The Anatomy of a STELLAR Essay
Part One: The Introduction
An important skill in life is being able to express oneself, both verbally and in writing. And an important part of self expression is the ability to express why it is that you hold certain opinions or have certain preferences. To this end, we ask students to back up what they say with details, reasons, and examples, while also looking at the other side of an issue or at other opinions other than their own.
Of course, we also want our writing to be interesting for the reader, in this case, the reader being myself and Dean Teacher. An important aspect of this is writing a good, concise introduction (opening paragraph), and that is what I will focus on here. I will address the other aspects of a good essay in future blog posts. So, the aim of the introduction is to, first, introduce the overall, general topic of what it is you will be writing about, slowly warming up the reader and leading them to your ultimate and actual topic (your opinion, preference, etc.), which the writer will state at the END of the introductory paragraph. We don’t want to just jump in with our opinion in line one, just as you wouldn’t open up a conversation about movies with: “My favorite movie is Harry Potter.” No! It’s too abrupt, right? We want an introduction that will inform the reader, shock the reader, entertain the reader, or create interest in the reader’s mind in some fashion, with regard to the GENERAL topic, and then lead into the ACTUAL, intended topic of the essay at the end of the introduction. For example, for our purposes here, let’s say the topic of our essay is “My favorite season.” First, I need to give my essay a TITLE, which of course needs to be capitalized, so I will title it, Summer: The Best of All Seasons Then I will go down to the next line, and indent 5 spaces, of course, since it is the first line of the paragraph. So here I go. A sample introduction might read as follows:
Spring is the time of year when the trees and flowers come alive and the air is fresh and filled with the sound of birds and bees abuzz. Fall is for hiking and for enjoying a picnic in the park, while admiring the colorful fall leaves. Winter is a conundrum. It is the coldest of all seasons, yet fills our hearts with warmth as we enjoy the white blanket of snow, and the joy of Christmas and greet the New Year. And then there is Summer, which many people detest, but for me, it is the best season of them all.
So there you see, I introduced the topic of just ‘the SEASONS.’ Yes, the ESSAY topic is ‘My favorite season,’ but I want to lead into that topic, and express my opinion at the end of my introductory paragraph about the main, overarching topic: the seasons. Let’s try another one on another topic. Let’s take a topic that I have used in a few classes now: Which is more important for good health: eating healthy food or exercise? Now again, that is our topic. My opinion is that both are important, but eating healthy food is more important. Let’s give our essay a title:
How to Live Long and Be Healthy
And now I will LEAD INTO our topic and express my opinion towards the end of my introductory paragraph, which may read something like this (just as an example):
Vitamin supplements, herbal supplements, gym memberships, saunas, miracle patches, yoga, pilates, juicers, organic foods...Multiple billions or even trillions of dollars are spent each year in an attempt to be healthy, and there is never-ending debate as to just what is the best way to go about it. We will not even get into the visceral and heated debate topics around what constitutes a healthy diet: carnivore vs. vegetarian, coffee is good vs. coffee is bad, eggs are the best food around, or eggs will kill you. r My opinion is that they are both important, of course, but that the foods we eat are most impactful and important in determining our overall health. Let me explain why.
Now, that is a fairly long introduction, but that is just to illustrate how I would like my students to LEAD INTO the topic of the essay by first addressing the overarching topic, which here is: How to be healthy. This can be approached in any number of ways. I want my students to think creatively, and to put THEIR thoughts into their work. My job is not to tell my students what to think, but to teach them HOW to think.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, to those who have taken the time to read, and I will be following up with part 2 and part 3 on this topic in the weeks and months to come.
The Anatomy of a STELLAR Essay
Part One: The Introduction
An important skill in life is being able to express oneself, both verbally and in writing. And an important part of self expression is the ability to express why it is that you hold certain opinions or have certain preferences. To this end, we ask students to back up what they say with details, reasons, and examples, while also looking at the other side of an issue or at other opinions other than their own.
Of course, we also want our writing to be interesting for the reader, in this case, the reader being myself and Dean Teacher. An important aspect of this is writing a good, concise introduction (opening paragraph), and that is what I will focus on here. I will address the other aspects of a good essay in future blog posts. So, the aim of the introduction is to, first, introduce the overall, general topic of what it is you will be writing about, slowly warming up the reader and leading them to your ultimate and actual topic (your opinion, preference, etc.), which the writer will state at the END of the introductory paragraph. We don’t want to just jump in with our opinion in line one, just as you wouldn’t open up a conversation about movies with: “My favorite movie is Harry Potter.” No! It’s too abrupt, right? We want an introduction that will inform the reader, shock the reader, entertain the reader, or create interest in the reader’s mind in some fashion, with regard to the GENERAL topic, and then lead into the ACTUAL, intended topic of the essay at the end of the introduction. For example, for our purposes here, let’s say the topic of our essay is “My favorite season.” First, I need to give my essay a TITLE, which of course needs to be capitalized, so I will title it, Summer: The Best of All Seasons Then I will go down to the next line, and indent 5 spaces, of course, since it is the first line of the paragraph. So here I go. A sample introduction might read as follows:
Spring is the time of year when the trees and flowers come alive and the air is fresh and filled with the sound of birds and bees abuzz. Fall is for hiking and for enjoying a picnic in the park, while admiring the colorful fall leaves. Winter is a conundrum. It is the coldest of all seasons, yet fills our hearts with warmth as we enjoy the white blanket of snow, and the joy of Christmas and greet the New Year. And then there is Summer, which many people detest, but for me, it is the best season of them all.
So there you see, I introduced the topic of just ‘the SEASONS.’ Yes, the ESSAY topic is ‘My favorite season,’ but I want to lead into that topic, and express my opinion at the end of my introductory paragraph about the main, overarching topic: the seasons. Let’s try another one on another topic. Let’s take a topic that I have used in a few classes now: Which is more important for good health: eating healthy food or exercise? Now again, that is our topic. My opinion is that both are important, but eating healthy food is more important. Let’s give our essay a title:
How to Live Long and Be Healthy
And now I will LEAD INTO our topic and express my opinion towards the end of my introductory paragraph, which may read something like this (just as an example):
Vitamin supplements, herbal supplements, gym memberships, saunas, miracle patches, yoga, pilates, juicers, organic foods...Multiple billions or even trillions of dollars are spent each year in an attempt to be healthy, and there is never-ending debate as to just what is the best way to go about it. We will not even get into the visceral and heated debate topics around what constitutes a healthy diet: carnivore vs. vegetarian, coffee is good vs. coffee is bad, eggs are the best food around, or eggs will kill you. r My opinion is that they are both important, of course, but that the foods we eat are most impactful and important in determining our overall health. Let me explain why.
Now, that is a fairly long introduction, but that is just to illustrate how I would like my students to LEAD INTO the topic of the essay by first addressing the overarching topic, which here is: How to be healthy. This can be approached in any number of ways. I want my students to think creatively, and to put THEIR thoughts into their work. My job is not to tell my students what to think, but to teach them HOW to think.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, to those who have taken the time to read, and I will be following up with part 2 and part 3 on this topic in the weeks and months to come.