Note that student work varies significantly from one assignment to the next, even within the
same mark range. The intent behind providing samples such as this one is to guide
students in recognizing key criteria of assignments and in assessing their own work.
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION – SATISFACTORY
ESSAY QUESTION: Discuss the role of fantasy in Umberto Eco's novel, Baudolino.
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Strengths:
• This introduction is clearly written (communication).
Tips for Improvement:
• Establish another level of significance. The thesis seems somewhat factual as it sums
up an obvious situation (thinking).
• Before introducing the novel and author, outline the general argument more
completely (application).
• Provide a more thorough outline of arguments (application).
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The Impossible Dream
Can insanity help us keep our sanity? Often in life people cling to absurd and
unrealistic dreams in an effort to keep living, to avoid giving up, regardless of the
harshness of life. This kind of scenario plays itself out in Umberto Eco's novel,
Baudolino. The novel's main character, appropriately named Baudolino, often seems to
use insanity in the form of outrageous, absurd fantasies to keep him fighting for what he
believes in, to keep him alive. He tends to use fiction as an escape from reality, and he
influences his friends to do the same. Two of his fictions, the Grasal and the kingdom of
Prester John, reflect his attempts to avoid an unsatisfactory existence. Therefore,
Baudolino's elaborate fantasies show the escape from reality it provides him and his
friends.