Q In this worksheet, you are providing a draft of your introductory paragraph. Do your best on this draft – I will be looking for major issues and may only briefly identify minor issues, if necessary. Refer to the intro paragraph examples and the textbook critique example in the content folder “Assignment Examples” to get an idea of how the intro should look. Follow my three points of advice, and you will have a strong introductory paragraph. 1. Keep the intro simple. It should contain only 3 things: • A line or two explaining your topic • A line or two explaining what the textbook says about your topic • A line or two that claims the textbook was effective or ineffective with your topic 2. Begin RIGHT AWAY with your topic. If your topic is the founding of Detroit, then your first sentence should be something like “The founding of the settlement of Detroit in 1701 …” 3. Remember that a thesis must be debatable. If there’s no debate, there’s no thesis. Some students simply write “The author omitted details.” That is not a thesis statement since readers already understand that a textbook provides a general summary, not a detailed summary. A debatable thesis would look like this: “Because the author omitted important details, the textbook was ineffective in its presentation of <topic>.” Certainly, let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Don’t forget I’m here to help.
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