Unit 4: Introductory and
Concluding Paragraphs
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Table of Contents
About Unit 4
Unit 4 Learning Outcomes
Concepts and
Terminology Discussed in Unit 4
Assignments
for Unit 4
Steps in the Assignments
for the Introductory/Concluding Paragraph Unit
A Sample Introductory Paragraph
A Sample Concluding Paragraph
A Sample Worksheet for the
Unit 4 Assignments
Introductory Paragraphs
Concluding Paragraphs
An Evaluation of Unit
4
Evaluation of Unit 4
Instruction
About
Unit 4
Introductions and conclusions, perhaps, are some
of the most complex and difficult expository units to write. In this unit
you will explore the psychology of opening expository essays and the relationship
between the audience's and the writer's sense of authority and value.
The discussion of conclusions introduces and illustrates various options
you have as a writer to the traditional summary of the body.
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Concepts
discussed in Unit 4
(1) the nature of an appropriate audience
(2) interest devices for introductions
(3) types of thesis sentences
(4) focusing the introductory paragraph
(5) mood in introductory paragraphs
(6) creation of a stimulating title
Terminology introduced in this unit are "the authority
of the audience" and the "value of the audience."
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Assignments
for Unit 4: Introductory and Concluding Paragraphs
(1) the introductory/concluding paragraph worksheet
(2) title and introductory paragraph #1
(3) title and introductory paragraph #2
(4) title and introductory paragraph #3
(5) a concluding paragraph for introductory paragraph
#1
(6) a concluding paragraph for introductory paragraph
#2
(7) a concluding paragraph for introductory paragraph
#3
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Steps in
the Assignments for the Introductory/Concluding Paragraph Unit
The objective of the introductory/concluding paragraph
unit is the completion of three introductory and concluding paragraphs.
Each paragraph should observe the following guidelines:
Each introductory paragraph should
1) include the thesis statement you developed
for the analytical paragraph assignment in Unit III;
2) appeal to a different audience;
3) use a different interest device to appeal to
each audience;
4) convey a specific mood; and
5) be announced by a title appropriate to the
subject and audience.
Each concluding paragraph should
6) reflect a different developmental pattern.
Steps
1. First Page:
a. Write the thesis sentence.
b. Identify the three different audiences.
c. Below each audience, identify an appropriate
interest device, mood, and the concluding paragraph pattern.
2. Second, Third, and Fourth Pages:
Write each set of introductory and concluding
paragraphs and appropriate titles on separate pages.
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A Sample Introductory Paragraph
Title: Dry Fields
and Parched Patience: Another Setback for U.S. Farmers
| Everything else was the same: debt, a faltering
economy, declining foreign American farmers markets. The only difference
between a northern and southern farmer was hay. But last week, at least,
hay meant the difference emotional words/ between life and death for many
farmers beleaguered by the worst drought in the South and Southeast
in the memorable past. The transfer of northern hay to the blistered South
was a dramatic testimony to the present dilemma of southern farmers. In
the long-term, the effects, generally, may be negligible nationally, but
in the short run the effects are harsh. Three immediate effects of the
southeastern drought are thesis (1) a pledge of government support, (2)
an outpouring of outside help, but (3) a prospect of crossover problems
in farm-related industries. |
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Sample Concluding
Paragraph
(Developmental Pattern: Projection)
| Farmers have had to fight both drought patterns
and atrophied government support in one of the worst disasters of the decade.
A rain of hay from fellow farmers and neighbors from around the nation
has saved most Southern planters and cattlemen from bankruptcy. In the
short run, the farmers have survived the weather. Whether or not in the
long-run they will survive declining government aid remains to be seen. |
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A Sample Worksheet
for the Introductory and Concluding Paragraph Assignments
Thesis Sentence:
Three immediate effects of the southeastern drought
are (1) a pledge of government support, (2) an outpouring of outside help,
but (3) a prospect of crossover problems in farm-related industries.
Audiences:
(1) United States farmers concerned about their
peers
emotion: empathy
interest device: emotional words
concluding paragraph pattern: echo
(2) Democratic legislators in the United States
House of Representatives:
emotion: outrage
interest device: statistics
concluding paragraph pattern: periodic development
(3) business men and women engaged in farm-related
industries
emotion: concern
interest device: historical allusion
concluding paragraph pattern: expansion
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This page was last modified on September 13, 2011,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes. 
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