Beyond the Setup and Summary: How to Write Effective Introductions and Conclusions Prepared by Jessica Gordon for UNIV200: Inquiry and The Craft of Argument Virginia Commonwealth University Spring 2015

Ten Minutes of Writing Prompt: Write a few paragraphs in which you explain something that happened that really pissed you off and what you did about it.

Identify the Commonalities As you listen to the stories, what do they all have in common in terms of how they are structured and set up?

Questions as Problems Every question is a problem that needs solving. – Where is the grocery store? – How do I cook quinoa? – Why are all my plants in the front window dying? – How can we get more people to recycle? – Why do people still smoke cigarettes? Try to think of your research question as a problem to solve. Write down the problem that your research question is trying to solve. Write it a as a problem--not a question.

Structure of an Introduction Not every introduction contains all three parts—only good ones! Context----  Problem --  Response 1.Establish Context—what’s going on? 2.Statement of problem—Once you establish context, disrupt it with a problem 3.Response to problem—Once you disrupt the context with a problem, readers expect you to respond to the problem in your main claim

How to Establish Context What is/was happening? What is/was the setting? What is the history? How were things before the problem you are investigating began?  Use personal experience to draw the reader in and gain sympathy for a problem  Share an anecdote—someone else’s story  Describe a misunderstanding that most people have  Introduce research that is well-known (so that you can later explain how it is flawed)  Point to a misunderstanding about the problem itself American education has focused on teaching children to think critically, but No Child Left Behind and the SOLs have changed the emphasis to memorization.

How to Explain Your Problem So everything was going along well (context), and THEN…there was a problem… Introduce your research problem, maybe by explaining your research question. Explain what you are trying to figure out or solve--what you want to happen. AND explain why it matters? What if no one cares? What if no one does anything to fix the problem? What if your readers say “So what?” A research problem has two parts: 1.A condition of incomplete knowledge or understanding 2.The consequences of that condition  If we don’t do anything to fix this problem, what will happen?  If we do something about the problem, what are the benefits?  So What? Why should anyone care about the problem?

Response to Problem Once you disrupt the context with a problem, readers expect you to resolve the problem. The resolution of the problem is often conveyed through the main claim where you state your main argument, or sometimes it is hinted at in the introduction because the writer plans to conclude the essay with the resolution.

In sum, a good introduction looks like this: Establish Context----  State your Problem --  Explain the Response you advocate to that problem One sunny morning, Little Red Riding Hood was skipping through the forest on her way to her grandmother’s house (context). Suddenly, a hungry wolf jumped out at her from behind a tree and scared her (problem). So Little Red Riding Hood began singing and soothed the wolf and they became friends, forever. The end (response to problem).

How long is an introduction? A strong introduction might be three paragraphs long-- one paragraph for each of the 3 components: Context (here is what was happening before I got pissed off) Problem (here is the problem that disrupted my stable context) Response (here is how I responded to the problem)

Do NOT begin your intro like this: 1.With a dictionary entry: Webster’s Dictionary defines _______ as… 2.Don’t start grandly: Ever since the beginning of time OR Society would no longer exist if… 3.Don’t repeat the language of the assignment or say what the teacher told you to do

But you also need a HOOK! You need to hook your readers in the first couple sentences of your essay… So you can get them to stick around long enough to read the context  problem  response and your whole essay!

Types of Hooks Personal story Anecdote (someone else’s story) Unexpected claim (There are more slaves today than ever before in American history…) Vivid Description: Paint a word picture of a relevant object, place or moment Humor: It’s hard to be funny in writing, and not every topic is conducive to humor, but when it works, it can really engage the reader Question: Only begin with a question if it is really an interesting question. Otherwise, this technique makes readers stop reading. Other options? Five minutes of writing: Go back to your paragraphs about what pissed you off. Rewrite your first couple sentences to really draw the reader in…

Conclusions --How to avoid summarizing everything you already said-- So What? Remind your readers what why your argument is so important. Now that the reader has read your whole paper, why does any of this matter? If you haven’t already addressed the “So What?” question, you can address the question here. Add a new significance or application or consequence. What might happen if we don’t deal with this problem? How might we creatively apply the solution you advocated? If we do nothing, what other consequence might occur, something you have not yet mentioned but is possible? Call for more research—Just as your introduction might begin with research that established the problem, your conclusion can explain what further research needs to be done. When you call for more research to be done, you keep the conversation alive. – Although I have explained _____and shown that _____is a good step in the right direction, we still do not understand ________and more research in this area is desperately needed so that ______ does not happen.