The Allyn & Bacon

Guide to Writing
Seventh Edition, Concise Edition
Skill 12.3: Start and End with the Big Picture through Effective
Titles, Introductions, and Conclusions
(pp. 299 306)
Effective Titling
Which title grabs your attention?
Light Pollution
Bright Lights, Blind City: How Brightness Causes Darkness

Why?
Effective Titling (contd)
Popular titles (movies, TV shows, et cetera) arent as detailed as Academic
titles

Academic titles are typically longer and more detailed, following one of 3
common conventions:
Stating the question
Stating the thesis
Key Words: Mystery Phrase
Effective Titling (contd)
The Three Common Conventions
Stating the Essays Main Question
This will take the problematic question and present it to the audience in the highest-possible
profile
The Impact of Cell Phones on Motor Vehicle Fatalities
Implied question: What is the impact of cell phones?
Stating the Essays Abbreviated Main Thesis
Much like the main question, this method takes the thesis statement, shortens it, and puts it
front-and-center
A Man Can Take Paternity Leave And Love It
Effective Titling (contd)
The Three Common Conventions (contd)
Key Words: Mystery Phrase
Bringing up key words from the paper, following it up with an intriguing phrase to elicit
curiosity
Feed Your Face: Why Your Complexion Needs Vitamins
Effective Titling (contd)
Why is the title so important?
Forces author to compress all ideas into a comprehensive statement
Forces author to consider audience
Old, tired material presented in a new way?
Forces author to consider purpose
Why am I writing this again?
What Is the Purpose of an
Introduction?
The mini-series dilemma

How are you supposed to understand

The setting?
The characters?
The plot?

Same principle in an essay / paper

Bring reader up to speed on background material
Present thesis / purpose
The Funnel Introduction
Allyn & Bacon says:
DONT DO IT!!

Mr. Christopher says:

If done correctly, its extremely effective

Start the introduction with broad ideas leading into more specific concepts
Allows even the most ignorant of the material to grasp the concept
Can be a snoozer if there are too many generalizations
The Closed-Form Introduction
Basically, Allyn & Bacons modified Funnel Introduction

Standard, common knowledge leads off the paragraph

The Old Material
The Problem and Associated Evidence

Proposals for solutions and new twists on the evidence finish the paragraph
The New Material
The solution / thesis / purpose

See pp. 301 - 302 for examples

The Typical Elements of a Closed-
Form Introduction
An Opening Attention-Grabber

Explanation of the Question to Be Investigated

Background Information

A Preview of Where Your Paper is Heading

The Attention-Grabber
5 Ways to Grab the Audiences Attention
1. A Historical Review
2. An Anecdote
3. A Surprising Statement
4. Use a Famous Personality
5. Declare Your Intentions
The Attention-Grabber (contd)
1. A Historical Review
Used to give a brief overview of events leading to the topic
The biography of a famous person
The case leading to the sentencing of a criminal
Example
Topic: The Analysis of Patriotism
The year was 1776, and strong-willed men like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and
John Adams spoke in whispers, attempting to put forth the idea of a new nation. The setting
was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Attention-Grabber (contd)
2. An anecdote
Merely nothing more than a story
Allows the reader an idea of commonality
Be brief with it
Example
Topic: The observation of co-workers
The manager had a stomach virus. Normally, it might mean everyone walked on egg-
shells to avoid being yelled at, but this virus kept him occupied in the mens room for
most of the day. It was this incident that would make me realize that my co-workers
definitely knew the meaning of the clich when the cat is away
The Attention-Grabber (contd)
3. Surprising Statement
Appeals to the emotion of the reader
The pathos
Uses a variety of techniques to achieve surprise:
Disgust The maggots crawled through the chunks of desiccated flesh; the smell was
unearthly. (Topic: Forensic Science)
Shocking A crib put together with love by a father can be nothing more than death in
a floral pattern. (Topic: S.I.D.S.)
The easiest attention getter
Causes the reader to fear or become curious
The Attention-Grabber (contd)
4. Famous Personality
Be a name dropper
Joe Public doesnt hold meaning
Stephen King does
Example
Topic: Writing as a career
A few pages for a class may seem like a monumental effort, but Stephen King writes
thousands of pages each year to create millions of dollars.
The Attention-Grabber (contd)
5. Declarative
The simple, straight-forward approach
Gets right to the point by listing off the basics for what is needed to grasp the
thesis statement
Example
Topic: American Politics
The two mainstream political parties, Republican and Democrat, battle tooth and nail
each year for more seats in government.
Explanation of the Question to Be
Investigated
Do not assume your reader has a clue what youve written about!
Explanation of the Question to Be
Investigated (contd)
Summarize the problem youre investigating

Either state explicitly or imply the question at hand

Explicit: You are not confident that your audience either agrees with or understands
the concept
Implied: You are very confident that your audience agrees with you OR the concept
is general that any rational person should understand it in total

Err on the side of caution!

State the problem and thesis explicitly
Background Information
Used to help readers find their way in a new and possibly confusing arena of
thought
Definitions
Acronyms
Key Terms
Famous personalities
A Preview of the Whole
Strategies for Forecasting the Whole Paper
Short thesis
Detailed thesis
Purpose Statement
Blueprint or mapping statement
Combination of elements
Thesis question only

Look at pp. 303 - 304

Lets Talk About Endings
How do you prefer for things to end in a movie or television show?
Abruptly?
The Sopranos infamous snap-to-black finale
Satisfying Closure?
All questions are answered; all problems are resolved
Open-Ended?
An air of mystery or limitless possibilities exist
Ending an Academic Paper
In both the introduction and the conclusion, writers are concerned with the
essay as a whole more than any given part (p. 329)

The writer should:

Transition from specific ideas to the overall picture
Understand the need for closure with certain concepts and unanswered questions
6 Strategies for Conclusions
Simple Summary (p. 305)
Recap what has already been said
Better used in larger, complex essays
Boring and unnecessary in shorter essays

Larger Significance (p.305)

Draw the readers attention to the importance or the applications of the argument
Elaborate on the significance of problem
Illustrate how the solution presented reflects a larger truth
6 Strategies for Conclusions (contd)
Proposal
Call for Action (p. 306)
Show how certain actions NEED to be taken
Urges reader to do something
Call for Future Study (p. 306)
Shows what further information needs to be gathered in order to correctly understand
situation
Common in scientific writing
6 Strategies for Conclusions (contd)
Scenic or Anecdotal (p. 306)
Using a story to illustrate a theme
Doesnt explicitly restate thesis
Involves the use of pathos

Hook and Return (p. 306)

Creates a circular idea
Echoes a main point from the introduction
If a question was asked, the answer is presented
6 Strategies for Conclusions (contd)
Delayed Thesis (p. 330)
State the thesis for the first time
Used to illustrate the impartiality of the writer throughout the evidence presentation
Allows reader to create own ideas without the bias of the writers point until the end
In-Class Exercise
Think of a book / movie / TV show that you remember the end of
Why is it so memorable?

Think of the strategies we just discussed

Which way appeals to you the most?
Why?