WRITING AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH FOR LITERARY ANALYSIS

WRITING AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH FOR LITERARY ANALYSIS (ENGLISH 125 – SCOTT)

The basic components of a successful introductory paragraph are topic statements, a method statement, and a thesis statement.

TOPIC STATEMENTS – Topic sentences contain information necessary to establish the topic of the paper.  Only relevant information should be included in the introductory paragraph.  When determining whether the information you are including is relevant or not, consider whether you will be referring to this information within the body of your paper (either directly or indirectly).  If not, the information is unnecessary, and should not be included in the introductory paragraph. Publication information on the texts to be discussed, particularly specific dates and country of origin, must be included in the topic sentences.

SAMPLE TOPIC SENTENCES:

“Is There Nowhere Else Where We Can Meet?” by Nadine Gordimer, published in 1949, is set in South Africa during the period of racial segregation dictated by apartheid.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote his poem “Babi Yar” in 1960 as a protest against the Russian government’s refusal to acknowledge the massacre that took place on that spot.

Martin Niemöller, who wrote “First They Came For the Jews,” was himself a political prisoner who was imprisoned at the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937-45.

METHOD STATEMENT(S) – A method sentence (or sentences, if more than one is necessary) serves the function of informing your reader of the method to be applied in your analysis (i.e. What will be the focus of your essay? What elements of theme, structure, historical/cultural context, will you discuss?).  Method statement(s) should contain information about the authors and titles of the texts to be analyzed.

SAMPLE METHOD SENTENCES:

I will compare the descriptions of the treatment of persons of Japanese descent, particularly children, during the Internment as a prominent motif in the poems “What do I remember of the Evacuation” and “Internment.”

My paper will examine the historical context of the Parsley Massacre in Haiti in terms of how the events leading to the massacre echo aspects of the Holocaust of the 1930s-40s.

THESIS STATEMENT – The thesis statement usually comes at the end of the introductory paragraph and indicates to the reader what conclusion you have drawn from conducting the analysis that makes up the body of your paper.  Your thesis represents the findings of your analysis.  All of your points and examples should clearly tie back to the thesis.

SAMPLE THESIS STATEMENT:

When viewed in relation to the historical context of the Holocaust, each poem emphasizes the importance of remembrance by documenting the stories of individuals or families who were tragically affected by their experiences in the concentration camps.