Writing Introductions II Effective Strategies Writing Center Tutorial

1. Providing Relevant Historical Context After the Brady Bill was passed in 1993, background checks became mandatory for most handgun purchases. Many proponents of gun control predicted that the gun murder rate in America would drop as a result, but twenty years later, that rate has not gone down.

2.Beginning with a Surprising Fact/Statistic The gun murder rate in America is more than ten times the rate in France and more than seventy times the rate in the UK.

3. Reviewing a Controversy Constitutional scholars are divided in their opinions on handgun ownership. Some believe that the Second Amendment guarantees private citizens’ rights to own weapons while others say that the Constitution protects this right only for members of a “well-regulated militia.”

4.Opening with a Quotation In a recently-televised concert, comedian Chris Rock joked that instead of gun control, what we need is bullet control. “I think all bullets should cost five thousand dollars,” he said, “‘cause if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, there would be no more innocent bystanders.”

More Strategies that Can Work Well  Telling a relevant anecdote. (James Brady only became a strong advocate for gun control after taking a bullet intended for President Reagan. On March 30, 1981,…)  Posing a relevant hypothetical question. (We often tell children that fighting solves nothing, but the truth is, children are constantly exposed to violent images through the video games they play and the TV shows and movies they watch. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that some of these kids grow up to commit vicious and brutal crimes. Would they be any less prone to violence, though, if we removed this kind of imagery from their young lives?)  Beginning with the thesis: Additional gun control measures would do nothing to prevent or curtail violent crime in America. They would only prevent law-abiding citizens from having access to protections from criminals. Unless we adopt stricter gun control measures, as most European countries have already done, we will never see any meaningful reduction in gun violence in the United States.

Mix Two or More Strategies  Begin with an anecdote that leads to a hypothetical question.  Give a surprising statistic before providing some historical context that explains that statistic.  Offer a quotation that relates to a controversy, which you then explain in detail.  Begin with a thesis, but then tell an anecdote that relates to the thesis.

Questions? Writing Center Kearns 203 (843)