Introduction Exercise

Introduction Exercise

This exercise is meant to help students practice a variety of strategies for writing introductions to essays.

According the Diana Hacker's handbook, Rules for Writers (3rd edition), there are many strategies to consider for an essay introduction. (22) These strategies can help the writer appeal to the reader's interests.

Hacker outlines eight possibilities, and it's not an exhaustive list:

1. a startling statistic or unusual fact
2. a vivid example
3. a description
4. a paradoxical statement
5. a quotation or bit of dialogue
6. a question
7. an analogy
8. a joke or an anecdote

The goal of this exercise is for students to write eight paragraphs, one for each of the eight introduction strategies listed above. If you want to challenge yourself, you can think of other strategies list them and try those as well.

Directions:
1. Write at least five of the eight different types of introductions.
2. They must be original: This assignment is *not* about finding introductions written by other writers that fit these eight descriptions.
3. There is no set length requirement, but make a good effort: Not too short, not too long.
4. This exercise is practice for writing introductions for papers in this class, so either write introductions that would fit with the essay options for unit 1, or look ahead to other units and write them as if you were introducing an essay for a future unit in this class.
5. If we do this exercise in class, outside of a computer lab, don’t feel obligated to be perfect about startling facts or statistics, or quoting sources we’ve read. Recall them as best you can from the reading and/or documentary films we’ve watched for a given unit.
6. Post the results to D2L, to the “First Things” discussion topic called “Introduction exercise.”
7. No self-evaluation is needed for now.


You many not need examples, but here are some in case you need some to get started:

1. A startling statistic or unusual fact:
"As you read these sentences, think of time passing. If you like, glance at a clock or at your watch. How many seconds has it taken you to read this far? Now consider that millions of people die every year of hunger. Many of them are children. There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. On average, a child dies of hunger every 5 seconds. The wealthy nations of the world have the capacity to feed them all, to prevent unnecessary deaths from starvation. But do we have the will? How many children have died since you started reading this? How many will die by the time you are finished? Read on."

2. A vivid example:
"Years ago, table saws were made with protective shields that were removeable, and before that, with none at all. My father understands this. He is seventy two, and last year, while cutting a piece of wood in the garage, he was a bit tired and not quite paying attention as he should have been. He has always warned me to use a "push stick" to push a piece of wood that gets caught, or just stops, on its way through the blade. I once stuck my right thumb in a table saw, shattered the thumnail, and made a deep cut, almost to the bone, because I was too tired and not paying attention to my work--and using no push stick. Like my father, that night. No push stick. He is right handed. As he reached for the wood with his left hand, the blade caught his left thumb near the base, and it sliced through the skin, through nerves and bone, and left my father's thumb dangling by just a thin piece of skin. These events changed his life, and, I believe, changed mine as well. Ever since then, I have been a much stronger advocate of workshop safety, and believe that in spite of the ways they are sometimes cumbersome, table saws should not be sold without safety attachments that protect users from tragic accidents."

3. A description:
"In Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area, there is a lake with an island that has a sheer cliff face. One morning on a camping trip, I woke before the rest of the group to see a windless lake covered with a think layer of mist, and the island cliffs in the distance. Something drew me on, so I got in a canoe, pushed off from shore, and quietly paddled out while the others slept. The sun would be up soon, and would burn off the mist, so there was something about that moment that made it seem the brief journey had to be made now, not later. As I pulled up to the cliffs, I noticed that there were large rocks close to the surface under the water--which would prevent us from diving into the water from those cliffs. I looked down at the rocks, and up at the top, ignoring, for a while, the cliff face that was so close to me. But then shapes caught my eye: A hand print. An arch, something like a rainbow. The shape of an animal. Human stick-figures. What was this? Had I stumbled on some pictographs, images left by ancient tribes? I moved the canoe closer to the stone face, brought my hand closer to a hand print, just to check the size of the hand-print compared to mine. A chill went down my spine. They matched. My own hand could have made the print."

4. A paradoxical statement:
"Lao-tzu described a world in which the leader or "master" would be a humble servant, and instead of enforcing a harsh rule, would give the people great freedom and trust. The master would lead by example. His readings are poetic, even in translation, and fascinating to read. But when I imagine a world in which government really acted as he had envisioned, I can only imagine a world that would turn out nothing like he intended, because the rich and powerful would abuse the freedom for personal gain. So paradoxically, does too much freedom and trust, unfortunately, tend to lead to rampant oppression and evil?

5. A quotation or bit of dialogue:
"Thomas Jefferson knew about the lengths people often go to resolve cognitive dissonance. In the 'Declaration of Independence,' one of the most famous documents Jefferson ever penned, he wrote that 'mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.' Like an abused child who is more fearful of losing the parent to whom he or she is accustomed, Jefferson knew that many people would endure suffering, to a point, instead of taking larger measures to resolve the cognitive dissonance that results from a political system that doesn't look out for the common good, but instead, seeks to benefit only a few while the many suffer."

6. A question:
"Does too much freedom and trust, unfortunately, lead to oppression and evil? Lao-tzu described a world in which the leader or "master" would be a humble servant, and instead of enforcing a harsh rule, would give the people great freedom and trust. The master would lead by example. His readings are poetic, even in translation, and fascinating to read. But when I imagine a world in which government really acted as he had envisioned, I can only imagine a world that would turn out nothing like he intended, because the rich and powerful would abuse the freedom for personal gain."

7. An analogy:
Imagine that I own a gourmet catering company, and I decide to run for office. The local paper endorses candidates, and I'd like to receive their endorsement. I hear that the owner of the paper has a daughter who is engaged, and the family is looking for bids for the wedding reception dinner. I figure that to beat the competition, I should put in a very low bid, risk taking a smaller profit than normal, or perhaps even risk taking a loss. I put in my bid, and it's the low bid, and my catering company gets the job. Later, I get the endorsement from the newspaper. Some readers complain that the editors of the paper were unfairly kind toward me in their coverage of me and my campaign, and much more exacting in their coverage toward my opponent. Would citizens have a right to complain? Of course. In fact, most candidates would not think of getting into a lowest-bid competition, because state law prohibits candidates and from giving anything of value--money, gifts, services, discounts--which would include certain low bids--in exchange for editorial favors. Yet this is exactly what a certain Minnesota State Representative did in the 2004 race. His contracting company bid low on a major remodeling contract for a local newspaper, he got the job, and he was later endorsed by the paper. And the potential discount his company gave the paper was worth a lot more than a catering job for a wedding reception dinner.

8. A joke or an anecdote (anecdote):
"Years ago, table saws were made with protective shields that were removeable, and before that, with none at all. My father understands this. He is seventy two, and last year, while cutting a piece of wood in the garage, he was a bit tired and not quite paying attention as he should have been. He has always warned me to use a "push stick" to push a piece of wood that gets caught, or just stops, on its way through the blade. I once stuck my right thumb in a table saw, shattered the thumnail, and made a deep cut, almost to the bone, because I was too tired and not paying attention to my work--and using no push stick. Like my father, that night. No push stick. He is right handed. As he reached for the wood with his left hand, the blade caught his left thumb near the base, and it sliced through the skin, through nerves and bone, and left my father's thumb dangling by just a thin piece of skin. These events changed his life, and, I believe, changed mine as well. Ever since then, I have been a much stronger advocate of workshop safety, and believe that in spite of the ways they are sometimes cumbersome, table saws should not be sold without safety attachments that protect users from tragic accidents.