The Introductory Paragraph One of the most important paragraphs in your essay!

What is the purpose of the introductory paragraph? Get the reader’s attention (hook) Give background information Get your opinion across (thesis/claim)

The Parts of the Introductory Paragraph The Hook - Designed to grab attention immediately and give some indication about the essay’s topic (attn getter/grabber/lead) The Transition - Moves the reader from the hook to your thesis The Thesis/Claim – Gives your opinion on the topic

Types of Hooks 1. Anecdote 2. Quotations 3. Facts or statistics 4. Rhetorical questions 5. Current events

Anecdote Examples Provides strong, dramatic incidents. Honesty in expressing thoughts and feelings will ring true with the reader. While you can make up the experience, be careful that it sounds credible.

Example 1- Anecdote On Friday, February 19, 2000, life changed for an eighteen-year-old young man. He became very ill from a bacterial infection. His body could not fight the infection. Why? After a week of tests and examinations by several specialists, the diagnosis was made. He had leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow. I am that young man. When a person finds out that he has cancer, just as I did, his whole world changes. A cancer patient is affected physically, psychologically, and socially by the impact of the disease.

Example 2- Anecdote One morning a young mother had her seven-month old son in his stroller under the peach tree near the family pool. She walked to the kitchen to get a knife so she could peel the peach. Ten seconds later, she found him facedown with the stroller at the bottom of the pool. She immediately pulled him out and administered CPR to save her son. If she had been gone any longer, he might have been one of the statistics that plague our country every year. Child drownings could be greatly reduced if children were attended around water, pools were properly fenced, and if other safety devices were installed in or by the pool.

Quotations Content of quote should be: Dramatic Emotionally appealing Surprising Humorous Quote does not have to be from a famous person Must be relevant to thesis statement

Example 1- Quotation Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” The idea is that everyone could be content or maintained at an adequate level of life, and yet it is humankind’s hunger for more than is needed that throws the self—and perhaps society—out of balance. The Roaring ’20s period in the U.S. strongly demonstrates how the pursuit of wealth and luxury can affect basic morals. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby strongly reflects U.S. culture in the 1920s.

Using Facts or Statistics Must be true Must be startling or unusual Must be from a credible source It is most effective when used with a research paper or argumentative essay

Example 1- Statistic One in ten public high schools in the United States is a "dropout factory" and Michigan has its share of failing schools, according to a recent study. A "dropout factory" is a high school where no more than 60 percent of students who start as freshmen make it to senior year, says education researcher Bob Balfanz. Not enough is being done to keep students in school. Michigan is not doing enough to decrease the high school drop out rate.

Example 2- Fact/Statistic According to an article in Family Safety & First Aid, published by Berkley Books, “… every 45 seconds a fire breaks out in an American home – 700,000 residences aflame each year. And 16 times a day somebody dies in one of these burning homes.” These statistics are frightening and should not be taken lightly. The best way to deal with the possibility of loss from fire is to plan ahead before it happens. Otherwise, it is too late. In order not to become one of these statistics, Americans need to equip their homes with safety devices, set and adhere to safety rules, and practice a family escape plan.

Using Current Events Must be recent Must be important Should be made public by newspapers, television, or radio

Example This morning’s newspaper reported a man who had shot his twenty-three-year-old girlfriend and her nine-month-old child because he believed his girlfriend had transmitted AIDS to him. In 1994, a nurse in Kokomo, Indiana, refused to go into thirteen-year old Ryan White’s hospital room because he had just been diagnosed with AIDS, and in 1997, a bullet shattered his home’s picture window, forcing Ryan and his family to move to Cicero, Indiana, a community twenty miles south. Though these incidents seem bizarre in civilized America, many people fear AIDS because of the consequences of the disease, the misinformation concerning the disease, and the increasing number of cases of the disease.

Rhetorical Question This is a question where you do not expect an answer. This prompts the audience’s thinking process.

Example Would you stand naked on a busy street corner for $25,000, all the while knowing people will be putting pictures of you on the internet? Do you want to get run over by a new driver who has yet to learn the rules of the road?