Introduction – Must Have Parts

Set up your introduction in the following way:

Persuasive Writing

1. Topic sentence – provide a brief background of the topic (can be 1 sentence).
2. Stance – this should be very clear and not use different words that can change the meaning.
3. Signposting – only signpost the ‘claim’ of your two arguments (not conclusion or reorientation).

Discussion Writing

1. Topic sentence – provide a brief background of the topic (can be 1-2 sentences).
2. State the two sides of the issue.
3. Provide the claims of both sides.

Templates

Below are sample introductions that you can use as templates and adapt.

Textbooks should be for free to all students. Do you agree or disagree? Argue your point.

The cost of textbooks, essential reading for students from primary school all the way to university, is a sore point for many parents and students who lament the cost of their education. While it is costly, textbooks should not be made free for all students. This is because firstly, students are the direct beneficiaries of the textbooks and secondly, providing such a service leads to wasteful practices.

Everyone should have to do mandatory volunteering in high school. Do you agree or disagree? Argue your point.

Volunteering is a worthy community activity that benefits both the giver and the receiver. Everyone should do mandatory volunteering in high school because firstly, it helps students develop a sense of community spirit and secondly, it puts students’ free time to good use.

Graffiti has both benefits and disadvantages. Discuss.

Cities, pools, subways—graffiti is everywhere in our urban landscape. While the majority of graffiti is tagging there are instances of graffiti that have been celebrated as art. Graffiti divides between those that celebrate it for its expression of emotion and those that deride it as destruction of property.

~ By Adara, adapted by Vi Nguyen to make it a discussion introduction.

Enhancing with variation

You know what they say… first impressions count. Want to make your introduction stand out?

Make sure your first sentence is interesting. How? It’s about content rather than writing (although the writing supports it). Think of something unique about the topic by going through a series of questions such as:

• What happened?
• Why did it happen?
• What did it lead to?
• Are there any unique ways we can express it?

While ‘big’ words should be used carefully, if you’re going to use it anywhere—the first sentence is where you’ll make a big impact.

Let’s look at some examples:

The Internet, though widely used, has a sinister side that brings out the worst in human nature—trolling, a practice that has devastating consequences.

Technology is like a double-edged sword; it is useful on the one hand but always comes with a negative side effect. While technology is empowering, it is expensive, time consuming and unhealthy. All reason why technology should not be made a school subject.

The subject ICT is becoming one of the most important and vital fields in our future generation. As the years have passed, many of our jobs have been replaced with machines and technology. It is predicted that majority of our jobs in the future will mainly require coding, which is an area in ICT.

Now, how can you create an interesting introduction:

1. Think deeply about the issue by asking questions
2. Select the most interesting ‘finding’
3. Write it down using excellent language—"liken it to something else e.g. trojan horse” and use ‘big words’ where appropriate.

Key Rules to remember:

• Essential parts need to be in the introduction as a minimum.
• Use templates to work through quickly.
• Make your first sentence a stand-out!

Practice time!

Now, it's your turn to practice.

The questions in this checkpoint are provided to help you develop your writing skills.

To do your practice questions, click on the below to download your question paper. You can print it out or work from the electronic version. We do recommend that you write your answers by hand in a notebook or on paper.

PDW-CP10-Questions.pdf

Once you have completed your questions, review the suggested solutions. You can download (and print if you wish) the PDF suggested solutions and/or watch the suggested solutions video (all below).

Once you're done with reviewing the practice question suggested solutions, move on to the next checkpoint.

PDW-CP10-Answers.pdf

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