Name:__________________________________ Mrs. Daniel Block ________________________ English 11 Honors Date:___________________________________ Writing Organized Paragraphs Practice-Introductions Below is an introductory paragraph. Read through it, and then follow the directions/answer the questions that follow. The story I am talking about in this essay is a creation myth. This means it tells about how the earth was created. In the story a Sky Woman falls through a hole in the Sky World and down to earth. When she is there all the animals help her to make the earth. She walks around the earth and grows the crops, and eventually has a daughter. Her daughter has twins, and helps her mother grow the earth. These twins always fight and have conflicts. Does the twin’s mother symbolize Mother Nature? In this essay I will answer that question. 1. Highlight/underline the author’s attention grabber. What feedback can you give the author about their attention grabber? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Does this introduction have a thesis statement? _____Yes _______ No. If yes, highlight it and give feedback: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ If no, what can the author do to fix/add a thesis statement? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Does the author provide sufficient background information? ______ Yes _______ No What feedback can you give the author about how to improve their use of background information: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Now that you have critiqued the above introductory paragraph, rewrite it given the feedback you generated above. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Now, switch papers with a partner and do a quick “peer workshop” of your partner’s introduction. 1. Highlight their attention grabber and tell them what works/what they can improve about it: ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. Do they give adequate background information, including title and author? ____ Yes _____No 3. Highlight/underline their thesis statement. What feedback can you give about their new thesis? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________