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Planning an Introduction and Conclusion

Once you have written your thesis and your topic sentences and planned out your body paragraphs, you have set yourself on a path toward a successful essay. 

Now, plan how you want to begin and end your essay.  The first and last sentences your audience sees are very important.  The first sentence or two in your introduction are called the hook or attention-getter.  The hook should grab the attention of your readers and make them care about your essay.  Make the hook relevant to their lives.  You can do this in a number of ways.  Here are some effective ideas for hooks:

• a provocative question or hypothetical scenario
• a powerful statistic
• a shocking fact
• a strong statement
• an anecdote (very short story) or the beginning of a story you will finish telling in the body paragraphs

You can use similar techniques at the end of your essay in your clincher, the last sentence or two of the conclusion.  Use your clincher to emphasize the relevance of your opinion to the readers and leave them thinking about what you have told them. 

On your planning page, jot down a plan for your hook and clincher. 

Study the Introduction and Conclusion Tutorial on the next two pages to give you a little more information about how to write these two important paragraphs in an essay.