Follow your Formal Outline to make sure your Introduction paragraph includes the following:
Sentence 1: A Hook - This is something that will catch your reader's attention
- This is something that will "hook" your reader in and make them want to read your paper. It should NOT mention your book/characters in your book or be your thesis statement, although it may generally reference them. If you are stuck, consider the following ideas:
- Ask a question. Draw in your reader by asking a rhetorical question. Make sure you do NOT address the reader with "you" or use first person.
- Example: Is it possible for a boy to survive alone on the ocean?
- Use a statistic. Did you come across a cool statistic during your research? Use it! You WILL need to cite where you got this quote on your Works Cited page.
- Example: According to the Pew Research Center, 70% of the world's population practices Christianity, Hinduism, or Muslim.
- Describe a scene vividly. Have a favorite part of the book? Describe the scene briefly but with details, without character names or giving too much away.
- Example: Gome, gome, gome - the echoes of the gong vibrated through the village, calling everyone near and far.
Sentence 2: Opening Statement - Introduce novel information (full title of novel, capitalized and in italics) and give a one sentence summary of the novel, introducing the main character/event that you will be writing about in your essay.
Sentences 3-4: Mention Major Points - Provide a little more background about the main events of the book you read. What major events happen in your book that are most relevant to the topic you are writing about? *This should not be shorter than 2 sentences but should not be longer than 3 sentences.*
Sentence 5: Thesis Statement (claim) - What is your paper about? What are the main points that you will be discussing in your body paragraphs? Make sure this sentence is clear and sets up your argument for the rest of your paper (and for your reader).
The following is the bare-bones example for
Life of Pi that I showed in class on Friday:
Is it possible for a boy to survive on alone on
the ocean? In Yann Martel’s
novel The Life of Pi, the main character Pi Patel is able to survive
on the ocean with only a tiger for company. He loses his family and is
trapped on a lifeboat with animals who fall prey to the tiger on board.
Yet against all odds, Pi is able to survive the tiger. Pi is able to stay
alive on the ocean because of his instincts, his knowledge of zoo keeping, and by imitating
the behaviors of animals.
