INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

The two most important parts of any essay

There are many ways to write an introduction, and this week's reading ("Introductions and Conclusions") provides a good discussion of many of them. In short, however, every introduction should accomplish the following functions, in one way or another:

An introduction should:

1. Begin with a hook to attract the reader’s attention, for instance a provocative statement, a question, or a short anecdote.

2. Provide a background for the upcoming discussion. Ideally, this background will identify and describe the problem or issue to be dealt with in the paper.

3. Provide a statement of the author’s thesis, so readers know what the goal of the essay will be. Usually, this will offer a resolution of the problem or issue.

4. List the main points of the paper, and the order of their presentation, so the reader knows what to expect and when to expect it--just like a table of contents.

Read through the following sample introductions. How well do they demonstrate these four features of an introduction?

Example 1

The United States elects its president using a peculiar method unlike that used in any other democracy. The United States doesn’t use a parliamentary system like Britain or Japan, nor direct popular vote like France or South Korea. Instead, the US uses an arcane system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is complex, anachronistic, and poorly understand by the average citizen, making it a severe handicap to the democratic process in the United States. Before the United States can enter the the world of modern democracies with an energetic, involved electorate, the Electoral College must be eliminated.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 1

The United States elects its presidents using a peculiar method unlike that used in any other democracy. The United States doesn’t use a parliamentary system like Britain or Japan, nor direct popular vote like France or South Korea. Instead, the US uses an arcane system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is complex, anachronistic, and poorly understand by the average citizen, making it a severe handicap to the democratic process in the United States. Before the United States can enter the the world of modern democracies with an energetic, involved electorate, the Electoral College must be eliminated.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 1

The United States elects its presidents using a peculiar method unlike that used in any other democracy. The United States doesn’t use a parliamentary system like Britain or Japan, nor direct popular vote like France or South Korea. Instead, the US uses an arcane system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is complex, anachronistic, and poorly understood by the average citizen, making it a severe handicap to the democratic process in the United States. Before the United States can enter the the world of modern democracies with an energetic, involved electorate, the Electoral College must be eliminated.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 1

The United States elects its presidents using a peculiar method unlike that used in any other democracy. The United States doesn’t use a parliamentary system like Britain or Japan, nor direct popular vote like France or South Korea. Instead, the US uses an arcane system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is complex, anachronistic, and poorly understood by the average citizen, making it a severe handicap to the democratic process in the United States. Before the United States can enter the the world of modern democracies with an energetic, involved electorate, the Electoral College must be eliminated.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 1

The United States elects its presidents using a peculiar method unlike that used in any other democracy. The United States doesn’t use a parliamentary system like Britain or Japan, nor direct popular vote like France or South Korea. Instead, the US uses an arcane system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is complex, anachronistic, and poorly understood by the average citizen, making it a severe handicap to the democratic process in the United States. Before the United States can enter the the world of modern democracies with an energetic, involved electorate, the Electoral College must be eliminated.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version A)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version B)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home. While homeschooling offers many benefits to both child and parent, its three most important advantages are its flexibility of curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds, and its more positive, supportive social environment.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version B)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home. While homeschooling offers many benefits to both child and parent, its three most important advantages are its flexibility of curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds, and its more positive, supportive social environment.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version B)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home. While homeschooling offers many benefits to both child and parent, its three most important advantages are its flexibility of curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds, and its more positive, supportive social environment.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version B)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home. While homeschooling offers many benefits to both child and parent, its three most important advantages are its flexibility of curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds, and its more positive, supportive social environment.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 2 (version B)

American parents today are faced with a stark choice. The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent, and less effective in preparing children for employment or college. Private schools may be too expensive or unavailable. To ensure that their children receive an adequate education, an increasing number of parents are simply teaching their children at home. While homeschooling offers many benefits to both child and parent, its three most important advantages are its flexibility of curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds, and its more positive, supportive social environment.

Hook? Background? Thesis? Key points?

Example 3Another strategy--start with an opposing viewpoint!

Animal research is cruel and unnecessary. Animals are subjected to treatments that can only be described as torture. They are also primarily used to test frivolous products like cosmetics. Animal research should be banned. These are common sentiments, and emotions run high in discussions of this topic. That is why it is so crucial to understand exactly what the real standards, methods, and benefits of animal research are.

(From the KU Handbook for Writers, 2nd edition, p. 55)

Conclusions

Just as with introductions, there are many ways to write a conclusion. Sometimes, how you write your conclusion may depend on how you write your intro: they "reflect" one another. Other times, the form of your conclusion may depend on the structure of your paper. Practice, and careful reading of other people's writing, will help you get a feel for different kinds of conclusions (and intros, too). But at minimum, conclusions should accomplish the following:

Conclusions typically:

1. Recapitulate the thesis--but in a fresh way. Don’t just repeat the thesis statement word for word.

2. Briefly summarize the principal arguments that support that thesis--these should be the key points mentioned in the intro and discussed in the body of the paper.

3. Remind the reader that the thesis is the natural outcome of those arguments--that your solution or opinion is the most logical and best.

4. Provide a call to action.

Conclusions should NOT:

• Simply summarize your paper, and nothing more.

• Initiate a tangential, distantly related thread of discussion that isn’t discussed in your paper.

• Just be an “ending.”• Commence with “In conclusion”. This

phrase is severely overworked, and adds nothing to your presentation.

Sample conclusions:

A. Obsolete, complex, and inscrutable, the Electoral College is incompatible with the goals of a democracy. The US should abandon this institution immediately. Those who who still cling to the College are motivated only by self-interest, or by a misguided sense of tradition. Let us adopt a modern system of electing our President, one that will promote, not discourage, the full participation of all citizens. Let us adopt a method that will remind our presidential candidates that it is the peoples’ voices that matter most.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?

Sample conclusions:

A. Obsolete, complex, and inscrutable, the Electoral College is incompatible with the goals of a democracy. The US should abandon this institution immediately. Those who who still cling to the College are motivated only by self-interest, or by a misguided sense of tradition. Let us adopt a modern system of electing our President, one that will promote, not discourage, the full participation of all citizens. Let us adopt a method that will remind our presidential candidates that it is the peoples’ voices that matter most.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?

Sample conclusions:

A. Obsolete, complex, and inscrutable, the Electoral College is incompatible with the goals of a democracy. The US should abandon this institution immediately. Those who who still cling to the College are motivated only by self-interest, or by a misguided sense of tradition. Let us adopt a modern system of electing our President, one that will promote, not discourage, the full participation of all citizens. Let us adopt a method that will remind our presidential candidates that it is the peoples’ voices that matter most.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?

Sample conclusions:

A. Obsolete, complex, and inscrutable, the Electoral College is incompatible with the goals of a democracy. The US should abandon this institution immediately. Those who who still cling to the College are motivated only by self-interest, or by a misguided sense of tradition. Let us adopt a modern system of electing our President, one that will promote, not discourage, the full participation of all citizens. Let us adopt a method that will remind our presidential candidates that it is the peoples’ voices that matter most.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?

B. Homeschooling is not a panacea for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools; these can only be addressed through a large-scale restructuring of public education policies nationwide. Nevertheless, homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works. Home-schooled children, on average, place in the 87th percentile on standardized exams—the national average is the 50th percentile—and have been admitted to all major universities and military academies in the country. Clearly, homeschooling is a serious, positive alternative for motivated parents and their children.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?

B. Homeschooling is not a panacea for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools; these can only be addressed through a large-scale restructuring of public education policies nationwide. Nevertheless, homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works. Home-schooled children, on average, place in the 87th percentile on standardized exams—the national average is the 50th percentile—and have been admitted to all major universities and military academies in the country. Clearly, homeschooling is a serious, positive alternative for motivated parents and their children.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?Provides a final, clinching piece of evidence?

B. Homeschooling is not a panacea for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools; these can only be addressed through a large-scale restructuring of public education policies nationwide. Nevertheless, homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works. Home-schooled children, on average, place in the 87th percentile on standardized exams—the national average is the 50th percentile—and have been admitted to all major universities and military academies in the country. Clearly, homeschooling is a serious, positive alternative for motivated parents and their children.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?Provides a final, clinching piece of evidence?

B. Homeschooling is not a panacea for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools; these can only be addressed through a large-scale restructuring of public education policies nationwide. Nevertheless, homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works. Home-schooled children, on average, place in the 87th percentile on standardized exams—the national average is the 50th percentile—and have been admitted to all major universities and military academies in the country. Clearly, homeschooling is a serious, positive alternative for motivated parents and their children.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?Provides a final, clinching piece of evidence?

B. Homeschooling is not a panacea for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools; these can only be addressed through a large-scale restructuring of public education policies nationwide. Nevertheless, homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works. Home-schooled children, on average, place in the 87th percentile on standardized exams—the national average is the 50th percentile—and have been admitted to all major universities and military academies in the country. Clearly, homeschooling is a serious, positive alternative for motivated parents and their children.

Restates thesis? Summarizes key points? Calls to action?Provides a final, clinching piece of evidence?