My last ditch effort to help you with the writing exam...
What must you have in the introduction?
EXAMPLES
Introductions:
- Thesis statement (what are you trying to say?)
- Establish audience (who are you saying it to?)
- Establish style/format (is it a speech? a letter?)
- One main idea per paragraph (no lists! add detail and support for each idea!)
- Support (quotes, examples, real-life experience)
- Focus (don't go off topic! no opinions! no solutions!)
- Organization (don't be random)
- Restate thesis
- For definition prompts: restate your definition, and then restate the things you used to prove your definition
- For cause/effect prompts: restate the problem, the causes and/or effects of the problem, and some of your examples to support this
EXAMPLES
Introductions:
- Definition prompt: Good afternoon Class of 2008! As we gather together on our graduation day, I'd like to tell you about responsibility, which is being held accountable for your own actions. This is important to us as we are now officially adults, and responsible for what we do and say.
- Cause/Effect prompt: Dear Shelby Star, Today I am going to tell you about a serious problem at Burns: student drop out rates. Many students are dropping out because they are bored with their classes or don't think they need a diploma. Because of this, these students do not become productive citizens, and our school is losing money.
- Definition: Responsibility is important to all of us, because we need to be mature enough to be held accountable for what we do or say. My little brother once threw a baseball in the house and broke a lamp. He was responsible enough to confess his crime to our mother. Even though he got punished, it was still a good thing for him to stand up and admit that he made a mistake. As Josiah Charles Stamp once said, "“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”
- Cause/Effect: One reason why students are dropping out of school is because they don't value a diploma. They think it is just the same as a GED, but as Ms. Graham says, "A GED doesn't hold nearly the same weight as a diploma to potential employers."
- Definition: So, class of 2008, I hope you can see from the above examples that responsibility is important to us. We can no longer let our parents or teachers help us; we have to be accountable for our own ideas, thoughts, and actions. Just like my little brother had the courage to admit when he was wrong, you too can have the courage to stand up for your own actions.
- Cause/Effect: I hope that everyone who reads the Shelby Star can see the importance of this problem. Student drop outs are caused for several reasons, as you can see from my above examples, and they effect everyone.