Monday, February 5, 2007

Today we are going to look at essay attention-getters. Simply follow the information below:

Essay Attention-Getters
Writing Introductions and Conclusions

Have you ever seen a cartoon showing a dog being led to a car with their owner saying something like “Come on, Buffy! We are going for a car ride!” The irony is that, unbeknown to poor Buffy, he’s on his way to the vets to be neutered. He was sucked in by a good opener; by the time he figures it out, it’ll too late….. No matter what you are writing about in an essay, you won’t have much success getting the reader to side with you if they fall asleep from the get-go! All too often the introduction is simply… boring. Effective essays begin with effective introductions – the type that makes the reader WANT to keep reading on.
The “sit up and take notice” paper (as compared to the “deep sigh and chuck in wastebasket” paper) is best attained by beginning not with a statement of your subject, but with a personal response type of situation (no use of “I” though please if it is a critical literary essay). This is known as the “Attention Getter.”

An attention-getter is a sentence or two designed to get the reader interested in what you have to say.

There are several kinds of attention-getters to choose from:

interesting incident or anecdote related to your subject
statement of opinion that you intend to challenge
definition
quotation
little-known or striking fact.

Whatever choice you make, you want to be sure it suits the direction and tone of your essay.

EXERCISE #1

Read each of the following and determine what type of attention-getters they are. Write the number off to the side.

From an Essay about the importance out having emotional outlets….

I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all. We’ve all known people who talk to themselves, people who sometimes squinch their faces into horrible grimaces when they believe no one is watching, people who have some hysterical fear – of snakes, the dark, the tight place, the long drop… and, of course, those final worms and grubs that are waiting so patiently underground. When we pay our ten or twelve bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row centre in a theatre showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare.

From an essay about making amends…

Coming home from work the other day, I did what I always do, unlock the door, assess the mess in the living room, and lecture the dog on what is and is not a chew toy. Lately, it seems my shoes, especially my leather ones, have held her attention.
After all of this, I headed into my office to check the email. This little act a couple of weeks ago put me on a path that I would never have taken on my own – that of yearbook sleuth.
There was a message was from my brother asking if I could return the yearbooks.

From an essay about attaining world peace…

Peace is not the absence of war: peace is the absence of fear, peace is the presence of justice.. Peace, in fact, is a consequence. As it was defined in 1936 by R.B. Gregg, peace is “a bi-product of the persistent application of social truth and justice, and the strong and intelligent application of love; the price of peace is the price of justice.”

From an essay about overcoming difficulties

I am thankful that I have never had to experience real sorrow. I hope that I will not have to experience it for a long time, but I guess it is inevitable. The word sorrow always makes me think of geese and how, if you shoot one (or one of the life long parties dies), its mate becomes depressed. It will stop eating and die or will allow itself to become a victim of a gun or a predator without a struggle. To me, that is true sorrow; a hurt so bad it overshadows all aspects of one’s life; including survival.

From an essay dealing with the topic of why the Jews didn’t put up protests to Hitler early enough to stop the Holocaust…

There is a little known, albeit fascinating fact that demonstrates an extreme when it comes to tolerance. If a frog is put in a pan of water at room temperature, he will sit there rather placidly. If, for the sake of experimentation, the pan is then slowly heated up, the frog will still sit there. Taken to the extreme, the frog will sit in the pan until he is boiled to death. Who knows what goes through a frog’s mind at a moment like this? The reality is that if he does have a thought that it might be time to jump out – to make a last ditch attempt for freedom, it is probably already too late.

EXERCISE #2
Below are a number of themes (most, in fact) that Alberta Education has has thrown at students for their critical analytical response essay.
Examine them and see how many are duplicates in their meaning (cross the duplicates out). What you will see is the number of choices they will throw at you is really not that big.
Divide up what is left between you and a partner and write an attention-getter for each one. (We ended up only doing five per group and they were worked on in unison). I expect that each of you will use the different kinds at least once (though you may then rely on one type that you like).

Risk Taking
Survival
Struggle to overcome human isolation
Turning points in life
Influence of an ideal on individual behaviour
Responding to challenges
Desire to escape
Isolation
Adversity on the human spirit
Effect or impact of significant experience on an individual’s life
Risk taking
Individual(s) response to challenge
Ability to be resourceful
Significance of an individual’s perspective
Individual’s ability to adapt to situations in his or her life
Characters’ responses to unfamiliar situations in their lives
Individual differences
Self-fulfillment
Self-respect
Struggle to maintain identity though commitment to a belief, cause, or goal
Effect of external or internal limitations on people’s lives
The outsider
Human imagination
Impact of individual choices
Individual responses to significant dilemmas
Dreams, goals, or ideals
Threatening forces
Conflict
Passion
Turning points
Pursuit of ideals
Perseverance
Circumstances that compel
Difficult situations
Desire to act independently with the need for security