8f Work on opening and closing paragraphs.
Opening paragraphs
Even a good piece of writing may remain unread if it has a weak opening paragraph. In addition to announcing your topic, an introductory paragraph must engage readers’ interest and focus their attention on what is to follow. One common kind of opening paragraph follows a general-to-specific sequence, in which the writer opens with a general statement and then gets more and more specific, concluding with the thesis. The following paragraph illustrates such an opening:
The human organism is adapted to function in face-to-face encounters. We know that face-to-face is the most effective way to pitch woo. And face-to-face is obviously the best way to transact an intimate relationship long term. But while we know this, there’s much more to face-to-face interaction than meets the naked eye. And it is of grave importance. We risk losing a great deal in any heavy shift of social traffic onto exclusively electronic media.
– Mariam Thalos, “Why I Am Not a Friend”
In this paragraph, the opening sentence introduces a general subject, and the last sentence presents the thesis, which the rest of the essay will develop.
OTHER EFFECTIVE WAYS OF OPENING
- with a quotation: There is a bumper sticker that reads, “Too bad ignorance isn’t painful.”
– Nikki Giovanni, “Racism 101”
- with an anecdote: Social networking pioneer Howard Rheingold begins his digital journalism course each year with a participatory experiment. Shut off your cell phones, he tells his students. Shut your laptop. Now, shut your eyes.
– Cathy Davidson, Now You See It
- with a question: Why are Americans terrified of using nuclear power as a source of energy?
- with a strong opinion: Men need a men’s movement about as much as women need chest hair.
– John Ruszkiewicz, The Presence of Others
Concluding paragraphs
A good conclusion wraps up a piece of writing in a satisfying and memorable way. A common and effective strategy for concluding is to restate the central idea (but not word for word), perhaps specifying it in several sentences, and then ending with a much more general statement.
Lastly, and perhaps greatest of all, there was the ability, at the end, to turn quickly from war to peace once the fighting was over. Out of the way these two men [Generals Grant and Lee] behaved at Appomattox came the possibility of a peace of reconciliation. It was a possibility not wholly realized, in the years to come, but which did, in the end, help the two sections to become one nation again…after a war whose bitterness might have seemed to make such a reunion wholly impossible. No part of either man’s life became him more than the part he played in this brief meeting in the McLean house at Appomattox. Their behavior there put all succeeding generations of Americans in their debt. Two great Americans, Grant and Lee—very different, yet under everything very much alike. Their encounter at Appomattox was one of the great moments of American history.
– Bruce Catton, “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”
OTHER EFFECTIVE WAYS OF CONCLUDING
- with a quotation
- with a question
- with a vivid image
- with a call for action
- with a warning