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A. Start with a good “hook”
1. rhetorical question - just not “have you
ever…”
2. attention grabbing image
3. make it sound like you want to write
it
1. Top yellow part – the hook - broad, not focused on
the actual work itself - just a similar idea or
something INTERESTING
2. Middle orange part - transition into talking about
the work - give the title and author
3. Bottom pointed white part - thesis statement that
answers the prompt
SHOULD BE BETWEEN THREE AND SIX
SENTENCES LONG
A. Flip the candy corn from the intro
1. rephrase the thesis (don’t say it exactly
the same way) - white part
2. recap the argument and broaden back
out to more universal ideas - orange
3. leave the reader knowing the paper is
over - yellow.
1. Introduce new ideas in the conclusion
2. THANK the reader for reading your essay
3. Contradict your argument
4. End with “The End”
Space is limited! Make these changes:
For STAAR intros – skip the middle orange part. Start with that
attention grabbing sentence or two; then, CLEARLY state your
thesis.
For STAAR conclusions – rephrase your thesis like always;
then, ask yourself, “Why does this idea matter?” End your
conclusion with a statement that tries to answer that question.
DO NOT tell the reader what to do (that’s for the 10th grade
essay) but help them understand the importance of your idea.