1. Writing an Essay is Easy!
Audrey Frischknecht
Felipe Frazão Gevieski
Guilherme O. Fechner

2. The purpose of an introduction is...
... to give the reader and idea of what the essay is about.
... it guides the reader from the general subject to the specific ideas.

3. What are the parts of an introduction?
Hook
General comments
Thesis statement

4. The hook!

5. Hook The hook is generally the essay’s first sentence;
It is supposed to grab the reader’s attention;
The reader is more likely to read the essay to the end if the very first sentence is interesting.

6. A hook can...
... surprise the reader;
... amuse;
... arise curiosity.

7. Hook Examples
The pentagon has twice as many bathrooms as are necessary.
When my older brother substituted fresh eggs for our hard-boiled Easter eggs, he didn’t realize our father would take the first crack at hiding them.
Hillary Rodham Clinton once said that “There cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard.”

8. General Comments

9. What do general comments do?
General comments prepare the reader for the thesis statement.
They support the topic by giving interesting background information.
It includes several sentences.

10. Thesis Statement

11. Thesis Statement
The thesis statements represents the main idea of the essay and the writer’s position.
It is the most important sentence in the essay.
It presents the plan of development.
It antecipates the main ideas of the following topic paragraphs.

12. Thesis Statements examples
The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with peers. owl.english.purdue.edu
High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness. owl.english.purdue.edu

13. Paragraphs
Each paragraph support one main point of the thesis statement
There should be at least three paragraphs in an essay.
They should come in the same order that the topics were presented in the introduction.

14. Paragraph Development
Topic sentence – the main idea. Transition words are ususally used to connect ideas and make the essay easier to read and better structured.
Supporting evidence: details, facts, examples about the topic sentences.

15. Conclusion It returns to the theme presented in the introduction
It re-states and summarizes the main idea
It demonstrates the importance of the subject
It invites the reader to consider to broaden more the subject.

16. Parts of the conclusion
Ideas of the thesis statement – thesis re-statement
Comments: summary, evaluation, opinion.
Final Statement

17. Thesis re-Statement It reminds the reader of the thesis statement.
It reviews the main point, usually considering some more pieces of information.
It briefly describes the writer feelings and thoughts about the issue.

18. Conclusion general comments
It contains the summary, evaluation and opinion about the topic.

19. Final Statement The final statement comes at the very end of an essay.
It gives the reader the idea that the discussion has ended or...
It may call the reader to act upon the issue.
It creates the last impression on the reader.