Hi I'm Joe and today we're looking at how to write an introduction and
conclusion in an essay.
For this lesson, I've chosen to focus on opinion essays.
First, let's take a look at the essay structure.
An opinion essay is often a five-paragraph essay with two body
paragraphs and an opposing paragraph.
And the start and end of the essay is known as the introduction
and the conclusion.
You might have to write an opinion essay on a topic like this:
Does social media have a positive influence on society?
It's important to plan your ideas so you are clear about your opinion on this
matter. Here you can see that I've written two reasons why social media
has a positive influence on society. And one reason why it does not.
The benefits are that users can connect to people from different backgrounds
from all over the world.
And it can be a way to organise social change, like a donation drive.
But the downside of social media is that people can become distracted
from their everyday life so they're spending too much time on social media
platforms. So,
how can we use this information to plan an introduction and a conclusion?
First, take a look at the introduction.
You can see we have two parts:
a general statement where we introduce the topic and a more general
idea. Then like a recipe,
we list the ingredients of our essay with a thesis statement.
We want the shape of our introduction to be like a cone going from more
general to more specific.
So how do we know what our more general idea is?
First, let's imagine our topic was dogs. You can see my dog here, Tucker.
He's a Schnoodle. This is more specific than the topic, dogs.
And the more general idea could be animals or pets.
So what could our more general and specific ideas be for our topic,
social media? Here you can see that if you want to write more, generally,
it can be technology or communication or media.
But going the other way and becoming specific,
you might want to mention some specific social media platforms like
Facebook, Instagram and others.
So going back to our introduction paragraph,
let's look at the general statement which you can use in your introduction to
start your essay.
A good structure to follow could be this one: subject verb,
the rest of the clause, conjunction, subject, verb,
and the rest of the sentence. So here's a general statement I've come up with.
Communication plays a crucial role in modern society and social
media has led to a revolution in the way we communicate.
Your thesis statement is slightly more specific than your general statement.
This incorporates your three ideas in your essay,
giving the reader an idea of what to expect. So for this,
a good structure to follow could be:
This essay will discuss how, subject, verb,
the rest of the clause, noun phrase. However,
subject, verb, and the rest of the sentence.
And your sample sentence can be:
This essay will discuss how social media can encourage connection
and positive social change.
Those are my two ideas in favor of my argument on why social media is
good. And then I could continue on like this:
However,
many people become distracted from important
aspects of their lives.
This provides the opposing perspective and this concludes my
introduction paragraph.
So remember,
general statement and thesis statement make up your introduction paragraph.
What about your conclusion? Well,
we can use the same ideas to write our conclusion.
Conclusions are also made up of two parts,
a summary and an opinion and final thought.
The opinion sentence tells us which ideas are stronger and finishes the
paragraph by giving the reader something more to think about.
So let's take a look at the final paragraph in detail.
You can see that I'll use different language to express the same ideas.
The summary simply restates the three ideas we used in our
thesis statement.
You could use the following structure for your summary statement: In conclusion,
this essay has explored the way in which, subject, verb,
the rest of the clause, and, subject,
verb and the rest of the sentence. Conversely, subject,
verb and the rest of the sentence.
So your summary statement could read: In conclusion,
this essay has explored the way in which social media often
promotes understanding
and can drive positive social movements.
Conversely,
social media can create a disconnection from the immediate
present. Now, in terms of the opinion sentence,
I chose the benefits of social media as being the strongest side because I
had two points that support it.
And I would write two paragraphs supporting the idea that social
media has a positive influence on society.
The opinion and final thought will tell the reader which side of the argument is
stronger and leave them with something to think about.
The structure you could follow for this is:
All things considered, the benefits, in this case,
of topic outweigh the drawbacks.
In the future, subject, verb and the rest of the sentence.
And here's how that might look as a sentence. All things considered,
the benefits of social media far outweigh the drawbacks.
In the future,
social media will likely continue to change and
become more influential in society.
Great work today.
You're all set to write introduction and conclusion paragraphs in an essay but
here are some things to note.
Remember that this is only one way of writing an opinion essay and the specific
structures detailed here can be written in other ways. As you practise,
try to keep exploring different ways of writing academic sentences.
Remember also to use synonyms.
This is the best way to show that you've developed a strong vocabulary and avoid
repetition.
So instead of saying connection over and over again throughout your essay,
you can use other words like relationships or mutual understanding.
Finally, remember to learn those linking devices and their correct spelling.
So it's to conclude not to conclusion.
In conclusion, not in conclude.
It's very easy to get them wrong and readers will notice them very quickly.
Thanks for joining me today.
Have a go at constructing your own introduction and conclusion paragraphs using
what you've learnt today. Bye.