Chapter 8: Supplementary points about thesis sentences, opening paragraphs or introductions, closing paragraphs or conclusions, for both out-of-class and in-class essays

8A: Opening paragraphs or introductions. (1) As shown in both the required composition handbook and The Little, Brown Handbook, 4th ed., the two basic formats for an introduction are (1a) a full-length paragraph, with some kind of background or incident or equivalent, which funnels down to a thesis sentence, or (1b) the straight-to-the-point format, which begins with the thesis sentence and begins developing the first main point, all in the first paragraph. The introduction, in other words, may be a whole paragraph, or just a first paragraph opening with overall topic sentence and continuing with the first main point. (2) No logical or realistic law of composition states that a short essay must have some magic number of paragraphs (specifically, five: introduction, three body paragraphs, conclusion). Many of the short essays in the composition handbook and essay readings have fewer or more points and paragraphs. (3) Essays should indeed have a strong overall thesis sentence in the first paragraph, which may be of two kinds. (3a) One kind is jocularly referred to as the "fleas-ticks-lice" thesis sentence, which blueprints the essay's general points or ideas. (Example: "The steps needed to reduce crime in America are --ing the g, --ing the h, --ing the j, and --ing the k." OR: "Four main steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime in America." OR: "My summer vacation was pleasant because of the g, h, j, and k.") (3a1) If the "fleas-ticks-lice" thesis sentence is used, it generally works best at the end of a funnel or introductory paragraph. (3a2) Each main idea or point should be included as a phrase within the overall topic sentence; do not assign a separate sentence to each main idea or point. (3a3) This kind of thesis sentence has the problem of parallelism built into it (look up parallelism in the composition handbook): the points or ideas must be both logically parallel (fleas-ticks-lice, not fleas-ticks-insects, fleas-ticks-atoms, or fleas-ticks-oranges) and grammatically parallel (all prepositional phrases, or all participial phrases, or all noun phrases, etc.). Study all the material on parallelism in the composition handbook; look up this topic in the book's index and table of contents. (3b) The other kind of thesis sentence is the general thesis sentence, which works well either at the beginning or end of either the funnel paragraph or straight-to-the-point first paragraph. (Example: "Several steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime in America." OR: "My summer vacation was generally a positive experience.") (4) Your thesis sentence should indicate both the assigned topic as well as your overall point (or main points) about it. In the example thesis sentences above in this paragraph, one assigned topic was the AC and RTP topic "what steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime? explain," which the thesis sentences are covering. (5) The Little, Brown Handbook wisely warns against five opening paragraphs to avoid (p. 117): (5a) "Don't simply mark time with vague generalities or repetition and then rely entirely on your thesis sentence to get moving. You may have needed a warm-up paragraph to start drafting, but your readers can do without it." (5b) "Don't start with 'The purpose of this essay is ----,' 'In this essay I will -----,' or any similar flat announcement of your intention or topic." (5c) "Don't refer to the title of the essay in the first sentence--for example, 'This is my favorite activity' or 'This is an interesting problem.'" (5d) "Don't start with 'According to Webster ----' or a similar phrase leading to a dictionary definition. A definition can be an effective springboard to an essay, but this kind of lead-in has become dull with overuse." (5e) "Don't apologize for your opinion or for inadequate knowledge of your subject with 'I'm not sure if I'm right, but I think ----,' 'I don't know much about this, but ----,' or similar phrasings."

8B: Closing paragraphs or conclusions. (1) The comments for the introduction, introductory paragraph, or opening sentence apply to the closing paragraph or concluding sentence as well. That is, essays may have either a formal concluding paragraph (but one that does not merely repeat identically or nearly identically the opening paragraph) or concluding sentence that rounds off the last paragraph, the last main point, and the essay as a whole. (2) The Little, Brown Handbook wisely warns against four kinds of concluding paragraph to avoid (p. 119): (2a) "Don't simply restate your introductiion--statement of subject, thesis sentence, and all. Presumably the paragraphs in the body of your essay have contributed something to the opening statements, and it's that something you want to capture in your conclusion." (2b) "Don't start off in a new direction, with a subject different from or broader than the one your essay has been about." (2c) Don't conclude more than you reasonably can from the evidence you have presented. If your essay is about your frustrating experience trying to clear a parking ticket, you cannot reasonably conclude that all local police forces are too tied up in red tape to be of service to the people." (2d) "Don't apologize for your essay or otherwise cast doubt on it. Don't say, 'Even though I'm no expert,' or 'This may not be convincing, but I believe it's true,' or anything similar. Rather, to win your readers' confidence, display confidence." (3) A formal concluding paragraph may be one of the kinds recommended in the composition handbook -- it rounds off and completes the essay, but does not merely identically repeat the essay's first paragraph. (4) The straight-to-the-point format can have a single sentence or couple of sentences that round off the essay's last paragraph, last main point, and the whole essay itself -- all in the last paragraph. This form is especially appropriate to climactic order or organization (from lesser to greater), discussed in the composition handbook and elsewhere. For the "steps to reduce crime" topic, the points might be arranged from reforming laws (lesser) to reforming the criminal (greater). The concluding sentence, which could conclude the last paragraph and round off the whole essay, might be something like the following: "And the elimination of many of the causes of crime, and hence the prevention of many people becoming criminals in the first place, should, along with the other steps noted previously, truly and substantially reduce crime in the United States."