Intros and Conclusions

Intros and Conclusions Review What are the three parts to each?

Part 1 of Intro: “Hooks” • A meaningful quotation • A universal idea related to your thesis • A thought-provoking question

Part 1 of Intro: “Hooks” AVOID… • Dictionary definitions. • “Webster’s Dictionary defines fate as…” • Rhetorical questions. • “Did you know?” or “Have you ever wondered?” • Unnecessary explanations. • “This paper will be about …” “In this paper I will prove” • Your thesis will tell us what your paper will be about, and the entire paper is what you think. • A “book report” list of irrelevant facts. • “William Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan era in England. He wrote many plays. One of these plays was Hamlet.”

Part 2 of Intro. A: Address the Prompt • Do not plagiarize but paraphrase. • Address the issue at hand. • Here is where you state the author’s full name and title of work. • After this point, you may refer to the author by his/her last name. B: Provide a Roadmap • Preview the main ideas, questions to be addressed.

Part 3 of Introduction • Your thesis. a.) Your point. b.) How you will prove/explore it.

Sample Introduction Being human consists of many parts that all need to be fulfilled when one wants to be recognized as an individual. In 1984, written by George Orwell, the Inner Party the essential human traits from its citizens. An individual must have emotional, mental, and physical freedom and, most importantly, the ability to think and make decisions on his or her own in order to be fully human. Dehumanization is a major goal of the Party, which disables the people from maximizing their full potential and does not allow any kind of individuality amongst them. Everyone must conform in all aspects of life to avoid vaporization. This fear shapes the people’s mentality to believe that true life is one that pledges its entire allegiance to the Party. Through denying people mental and physical freedom, the Party dehumanizes people in order to keep their power.

Conclusion Part 1 I. Thesis • Echo the major thesis without repeating words verbatim. II. Reflect on the ideas addressed in your paper. • Indicate why these ideas are important. • Add some new insight. III. General Insight • Connect back to idea presented in “hook.” • Show how topic relates to life. • Leave the reader thinking.

Conclusion AVOID… • Restating thesis and main points without adding anything new. • Adding irrelevant details (esp. just to make a paper longer)

Conclusion In order to maintain their superior position, the Party suppresses people’s mental and physical freedom. There are certain needs that need to be met in order for a person to be human, and the Party in 1984 limits as many of these as possible: they watch people at all times and cause people to act as robots. The fact that Winston’s facial expressions are always closely monitored proves the extreme amount of control the government has over its people. There are certain needs that must be met if a person is to be fully human, and the Party limits these as much as possible. There is much to be learned from Orwell’s novel: even in non-totalitarian societies, humans in today’s world take these freedoms for granted. In order to be a full human, it is not enough for one simply to be afforded certain liberties; one must indeed take full advantage of the freedoms given them, living out a complete human existence.

Intro and Conclusion Outline Introduction I. Hook IIa. Address the prompt (author and title) IIb. Preview main ideas III. Thesis Conclusion • Thesis • Reflect on main ideas. • General insight.

Intros and Conclusions