Building Bridges
A bridge is one or two sentences that connect your hook/lead to your thesis. A bridge will
contain limiting information that specifically ties to the purpose of your essay. For example, it
might state the names of people you are comparing, the issue you are researching, or the topic
you will pursue. Although a bridge limits information from your lead, it does not limit as much
as your single-sentence thesis (claim).
The bridge is just as it sounds: a connector from one place to another.
Activity #1: Read the following sample introductions. Circle the bridge and underline the thesis.
Remember that a bridge is where you bring up the topic of your paper, but nothing too specific.
1st Sample Introduction: Most people don’t choose who they eat dinner with every night. It is
usually whomever a person lives with, or is around at dinnertime. There are many fascinating
people to spend time with while eating dinner. If I were able to choose any three people, dead or
alive to eat with, it would take me a while to decide. After great consideration I would invite
Opera, my grandma, and President Lincoln.
2nd Sample Introduction: O’Brien’s stories illustrate a terrifying beauty—the beauty of being
alive that one can only feel when death is imminent: “the special way that dawn spreads out on a
river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you
are afraid to do.” O’Brien believes that in order to challenge our perception of reality, we need to
keep telling stories, “patiently, adding and subtracting, making up a few things to get at the real
truth.” And yet his conclusion is ultimately melancholy at best, highlighting where truth fails
rather than where it might aid the troubled and war-torn individual. After one pours his or her
heart into trying to tell an emotional, realistic story, O’Brien says, people will hear it but they
will not listen.
Question: Which of the previous bridges was more effective? Why? (Hint: You might want to
share out these responses with your base group!) ______________________________________
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Activity #2: Write a 1-2 sentence bridge for the following thesis.
Thesis: Oftentimes in life and in literature, when a majority educates a minority, cultural
expression is suppressed, resulting in minority students unable to fully connect with either
cultural community.
Bridge: _______________________________________________________________________
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