In the kind of essays we are writing in this course, your
introductions must offer the following:
THESIS: a succinct statement of the central claim that the
rest of the essay will explain/expand upon.
CONTEXT: a brief statement of the information that your
reader needs to understand in order for your thesis to make sense. The context should include the
following:
A preliminary statement or
implication of the STAKES inherent in your argument/issue. In other words, WHY should the reader
care about this topic? What will
it cost her not to understand your argument?
An indication of the state of
play of the conversation about the topic of your thesis, i.e. the
conventional wisdom, the conventional ignorance, or the most salient elements
of the ongoing dispute.
If at all possible, your introduction should also include a
HOOK, an opening sentence or two that startles or charms your reader into
reading further.
You may also want to include a ROAD MAP in or near your
introduction. This series of
claims will lay out HOW you will be proving your argument. This often includes a terse statement
of your primary supportive claims and especially the LOGIC of their
organization.
EXAMPLE:
Stephanie Solis did not know that
she was an illegal immigrant until she was eighteen. Until then, her parents had been able to hide the fact that
they had broken the law when they brought their infant daughter to the United
States. Solis’ discovery of her
illegal status may be unusual, but her predicament is not. This year alone about 70,000
undocumented students will graduate from American high schools. Immigration excites powerful emotions
on both sides of the debate; livelihoods, ways of life, and lives all seem to
be at stake. However, the very
importance of the topic tends to lead people to get emotionally attached to
their positions and to avoid confronting the complexities of the issue. For example, the immigration debate in
this country tends to focus on adult immigrants; it often fails to account for
the millions of children brought into the country by their parents. It is true that these children’s very
presence in this country is a crime.
However, many, if not most of the children illegally in the United
States came here when they were too young to have deliberately done anything
wrong. Many people oppose
“rewarding” adult immigrants by giving their children citizenship. But like it or not, those millions of children are already here
and something must be done to allow them to become fully productive
residents. Therefore, for both
moral and practical reasons, Congress must pass a law creating a pathway to
citizenship for all people brought to the United States before they turned eighteen.
(h/t J. Enfield)
