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The Conclusion

  • Concludes your essay
  • Often begins by restating ideas in the thesis

The Introduction

a) Hook

General Focus

  • May Generalize ideas expressed in the essay to show how they are relatable (how something you experienced may also affect others, how the struggles you face are also faced by others, etc)
  • May end by making a prediction, suggestion or stating an opinion

In the future, more Americans will take a gap year as the world becomes increasingly more globalized.

b) Connecting Information

The Hook

Any student with the option to travel abroad for a gap year should take it.

Traveling abroad for a gap year will help make this world a better place full of greater understanding between cultures.

  • The opening statement of an essay

Narrowed Focus

c) Thesis Statement

  • Purpose: To catch the reader's attention and get them to read the entire essay

2. Use a quote

1. Ask a question

A good hook may:

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

― Augustine of Hippo

1. How many high school graduates really know what they want to study in college?

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

3. Use a unique scenario to catch readers' attention

1. Did you know that only 37% of Americans own a passport? Why don't more Americans travel abroad?

Imagine that you have just graduated high school and you were given the option to go directly to college or to travel for a year? Which option would you choose?

Connecting Information

  • 3-5 sentences that help connect the reader to the topic

4. Use a surprising or shocking statistic

  • Connects the hook to the thesis statement by narrowing the focus

Task: Identify the connecting information in the sample introduction

Task: Identify the hook in the sample essay. What type of hook is it

Lesson Objectives

  • To understand the function and organization of an academic essay
  • To identify the different parts of an academic essay
  • to self-assess a draft introductory essay

What do the following concepts mean?

Thesis Statement

Parts of an Essay

  • The "driving force" /most important sentence in your paper

Body Paragraph

Connecting Information

I: Introduction

  • Explains the purpose & direction of the paper

Hook

  • Usually the last sentence of the introduction

II-IV: Body Paragraphs

  • Usually one sentence

Thesis

Supporting Information

Facts

V: Conclusion

  • Should state an opinion on a topic that has at least two sides: Donald Trump should (not) be the president of the United States of America given his stance on immigration, his economic policies, and his foreign policies.

Introduction

Restatement of Thesis

  • Should not state an objective fact: Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America.

Conclusion

Anecdotes

1. Direct Thesis Statement

2. Indirect Thesis Statement

  • Gives a specific outline / road map for your essay.

Quotes

The main problems facing this nation are a lack of job opportunities for citizens, government corruption, and limited university programs for poor students.

  • provides only a general outline

Examples

statistics

Traveling to a foreign country is an invaluable experience because it exposes you to new ideas and ways of doing things, challeges your beliefs, and forces you to see your home country from a new perspective.

There are three important problems facing the nation today that require immediate attention

Expert opinion

Restate thesis

Question

Conclusion

Summarize main points

Prediction

Generalize/"Big picture"

The Body

Topic Sentences

Shocking Statistic

Concluding Sentence

The "meat and potatoes" or "heart" of your essay

Prediction/ Suggestion

Topic Sentence:

  • Introduces the main idea of the paragraph
  • Relates to the overarching purpose of the essay as expressed in the thesis statement

Supporting Sentences:

  • Provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in the topic sentence

Writing an Essay

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