The Introduction

The first tip I can give you is you have to know how to write. Sorry, if you’re not going to read the novel and your paper is due the next day, you have to have something going for you. I don’t mean to say you have to be the next Mark Twain or John Steinbeck; you just have to have a few basic structure and analysis techniques down. I can help you here. Let’s start with the introduction; it contains your thesis and the structure and basis of the rest of your paper.

Please tell me you’ve paid enough attention in class to know what this is…If not I’m not going to be the one to explain. Click here to learn more, http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html. Remember that writing a thesis, a well written thesis, takes having read the material. So it is always better to do that but I understand the lack of time management. The previous link will help you understand what a thesis is and what needs to go into it, however I will add some things I think should also be in your thesis.

Start your introduction with a broad statement. For example if your paper is on John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath you might want to say something like: The 1930s were a terrible time for farmers due to lengthy draughts. Like I said broad, and it doesn’t even mention The Grapes of Wrath. Continuing with The Grapes of Wrath in the next couple of sentences (more if your paper is longer than five pages) narrow down your point to The Grapes of Wrath. For example: In The Grapes of Wrath the Joad family struggles through the hardships of a farming family in the 1930s.

This would be the sentence that goes right before your thesis sentence. A thesis sentence that would go along with this example would be (keep in mind I haven’t read The Grapes of Wrath in four years and have not done any research on it for this blog, it’s merely an example.) Strength in hard times can be drawn from ones family, this is illustrated by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath through biblical illusions, symbols, and chapter structure.

Thesis Structure:

Theme + literary devices (In that order!)

Please put your literary devices last, there is nothing more annoying then structure getting messed up in a thesis. (Ok, maybe there are more annoying things like global warming and broadcast journalists, but as an English major this really bothers me)

Well that’s it on the Introduction! Congrats, this is the hardest part since this is the map of your paper. If your paper has to be anywhere from 5-10 pages long (which is nothing in college) then you want your introduction to be at least a page. Next I will teach you about the body…I hate science, so no, not the human body.