CREATING AWESOME INTRODUCTIONSSOJOURNER TRUTH EXAMPLE

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How do one’s social class and/or socioeconomic status influence one’s relationships and experiences.

I. General Overview - Welcome

II. Organizer

III. Writing Elements

IV. Examples

WHY USE OUTLINES/ORGANIZERS?

An outline is a way of organizing key ideas

An outline helps to set up an essay or a research paper

An outline is a tool to help revise an essay or research paper.

An outline can be a study tool to help you summarize key ideas in reading

YOU WILL FIRST COMPLETE THE

PLANNING ORGANIZER (IN DOCSHARING)

Where did it occur?

Was it summer, winter, spring, etc?

What was the weather

like? Was it sunny? Cold?

What was around you? Were you outside? Inside?

Who were the characters?

What were they wearing? How did they look?

Describe your and the

other characters’

personalities (happy,

outgoing, sad, moody, angry)

What did you see?

What did you feel?

What did you smell?

What did you hear?

What did you taste?

What was said between you

and the other character(s)?

You can make this up if you

need to.

Also don’t forget to write

down who was speaking.

What happened during

the middle and be sure

to use descriptive words.

How did your story end?

What did you learn?

Remember there is

always a lesson in a

memoir.

LET’S LOOK AT OUR EXAMPLE

An Account of an Experience with Discrimination

By Sojourer Truth

A few weeks ago I was in company with my friend

Josephine S. Griffing, when the conductor of a streetcar

refused to stop his car for me, although [I was] closely

following Josephine and holding on to the iron rail. They

dragged me a number of yards before she succeeded in

stopping them. She reported the conductor to the

president of the City Railway, who dismissed him at once,

and told me to take the number of the car whenever I

was mistreated by a conductor or driver.

On the 13th I had occasion to go for necessities for the

patients in the Freedmen's hospital where I have been doing

and advising for a number of months. I thought now I would

get a ride without trouble as I was in company with another

friend, Laura S. Haviland of Michigan. As I ascended the

platform of the car, the conductor pushed me, saying "Go

back-get off here." I told him i was not going off, then "I'll put

you off" said he furiously, clenching my right arm with both

hands, using such violence that he seemed about to

succeed, when Mrs. Haviland told him he was not going to

put me off. "Does she belong to you?" said he in a hurried

angry tone. She replied, "She does not belong to me, but she

belongs to humanity." The number of the car was noted, and

conductor dismissed at once upon report to the president,

who advised his arrest for assault and battery as my shoulder

was sprained by his effort to put me off. Accordingly I had

him arrested and the case tried before Justice Thompson. My

shoulder was very lame and swollen, but is better. It is hard

for the old slaveholding spirit to die. But die it must......

HOOKING THE READER

Ask a Question????????

Use Figurative LanguageNarrate a Personal

Experience

Use a Quote From a FamousPerson

State Your Opinion

Use a DefinitionMake a Bold

Or ChallengingStatement

START YOUR STORY OFF RIGHT

Hook- a surprising or intriguing passage or idea used

to grab the reader’s attention at the beginning of a

work

MAKE YOUR WRITING

A PAGE TURNER!

The lead (beginning or introduction)

establishes the direction your writing will

take. A good lead grabs your reader's

attention and refuses to let go. In other

words, it hooks the reader.

HOOKING A READER WHEN YOU ARE WRITING AN ESSAY IS JUST AS

IMPORTANT AS A MOVIE TRAILER IS TO THE SUCCESS OF THE MOVIE.

YOU WANT TO GIVE “A LITTLE BIT” OF THE CONTENT, BUT YOU REALLY

WANT THEM TO “BUY THE TICKET.” THIS PRESENTATION WILL

INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME TYPES OF INTRODUCTIONS SO THAT YOU CAN

USE THEM AS YOUR OWN WHEN YOU WRITE.

YOU SHOULD ACCOMPLISH 3 THINGS WITH YOUR INTRODUCTION:

Get the reader’s attention

Present your topic and purpose

Connect with your audience

Let’s look at some examples THEN talk some more about AWESOME writing

IS THIS A GOOD HOOK?

It all started the night before my birthday, January 19, 2014. I was

with my friends when I got a sudden phone call from my mother.

No, this is not a good hook – it lists the events in order (avoid grocery

listing the facts)

IS THIS A GOOD HOOK?

I remember sitting in school one day after a test when my teacher said she would like to talk to me. As I walked over to her desk I thought I was in trouble. Nervously, I asked “Yes Mrs. Cook?” She looked at me and held up my test.

Yes, this is a good hook – it places the

main character in an interesting

situation and as a reader we want to

know what will happen.

IS THIS A GOOD HOOK?

Baseball is my favorite sport. I love baseball! My mom first put me in baseball when I was 5 and I loved it.

No, this is not a good hook – it lacks a connection with the main character and it does not create a picture with the setting.

USE QUESTIONS TO “HOOK” YOUR

READER!

AVOID meaningless questions that don’t ask

the reader to think critically.

Examples of Meaningless Questions

“Do you hate fast food?”

“Do you have a favorite season?”

“Have you ever wondered why people believe in school uniforms? Well, I’ll tell you.”

ANOTHER TECHNIQUE THAT

WRITERS USE TO ENGAGE

THE WRITER IS TO SHARE

A PERSONAL

EXPERIENCE IN THE INTRODUCTION.

SHOW DON’T TELL

Sensory detail- descriptive detail that appeals

to any of the senses – sight, hearing, touch,

smell, or taste

Showing language- words used to create

pictures in the mind of a reader, rather than

words that merely tell what happened

WHICH IS AN EXAMPLE OF A PARAGRAPH WITH LOTS

OF SENSORY DETAILS AND SHOWING LANGUAGE?

a. Hannah said, “No, I don’t want a brother! I want a sister!” My parents tried to

soothe her by showing her that baby brother was sucking his thumb in the

picture. Hannah had been a thumb sucker from way back and my parents

thought she would get a kick out of our brother sucking his thumb inside my

mother’s stomach. However, she still looked like she had been sucking on sour

candy for the next two days. My sister can be stubborn. I think she must've been

born with her hand on her hip.

b. My parents took my sister and me to Gatlinburg Tennessee. We stopped at a

Super 8 motel for a little bit. Then we got up, ate breakfast, and were back on

the road. For breakfast I had pancakes and sausage. When we got to

Gatlinburg, we went and found our condo.

It was the edge of a baked summer night

when my tired mom, brother, and I eased into an

empty parking space near our apartment.

My mom pointed out a small dark figure in

the grass. “Look, I think it's a cat!”

“What's it doing?” I asked. The head lights

shined into the cat's sparkling green eyes as we

watched her groom her tattered fur.

Here’s an Example

“Please stay in the car while I see if the cat has a

name tag.” The cat didn't run away in fear, so it wasn't

hard for my mom to see that the cat was not lacking a

collar.

My brother and I flapped like fish out of water as we

looked at the newly-found creature. The cat wasn't

about to go anywhere, so we took the liberty of

bringing out a small container of milk.

She lapped hungrily at the milk as we watched on.

Her hungry eyes thanked us as milk dripped down her

chin while she licked her chops.

DIALOGUETHE SECOND RULE OF WRITING

Quotations – The Comma

When a quotation is introduced, the comma goes

outside the quotation marks.

The Gingerbread Man said, “You can’t catch me.”

To close a quotation, the comma goes inside.

“You can’t catch me,” said the Gingerbread Man.

Quotations – ending marks

Provided they’re part of the quotation, question marks and

exclamation points always go inside.

The Gingerbread Man said, “You can’t catch me!”

Question marks and exclamation points go outside if they’re not part

of the quotation.

Did the Gingerbread Man really say, “You can’t catch me”?

Quotations – One Final

Thing!

Always capitalize the first word of the person’s exact words.

Fox thought to himself, "That gingerbread man would

be good to eat.”

YOUR TOPIC

Write a partial autobiography, focusing on a

specific period of your life, such as elementary

school, early childhood, even infancy (though you

may have to be creative for that one).