The most important thing is a clear, strong THEME that is universal and succinct (worded as an assertion/claim, as we have practiced throughout the last 2 units) that you can PROVE.
For additional support, here are 2 past students' examples of introductions for this task:
EXAMPLE 1 (fiction text/novel):
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a science fiction dystopian novel. Novels in this genre depict imaginary worlds and the inner workings of their society as pragmatic, and often times restrictive. Written in the mid-1980s, Atwood’s novel explores the consequences of an annulment of women’s rights. The greatest feminist accomplishments of the 1970s — widespread access to contraception, the legalization of abortion, and the increasing political influence of female voters — have all been nullified. Women in Gilead, the novel's fictitious setting, are not only forbidden to vote, they are forbidden to read or write. Moreover, due to dangerously low reproductive rates, handmaids — consisting of all fertile women — are appointed to bear the children of elite couples who have trouble conceiving. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale showcases a lack of women’s rights and its negative effects.
STRUCTURE
BODY 1:
-- TS should set up this theme again and how it is conveyed
-- SEEL structure x3-4:
* use various elements of literature (ex: symbolism of names of handmaids, like Offred, the protagonist, or other minor characters like Ofwarren, etc.)
* make sure ideas actually prove your theme (ex: HOW does the symbol of the handmaids' names show the oppression of women, in this text? - Name as a symbol of individual identity, but these are replaced with names of the handmaids' commanders + "Of" = which denotes property and ownership of the handmaids who 'belong' to these men, thus symbolizing their lack of individuality, freedom, and the stripping of their rights)
-- use quotations & CITE them (MLA)
BODY 2:
-- TS should transition between your text's theme and how this is universal timeless
-- link to article/report/study/historical or current event, etc. - WITH SOURCE
-- use quotations & CITE them (MLA)EXAMPLE 2 (non-fiction text)
-- make clear parallels between the text and your real-world example
CONCLUSION:
-- make sure your theme is re-stated
-- make sure parallels between text and real-world/universal link have been made clear
-- extend out -- so what? What can we learn? What does this show us about humanity? What can we take away from this?
EXAMPLE 2 ( Non - Fiction Text):
“The most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture across the globe has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters, but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself”, states the blurb of Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche written by acclaimed journalist Ethan Watters. In his book, Watters explores the globalization of American based anorexia, schizophrenia, PTSD, and depression mental illnesses. He reveals the impact which the American definitions of these illnesses have had on other foreign societies. Watters introduces the concept of advanced western science and technology influencing less economically stable countries to embrace foreign ideas without considering the potential effects on their cultural background. The author proves this point several times in his book, whether it be the use of American collected data to push a new antidepressant in Japan, or the United States themselves influencing the introduction of mental illnesses in foreign countries. In the book Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, Ethan Watters develops the theme that less economically stable countries adopt foreign ideas based on the advanced western technology and science without considering the potential cultural effects.
STRUCTURE
Follow structure as the one given for Example 1, above, but with different examples, of course.
** Note that a non-fiction text will make elements of literature more difficult to apply, so you'll need to delve into areas of style and structure, narrative techniques used, anecdotes that may be symbolic or analogies, etc.
Again, see the task sheet for details and our General Resources section of this website for general help/review with SEE structure, citation, and more.
Quotation integration help:
http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/quotes.htm