1. Introduction Paragraphs

2. Intro Paragraph No-No’s!
Don’t announce your purpose for writing:
The purpose of this essay is to . . .
Intro Paragraph No-No’s!
Don’t use a dictionary or encyclopedia definition! In fact, don’t use any outside sources in your intro paragraph!
Don’t be wishy washy and suggest that your opinion doesn’t matter or that you are unsure of your topic or thesis.

3. Make your thesis statement the last sentence of the paragraph
Intro Paragraph Yes’s
Grab the reader’s attention
Be specific, not general

4. Hook Ideas to get you Started:
Anecdote: Little story that illustrates a point you are trying to make
Drop your reader into a scene:
Hook Ideas to get you Started:
Rhetorical question (weakest of the three-overused!): Your rhetorical question can not be just the question your thesis answers!

5. Sample Introduction Outline
I: Introduction
The hook
Structure and/or Methodology
The essay’s main sections (structure)
Why they come in that order (structural principle)
The Thesis Statement (a single sentence)
Its premise (the general claim about the information available)
Its conclusion (the consequences of the first claim)

6. Work Cited http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/intros.htm