opening an introduction paragraph from SMH 5f1? • If not, which one would be best? • How about the thesis? Is that effective? • What advice do you have for the writer of this introduction?

6. Before we go further, maybe we should think about what introduction do. Write down a few ideas in your notes about this. Introductions

7. What do introductions do? • First, they gain the readers’ attention. Interesting hooks are essential, and what kind you use depends on the context of the paper. • They also introduce the topic. They provide the necessary background information for your audience to understand the context of your argument. • This is why it is important for you to discuss the audience and purpose of your articles here. • Include the thesis statement, which sets up your argument.

8. Introductions in Other Papers • Every paper that you write will have some sort of introduction • These are a single paragraph in this course, but this is not always the case • Introductions can be as short as a sentence and as much as many pages (the introduction for my Ted Bundy paper is 16 pages) • Some papers can have multiple introductions.

9. Structure of the Introduction • First think about length. You need to provide an adequate overview of the material, but if you provide too much it will take away from the power of your thesis statement. • One of the most effective essay structures is that of an hourglass. Here, the introduction follows a general-to-narrow pattern

10. “Shape” of the Introduction • Hook: This is usually very broad and general • Overview: This is more specific. It deals with the context surrounding the article, and then the article itself. • Thesis statement: This is very specific. This is your argument.

11. Differing Hooks This is where you utilize your own rhetorical choices • __________: Quotes from the author, or some other source, that is relevant to the topic (but not necessarily your argument). • __________: A story or situation that relates your topic to your audience • __________: A rhetorical question that makes your audience think. This should not have an easy answer, if it has one at all. • __________: These can be useful, but should be avoided in most academic writing, as we are supposed to be objective here. • Interesting facts are also a good idea, but not mentioned by the SMH.

12. Read through their introduction and fill out the rest of the handout Find your partner

13. When You Are Done • Give the first page to your peer– they will need it for their revision. • Turn in the second page as your free write for the day. • Have a nice rest of the day.