Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Interpreting the question: Developing a plan
ExL@DCU
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Developing the introductionAnother advantage of writing a coherent core statement (or topic sentence) is that you can use it to develop your introduction. As well as introducing your topic and your central issue or argument you should also explicitly establish the context, the frame within which you will approach your subject (since the subject does not exist in a vacuum). In this way you simultaneously narrow your topic. Below is an example.When Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Madame Bovary,
was published in 1857, critics condemned the book as immoral. The
novel was subsequently banned on sexual grounds. In the trial, Imperial
Advocate Ernest Pinard said, "No gauze for him, no veils - he gives us
nature in all her nudity and crudity."
The paragraph would go on, but as you can see, Flaubert’s novel (the topic, or subject) is introduced in the context of the critical and moral controversy its publication engendered. Finally, many students ask what it is that makes a good opening. There are numerous options: you could start with a quotation, an image, a question or an anecdote. The most important thing to remember here is that the opening you choose must be directly related to your focus. There is no point in using a snappy quotation that does not in any way help establish context for your writing assignment or that later plays no part in your thinking. This will only mislead readers and blur the focus. In order to be as direct and specific as you can be you should avoid two kinds of openings:
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