Writing Your Introduction

1. Writing Your Introduction Advanced English 6 My First Argumentative Essay-Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mrs. Hampton

2. What is an introduction? • An introduction is how you start your essay in one paragraph • An introduction gives your reader a chance to get to know the subject of your essay • An introduction has THREE PARTS.

3. What are these three parts? • Set up your tree map now. • Place “Introduction” on the top of the map • First branch: Attention Grabber • Second branch: Background Information • Third branch: Thesis

4. How do you start an introduction?...ATTENTION GRABBER • Background information that will catch the reader’s attention • An interesting fact about the setting/characters • An interesting question • A statistic • So, Mrs. Hampton …what’s the point?

5. ATTENTION!

6. Roll of Thunder Example Openings • Background information • Example: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor is an heartfelt story of a girl named Cassie and her family in the Reconstruction Era of Mississippi. • An interesting fact • Example: Sharecropping is when an owner of the land allows a tenant to use the land in return for money and a share of the crops. • An interesting question • Example: Did you know that slavery did not end after the Civil War?

7. What comes after the attention grabber? • After you catch reader’s attention with the first sentence, use the rest of the paragraph to lead into your THESIS. • You do this with BACKGROUND INFORMATION about book. • Some examples: talk about the plot, a character, sharecropping, setting information, etc. • Double check to make sure it goes with your THESIS.

8. How do you finish an introduction? • A THESIS! You already wrote this. Please see your note card and revise if necessary before putting in your introduction. • Please copy this word for word when you are finishing your introduction. • Make sure to finish with a period and to separate your reasons with commas. • Did you know? Commas save lives

9. Why we put commas in our writing…

10. Example Introduction Set Up • First Sentence: Opening Line • Second through Fourth: Connecting Sentences with background information • Fifth Sentence: Thesis.

11. Example Introduction 1 • Did you know that slavery did not end after the Civil War? Many slaves had to become sharecroppers. Sharecropping is when a tenant rents land from an owner in exchange for money and a share of the crops. Working in this manner is difficult because the families would often be in debt to the owners, and the land never really became theirs to call their own. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor the land is really important to the Logan Family because it symbolizes their freedom, establishes a living for them through cotton picking, and it has been in their family for generation after generation.

12. Breakdown • Did you know that slavery did not end after the Civil War? Many slaves had to become sharecroppers. Sharecropping is when a tenant rents land from an owner in exchange for money and a share of the crops. Working in this manner is difficult because the families would often be in debt to the owners, and the land never really became theirs to call their own. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor the land is really important to the Logan Family because it symbolizes their freedom, establishes a living for them through cotton picking, and it has been in their family for generation after generation.

13. The Code Explained • Red=Thesis • Blue=Connecting Sentences to link information together • Green=Attention Grabber

14. The Next Step • Write a rough draft of your introduction! • Set your lined paper up for a type 3 • FCA’s: • 5 sentences with proper setup (5 points) • Attention Grabber+Background Info+Thesis (15 points) • Third Person (10/-2 points) • TOTAL: 30 POINTS • **please remember to skip lines!**