Writing the Introductory Paragraph
General Information
Specific Point
Sample Introductory Paragraphs:
From Nicholle Mills’ Research Paper: The King and I: A Fight to Rule
Rodger and Hammerstein’s The King and Ihas dazzled audiences for more than fifty years. With elaborate sets and engaging characters, the source of success appears to be evident. However, hidden within Hammerstein’s romantic script lies the true story: an eternal historical pattern. This iconic musical uses vibrant color to mask the chronicle of government intervention and Westernization in not only Siam but also many “third-world” countries. Anna Leonownes, King Mongkut, and Prince Chualongkorn represent a caustic pattern of Western empiricism throughout history.
From Jenny Phillips’ Research Paper: Mary Magdalene: The Face of Discrimination against Women in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown illuminates the “greatest cover up in human history” (249), and the truth that could possibly weaken the Church’s power. Mary Magdalene, the alleged infamous prostitute, was in fact the wife of Jesus Christ, the mother of his daughter, and the successor of the Christian Church. But the male-dominated Church denied the facts. Church leaders could not allow the power of the Church to fall into the hands of a woman. To protect itself, the Church tried to eliminate the evidence of Jesus’ bloodline and any proof of Mary’s importance. By slandering Mary and her status, the Church denigrated the female gender and created a religion that oppresses women. In Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, the rejection of Mary Magdalene’s teachings, as well as her marriage to Jesus, parallels the discrimination of women in the Christian faith.
From Lauren Robertson’s Research Paper: Schizophrenia in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe was first published in 1843. The story, one of Poe’s most famous, is a psychological work about a mad narrator who claims to have killed the old man for whom he cares (Wilson and Lazarri 343). The narrator displays signs of a psychological illness; he even admits to having a disease, though he believes “the disease had sharpened [his] senses – not destroyed – not dulled them” (Poe). In actuality, the narrator’s illogical beliefs and distorted perceptions suggest that he suffers from schizophrenia. Through this mad narrator, Poe is able to interest and emotionally disturb the reader, allowing the story to meet Poe’s standards of success.
From Chris Green’s Research Paper: Ineffective Civil Disobedience
Since the beginning of civilization, humanity has faced issues of inequality and injustice. The victims of these issues demand their rights be met, but without any substantial leverage, their demands go unanswered. In 1849, the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau published “In Resistance to Civil Government,” an essay in which he introduces a method for the people to enact change in government. Thoreau advocates non-violent resistance to unjust laws through non-cooperation (Yarborough). This strategy for nonviolent resistance was highly effective in the hands of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. against democratic governments; however, Nelson Mandela was force to abandon nonviolence in his fight against a racist republic in South Africa. The concept of civil disobedience that Thoreau outlines throughout “In Resistance to Civil Government” may not be a plausible strategy in non-democratic governments.