A Good Research Paper Introduction Paragraph Text

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Never suggest that you don't know what you're talking about or that you're not enough of an expert in this matter that your opinion would matter. get into the topic and let your reader perceive your purpose in the topic sentence of your beginning paragraph. although definitions are extremely useful and it might serve your purpose to devise your own definition s later in the essay, you want to avoid using this hackneyed beginning to an essay. Many writers find it useful to write a warm up paragraph or two, even to get them into the essay, to sharpen their own idea of what they're up to, and then they go back and delete the running start. The following material is adapted from a handout prepared by harry livermore for his high school english classes at cook high school in adel, georgia.

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Students are told from the first time they receive instruction in english composition that their introductory paragraphs should accomplish two tasks:

    they should get the reader's interest so that he or she will want to read more.
the second task can be accomplished by a carefully crafted thesis statement. It is this task that this discussion addresses. first, admit that it is impossible to say or do or write anything that will interest everybody. 1 historical review: some topics are better understood if a brief historical review of the topic is presented to lead into the discussion of the moment. Such topics might include a biographical sketch of a war hero, an upcoming execution of a convicted criminal, or drugs and the younger generation. Obviously there are many, many more topics that could be introduced by reviewing the history of the topic before the writer gets down to the nitty gritty of his paper. It is important that the historical review be brief so that it does not take over the paper.

Telegrams of congratulations poured in from around the world reporters and well wishers crowded the halls. After reaching back forty years ago to bring up the landmark supreme court decision that started school desegregation, this article discusses school segregation in the present time. Your story should be a small episode, not a full blown story with characters and plot and setting. Read some of the anecdotes in the reader's digest special sections such as life in these united states to learn how to tell small but potent stories.

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If you do it right, your story will capture the reader's interest so that he or she will continue to read your paper. From going, going, gone to the auction! by laurie goering in chicago tribune magazine. Mike cantlon remembers coming across his first auction ten years ago while cruising the back roads of wisconsin. He parked his car and wandered into the crowd, toward the auctioneer's singsong chant and wafting smell of barbecued sandwiches. Hours later, cantlon emerged lugging a $22 beam drill for constructing post and beam barns 151 and a passion for auctions that has clung like a cocklebur on an old saddle blanket.

It's an addiction, says cantlon, a financial planner and one of the growing number of auction fanatics for whom saturdays will never be the same. This is an anecdote, a little story about one man and his first auction, that is the lead to an article about auctions. In this article the author explains what auctions are, how to spot bargains in auctions, what to protect yourself from at auctions, and other facts about auctions and the people who go to them.

3 surprising statement: a surprising statement is a favorite introductory technique of professional writers. From 60 seconds that could save your child by cathy perlmutter with maureen sangiorgio in prevention. And for every fatality, 42 more children are admitted to hospitals for treatment. Yet such deaths and injuries can be avoided through these easy steps parents can take right now.

You don't have a minute to lose. this article begins with a surprising, even shocking, statistic, 80 children die each year from accidents. The article then lists seven easy actions a person can take to help guard a child against accidents. These range from turning down the water heater to 120 degrees fahrenheit to putting firearms under lock and key. Dropping the name of a famous person at the beginning of a paper usually gets the reader's attention. It may be something that person said or something he or she did that can be presented as an interest grabber. The famous person may be a good person like the pope, or he or she may be a bad person like john wilkes booth.

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Even though the statement or action may not be readily relevant, a clever writer can convince the reader that it is relevant. The most widely read writer in america today is not stephen king, michael chrichton or john grisham. It's margaret milner richardson, the commissioner of the internal revenue service, whose name appears on the 1040 forms and instructions booklet. I doubt that margaret wrote the entire 1040 pamphlet, but the annual introductory letter, a note from the commissioner, bears her signature. this is the first paragraph of an article about the lady named above. The author used the names of three famous, modern american writers to get a reader's interest. Notice that the first name on his list is a name that is probably more widely known than the other two.

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Stephen king has been around for some time now, and everyone, from teenagers to grandparents, know his name whether they have read his books or not. 5 declarative: this technique is quite commonly used, but it must be carefully used or the writer defeats his whole purpose of using one of these patterns, to get the reader's interest. In this pattern, the writer simply states straight out what the topic of his paper is going to be about. It is the technique that most student writers use with only modest success most of the time, but good professional writers use it too. In the college of veterinary medicine and engineering, for example, nearly one third of the teaching faculty may retire by the year 2004.

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