Today’s class is a lesson on “Intros and Conclusions”  (from Amy Guptil’s Writing in College). Here’s our activity: 

First, look at the paragraph beginning “Throughout time….” in pairs. Highlight and annotate in Hypothes.is what you notice the writer doing well, and where you might ask for more specifics. Think of this as a peer edit.

Then, look at the paragraph beginning “Religion is an Endeavor” in the same pairs. Again, highlight and annotate using Hypothes.is what you see the writer doing well and what questions you’d pose as a peer editor.

Back in the main room, we’ll talk about some differences between what Guptil calls “the five-paragraph theme” and the “organically-structured thesis.” There’s more on this elsewhere in her textbook. 

After this, we’ll look in groups of 4-5 at two more introductory paragraphs from more advanced student essays (from students who have declared majors, I think): “Abelard” and “Staphylococcus aureus”

“Abelard”: What in this intro’s 1st sentence is “substantial?” How are its next sentences “indispensable”? How/is the thesis “surprising”?

Independent work: Now you try! Using these principles—making sentences substantial, indispensable, & surprising—compose an introductory paragraph of your own. I’d suggest composing these in the same Docs where you were working on Tuesday activities, so that you can draw on your prior work more easily.

(If you want, play around with pastiche — an imitation of the writer’s sentences, right down to their word choice, syntax, sentence structure, paragraph organization, etc).

If time: We’ll do the same activity (probably a shortened version of it) with the section on conclusions