Download Mr. DiLeo

Crafting Effective
Introductions
Hook the Reader
The Marriage Proposal
How do people propose?
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Stadium Screens
Highway Billboards
Newspaper Advertisements
Scavenger Hunts
Rollercoaster
Bended knee
Letter/E-mail/text message/tweet
Pretend You’re Ready to Propose
• You’ve finally found the one with
whom you want to spend your life. To
be sure you get it right, you’ve decided
to craft your proposal.
• Write the first 1-3 sentences of your
proposal.
Writing an Introduction
No matter the format or purpose
of a written work, an effective
introduction is vital to grab the
reader, focus his or her thinking,
and intriguingly relay
information or persuade.
Formal Writing
•Narrative—tells a story to express
a view
•Reflective—recalls significant
moment
•Expository—explains
•Persuasive—convince the reader
of something
Strategies for Effective Writing
•Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric
– Persuasion and speech
•Three categories for persuasion
– Ethos (ee-thos)
– Logos (loh-gos)
– Pathos (pey-thos)
Ethos (ee-thos)
• Persuasion through author’s trustworthiness and
reliability
– Example:
– How does this ad incorporate trustworthiness?
Logos (loh-gos)
• Persuasion through use of reason
– Example:
– How does this ad use reason to persuade?
Pathos (pey-thos)
• Persuasion through an appeal to
emotion
– Example:
– How does this ad appeal to emotion?
Back to the marriage proposal . . .
• Which method would be
most effective for persuading
your love to say “yes”?
•Ethos, Logos or Pathos?
The Power of Love to Unite
•Let’s use the rhetoric tactic of
pathos in a formal essay to
persuade a reader of love’s power
to bring people together.
•Where do we start?
–The hook of the introduction
Different tactics for effective
introductions:
grabbing or hooking the reader’s
interest
• Anecdotes: an amusing or relevant
story that is short and to the point
• Painting an Image: using imagery to
create a resonant picture
• Aphorism/Quote: a concise, often
witty phrase that relates thematically
How the Hook Connects to an
Introductory Paragraph
Anecdote Example
•
Last July fourth, the humidity broke at dusk and a cool
breeze swept in off the lake and two people huddled close
together. They stared at each other and everyone else faded
away. Even the crickets were silent. There was magic in
that moment, a wonderful intangible something that
connected them. It was like they had been lifted into the
sky and set among the stars. Their smiles could have been
the face of Heaven. When the first firework exploded over
the lake, the woman screamed and hugged the man, saying,
“I thought I was falling.” He held her. He promised to never
let her fall. That magical moment of connection is
something these two will return to again and again over
their life together. Somehow, in this crazy world, love
brought these two together. That is the power of love: it
can unite people with a bond that lasts a lifetime.
Painting an Image Example
•
The couple sits on the swinging bench so close
there is no distinction between their bodies. They
rock back and forth, the chain gently squeaking.
Wrinkled hands linked so tightly, their old skin
might still be young and taut, their bones strong and
solid. They are fading like the red sun setting in the
distance, but as they smile at each other with fake
teeth and cataract eyes, they know that though their
bodies crumble, their love will never falter. Love is
an intangible entity that is strong enough to endure
the years and overlook the decay of old age. Love is
a uniting force that knows not crumbling teeth or
bad eyes; it knows only of the human heart and its
capacity for affection.
Aphorism/Quote Example
•
“You don’t marry someone you can live with; you
marry the person you cannot live without.” Love is
not toleration; it is necessity. People are brought
together through love not because it is convenient,
but because it is essential. When love unites two
people, they are like air for the other: they will die
without their partner. Love is one of the strongest
emotions and its power to unite is as mystical as it is
undeniable.
Application
•What you need to do:
– Select one of the techniques discussed
(Anecdote, Paint a Picture, Aphorism/Quote)
– Use that tactic to employ pathos (elicit
reader emotion) to create the opening
hook of an essay about . . .
•Blanche DuBois
Blanche DuBois
• Explore how Blanche is a victim of a cruel and
indifferent world
• THINK: How can we use Pathos to hook a reader’s interest?
• Which technique should we use? Anecdote? Paint and
Image? Aphorism?
Who wants to share?
•Assess the hook:
– Which technique is used?
– How is pathos employed?
– How does the opening grab your
attention?
– Do you want to read more? Why?
Why not?
Closure
• There are many different techniques available for crafting
effective introductions and luring in the reader.
• You can now experiment with future assignments using
Anecdotes, Paint a Picture, and Aphorism/Quote
• You can also expand from using pathos to using ethos and
Logos as well.
• Select the best technique for the task
• UP NEXT: Critical Lens Essay
• How can pathos be used for an essay about
Of Mice and Men?
THANK YOU