Introductory And Body Paragraphs

Argumentation Introductory & Body Paragraphs

Introductory Paragraphs General functions of an introduction: Captures your audience's attention Gives background on your topic Develops interest in your topic Guides your reader to your thesis Establishes a rapport with the audience

Introductory Paragraphs Quintilian (35 – 100 C.E.): The exordium or introduction tells readers what the argument is about and why it matters. The introduction must also "conciliate the audience," meaning that it should establish a rapport with the reader by demonstrating that the writer is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and mindful of people's best interest.

Introductory Paragraphs Question: How do we fulfill these functions? Answer: There are a seemingly infinite amount of methods to do so, but there are some that are more frequently used than others.

Introductory Paragraphs- Form There is no single right form for an introduction to take, but one common form that many writers use is the following: The introduction begins with a broad statement about the main idea. This statement might suggest background or the general category to which the thesis idea belongs. The next sentences are more specific, moving closer to the actual thesis of the essay. The final sentence of an introduction often contains a fairly specific version of the main idea (thesis statement).

Introductory Paragraphs- Form General - Background Specific - Thesis

Introductory Paragraphs - Conventions Definition as introduction Compare / contrast as introduction Brief definition of major issues as introduction Questions as introduction Delayed thesis as introduction

Introductory Paragraphs - Definitions "Throughout the history of mankind, humans are always trying to find a tool to help them achieve their goals and satisfy their desires. Language, a great tool of power, can be used to obtain these goals and desires. Language is a means to get food, money, and to satisfy many other professional needs. Language has even served as a means of forcing governments to surrender. One of language's most important purposes is to function as one means in the creation of a community.

Introductory Paragraphs - Definitions A community is a group of people who have similar beliefs and goals and who also work together to sustain their beliefs and reach their goals. In the community itself, language is the keystone of communication--it allows the binding together of a community which leads to the strengthening of relationships of individuals within the community. This in turn will help the individuals of the community to obtain their individual goals."

Introductory Paragraphs - Comparisons "Mercantilism is to modern economics as the flat-earth theory is to astrophysics or leeching is to brain surgery. The original mercantilist, who reached their notorious zenith in Europe before the French Revolution, preached that government should maximize the nation's hoard of money by promoting exports while pulling up the drawbridge against importers.

Introductory Paragraphs - Comparisons There are obvious parallels with modern Japan, but those who have occupied the high ground on U.S. trade problems have strongly resisted any attempt to label the Japanese latter-day mercantilists."

Introductory Paragraphs - Definitions Defining major issues: "A university has many functions. One function is most certainly to provide students with training for their chosen fields of work. This All State University does well. Another, perhaps more important, function is to instill students with the ability to think and reason--the ability to take a situation or a problem apart, consider each part, its function, and its relationship to the other parts, and then to use this knowledge of the problem or situation along with other related knowledge to synthesize an effective solution or a logical conclusion.

Introductory Paragraphs - Definitions These skills are not easily acquired. In order for students to acquire these skills, they must be deliberately introduced to the skills and instructed in their use. They must also be provided with many opportunities to practice the use of these skills so that eventually these skills will become an integral part of each student's thinking process. If students are required to use reasoning skills in only a small number of classes and are allowed to pass other classes by memorizing facts, figures, and formulas they will prefer the easier method of gaining acceptable grades by memorization.

Introductory Paragraphs - Definitions Therefore, in order to effectively provide students with reasoning skills, All State University has to provide a uniform program of instruction in the use of reasoning skills, and a consistent policy requiring the use of these skills in all classes in all disciplines."

Introductory Paragraphs - Questions "The 'power of negative thinking'--just what does that mean? Does it conjure up images of the eternal pessimist who always looks on the dark side of a situation? Or, perhaps of someone who never demonstrates hope in anything or anyone? These are possible images our society holds of negative thinking and may be the major reasons why very few people imply such thought processes. People tend to flock to the "positive" side of the situation, disregarding the fact that not every situation really has a positive side.

Introductory Paragraphs - Questions Negative thinking should not be construed as an attitude which is always pessimistic but rather as one which is realistic. The lack of this critical thinking in our society today could prove to be a cause for the unhappiness of future generations because the foundation is being laid for a ‘pretend’ world that does not encourage young people to develop more critical thinking and attitudes."

Introductory Paragraphs – No Thesis Title: ‘Tessy, are you an Evangelical?’ “ This ostensibly simple question posed by Angel is buried within the pages of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles . In putting this question to Tess, Angel is making an attempt to place her religious affiliation, her spirituality, into one of the three main parties within the Victorian Established Church—the High Church Tractarian or Oxford Movement, the Broad Church, or the Low Church Evangelicals.

Introductory Paragraphs – No Thesis It is true that the impetus for Angel’s desire of classification is a fear that his father, a convinced clergyman of the Evangelical school, will not accept Tess on religious grounds. But the stakes of asking this seemingly simple question to Tess are much higher than the potential consequences on the plot of whether Angel’s father rejects or accepts Tess on religious grounds. (continued)

Introductory Paragraphs – No Thesis The question not only forces Tess to think critically about her own spirituality, which is something that she is not altogether apt to do, it asks the reader to think of Tess’ spirituality in terms of the wider veridical context in which the novel is set, placing her within a cultural and ecclesiastical debate. How the reader answers this question and where the reader places Tess within this ecclesiastical debate undoubtedly shapes the reader’s understanding of the novel as a whole.

Body Paragraphs Body Paragraphs Supporting evidence (think: courtroom) Valleys and hilltops

Methods of Guiding Methods of using supporting evidence and guiding your reader through the valleys and hilltops: Exposition Interpretation Signposts

Methods of Guiding Exposition: “ Discourse designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand.” facts / individual bits / evidence

Methods of Guiding Interpretation: “ To explain or tell the meaning of something.” inductive / deductive reasoning

Methods of Guiding Signposts Signposts are internal aids to assist readers; they usually consist of several sentences or a paragraph outlining what the article has covered and where the article will be going.

Exposition The most important material for exposition is source material. How do we effectively incorporate source material into our body paragraphs?

Using Sources 1. Use your sources as support for your insights, not as the backbone of your paper.

Using Sources 2. Summarize (condense a text by stating the main ideas in your own words) and paraphrase (say the same thing in a different way) much more often than you use direct quotes (same words as the original, in quotation marks).

Using Sources 3. Don't use direct quotes as fillers but because the author says something so aptly or dramatically that a paraphrase would lose that power. Or, if you're analyzing the language of a passage.

Using Sources 4. Explain direct quotes. Readers have to know why you include source material where you do.

Using Sources 5. If multiple sources say the same thing, summarize what they say and put a few key names in brackets at the end of the sentence.

Using Sources 5. When you do use direct quotes, the most fluid way to integrate them is to incorporate key words right into your text. Example: "We can see this change when Othello calls his wife a 'strumpet' (4.2.81) . . . ."

6. Don't summarize plots of primary sources. Assume your audience has read the work. Only explain as much as you need in order to establish context for an example. Using Sources

Example Body Paragraph I It is in within this context that Tess was written and it is within this context that we find its characters trying to define themselves. In trying to type Tess’ spirituality, the reader is immediately confronted with difficulty because of her lack of education. The difficulty of this task is realized when she is juxtaposed against Mr. Clare, who is easily typed by the narrator, as well as other characters, as being an Evangelical. His two most defining characteristics are that he is of the Low Evangelical sort and that he is earnest in his pursuit of Evangelicalism and spreading the word.

Example Body Paragraph I Nearly every time the reader is given a description of Mr. Clare by the narrator or another character, he is characterized in this way. Mr. Crick offers the first description of him as being “the earnestest man in all Wessex… the last of the old Low Church sort” (134). The narrator describes him as “an Evangelical of the Evangelicals, a Conversionist…” (183). And this description is confirmed over and over again throughout the novel.

Example Body Paragraph I The narrator and other characters are able to type him with ease because he is an educated, self-reflexive individual. Because of his education, Mr. Clare is associated with the likes of Wycliff, Huss, Luther, and Calvin; he is typed as ‘a spiritual descendent in the direct line’ of these men. The reader is told that he loves Paul of Tarsus, likes St. John, hates St. James, and has mixed feelings about Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (183). Mr. Clare is educated and well-read enough to know what he believes as well as what he likes and dislikes in theology.

Example Body Paragraph II But whether Tess knows whether her principles are High, Low, or Broad, Angel must nevertheless attempt to place her into one of these movements if she is going to be presentable to his educated family as anything other than a milkmaid. In doing so, Angel also asks the reader to think of her in terms of this debate. An admittedly difficult task because even Tess does not even know herself and this creates “confused beliefs,” so Angel takes what he knows of her and tries to place her into one of these movements (200).

Example Body Paragraph II His assessment is that Tess is “Tractarian as to phraseology, and Pantheistic as to essence” (200). In other words, Angel believes that Tess is Pantheistic at her core, but this Pantheism finds its manner or style of expression in Tractarianism. But this is only Angel’s assessment of Tess and the reader must not take its accuracy for granted. Thus, the following question must be answered: Does the text support this assessment? If it does, how are these two ideologies reconciled together?

Introductory And Body Paragraphs

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