article review

ENGL 1143: Introduction Requirements and Examples

Your intro paragraph is due by 9:00 pm on Wednesday, June 13. (No drafts after Tuesday at noon, which should be emailed to me at [email protected].)

When composing this paragraph, please keep these requirements in mind:

--Double space and use Times New Roman, 12 point font.

--Use the “front door approach” (1) and consciously use a method of development (2). (See LB Brief pages 57-59.)

--Also be a “stickler for continuity” and connect your sentences and ideas (3).

--Try not to exceed 150 words (note the word count). I would shoot for 125 words.

--Compose a clear title.

--Indent your paragraph.

--Introduce author (usually last name only) and story using proper form. (“Greasy Lake,” for example)

--Avoid lengthy quotations in your intro paragraph; quotations appear more frequently in body paragraphs.

--End the paragraph with your thesis statement and forecast (or preview or blueprint) your argument with two or three “subject segments” (4).

While you are responsible for all of the above, most of the subjective grading will be based on the four numbered requirements.

Topics to consider:

A long-time contention of mine is that most people enjoy movies that feature likeable characters. In other words, moviegoers like Forrest Gump because they like Forrest Gump. While maybe not the most sophisticated analysis, this type of impression still—without doubt—significantly impacts many of our aesthetic judgments. With that in mind, don’t some readers enjoy “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” because they like Jackson, despite his flaws? Conversely, other readers dislike the story because they dislike Jackson. So why do you like or dislike Alexie’s narrator?

Or you can compose an intro paragraph using the prompt for the body paragraph on “Greasy Lake:

The first person narrator in “Greasy Lake” cultivates the idea that he and friends are “dangerous characters” (57), yet the textual evidence suggests otherwise. So how do the narrator and his friends undermine their self-proclaimed “bad”-ness?

When in doubt, check Trimble or email me.

[email protected]

“A&P”’s Sammy: A Despicable Character

I sat next to Sammy in fourth period chemistry during my senior year of high school. Actually, his name wasn’t Sammy. But Brad (his real name) reminds me of Sammy, the narrator of John Updike’s short story “A&P.” Naturally, Brad cheated off of the girl next to him and made an “A.” I did my own work and struggled to earn a “C.” But Brad thought the rules were for others; he thought he was special, above it all. I couldn’t stand him. When I read “A&P,” I realized that, for similar reasons, I dislike Sammy, too, mainly because he’s mean-spirited and arrogant. (103 words--method of development: anecdote)

Now, you folks can certainly use an anecdote, but I don’t want ideas similar to my intro paragraph: no imaginary students, no chemistry class, no nothing like the above, got it? In case you were wondering, in my “Sammy” essay, I use the Trimble intro paragraph on the middle of page 26 as a template for development and organization; I don’t echo the content or sentence structure.

Below is another example, this one with a different developmental strategy:

Sammy: An Arrogant Character

Why do I dislike Sammy so much, the narrator of Updike’s “A&P”? I was nineteen once, and no doubt, I shared a number of Sammy’s character traits, even his most obnoxious ones. Yet in middle age, I have become increasingly intolerant of what I once considered boyish behavior. So Sammy’s juvenile sense of humor not only doesn’t amuse me; it actually offends me. Particularly offensive are Sammy’s attempts at cleverness, which stem largely from “put-down” lines. This tactic reveals exactly where Sammy feels he stands in the world: above everyone else. Indeed, Sammy considers himself superior to the other characters in “A&P,” and this arrogant attitude toward the store’s patrons and his co-workers is why I find him so annoying. (120 words—method of development: question)

In my generalized character evaluation, my main idea is that Sammy is annoying. Then my major points of support, in order, will be the store’s patrons, then Sammy’s co-workers.

Note that the subject segments only “hint at” the major supportive ideas. Each idea that I list does not necessarily mean that it will manifest itself in a single paragraph, right? In fact, each idea above will likely be addressed in two body paragraphs.