Blog #12

In the process of writing, it is important to know how to start and end a piece of writing. These parts of your writing are called the introduction and conclusion. In chapter 16 of Writing Analytically, the chapter talks about how to write your introduction and conclusion in a better way. These are important in your writing; an introduction shows what your paper is going to about. The Latin root of the word introduction means “within” and “to lead or bring”. This means exactly what you are trying to say at the beginning of any writing. You are supposed to lead into the conversation instead of just saying what you want to say. This is kind of like when you talk to someone. You say “Hi, how are you?” so that you do not sound rude or too quick to ask someone something. Many professional works are better when you have an introduction, “in fact, papers in the humanities often begin [this] way” (356). The information that you write in the introduction must be relevant; “in deciding how much to introduce up front, you must make a series of difficult choices about what to include and exclude” (357). Sometimes you write too much or too little about your paper. A good introduction will make your whole paper better. There are many ways to begin your paper. These are “challenge a commonly held view”, “begin with a definition”, “lead with your second-best example”, and “exemplify the topic with a narrative.” You can start by asking a question that society is controversial about or maybe has an opinion about. This will usually make readers more interested in your topic. Another way is to define a word that goes with your theme. That way readers know what you are about to talk about. Another good way is to make a narrative or personal story about the topic. 

                                          

Now for the conclusion, “the concluding paragraph presents the paper’s final “So what?”(361). This is the last chance for you to convince readers about your point of to make a last impression. “At the end, the writer should rephrase the original research question and discuss it in light of the results presented”(363). You are supposed to restate your purpose, not repeat it. It is supposed to connect everything that you have said.  This creates some problems because sometimes you do not know where to stop when you are gathering all of the ideas. Some problems are “redundancy”, “raising a totally new point”, “overstatement”, and an “anticlimax”. You can be repetitive or even make up new points that you were not supposed to do. The conclusion is a sum of ideas.