A prolific painter of portraits before and after the French Revolution ...

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ch07.qxd 12/2/04 11:59 AM Page 341 explaining: A Startling Statement, Fact, or Statistic the writing process 341 Embalming is indeed a most extraordinary procedure, and one must wonder at the docility of Americans who each year pay hundreds of millions of dollars for its perpetuation, blissfully ignorant of what it is all about, what is done, how it is done. —“To Dispel Fears of Live Burial,” Jessica Mitford A Statement from a Book The American novelist John Barth, in his early novel The Floating Opera, remarks that ordinary, day-to-day life often presents us with embarrassingly obvious, totally unsubtle patterns of symbolism and meaning—life in the midst of death, innocence vindicated, youth versus age, etc. —“I’m O.K., but You’re Not,” Robert Zoellner A Striking Question or Questions Do non-human animals have rights? Should we humans feel morally bound to exercise consideration for the lives and well-being of individual members of other animal species? If so, how much consideration, and by what logic? —“Animal Rights and Beyond,” David Quammen A Common Error or Mistaken Judgment There was a time when, in my search for essences, I concluded that the canyonland country has no heart. I was wrong. The canyonlands did have a heart, a living heart, and that heart was Glen Canyon and the golden, flowing Colorado River. —“The Damnation of a Canyon,” Edward Abbey Combined Strategies Last December a man named Robert Lee Willie, who had been convicted of raping and murdering an 18-year-old woman, was executed in the Louisiana state prison. In a statement issued several minutes before his death, Mr. Willie said: “Killing people is wrong....It makes no difference whether it’s citizens, countries, or governments. Killing is wrong.” —“Death and Justice,” Edward Koch L EAD-IN ,THESIS, AND E SSAY M AP The introduction to an explaining essay—whether one paragraph or several—usually contains the following features: TEACHING TIP Teachers may usefully distinguish between the writer’s thesis sentence and map (a working version intended to help the writer focus on a subject and start a draft) and a reader’s thesis and map (a revised version intended to help the reader construct meaning). The distinction helps some writers as they compose and revise. PROFESSIONAL COPY—NOT FOR RESALE
ch07.qxd 12/2/04 11:59 AM Page 342 342 Chapter 7 explaining • Lead-in: Some example, description, startling statement, statistic, short narrative, allusion, or quotation to get the reader’s interest and focus on the topic you will explain. • Thesis: Statement of the main idea; a “promise” to the reader that the essay fulfills. • Essay map: A sentence, or part of a sentence, that lists (in the order in which the essay discusses them) the main subtopics for the essay. In her essay on anorexia nervosa at the end of this chapter, Nancie Brosseau’s introductory paragraph has all three features: Lead-in: Startling statement Description Statistics Thesis Essay map I knew my dieting had gotten out of hand, but when I could actually see the movement of my heart beating beneath my clothes, I knew I was in trouble. At first, the family doctor reassured my parents that my rapid weight loss was a “temporary phase among teenage girls.” However, when I, at fourteen years old and five feet tall, weighed in at sixty-three pounds, my doctor changed his diagnosis from “temporary phase” to “anorexia nervosa.” Anorexia nervosa is the process of self-starvation that affects over 100,000 young girls each year. Almost 6,000 of these girls die every year. Anorexia nervosa is a self-mutilating disease that affects its victim both physically and emotionally. The essay map is contained in the phrase “both physically and emotionally”: The first half of the essay discusses the physical effects of anorexia nervosa; the second half explains the emotional effects. Like a road map, the essay map helps the reader anticipate what topics the writer will explain. PARAGRAPH T RANSITIONS AND H OOKS Transition words and paragraph hooks are audience cues that help the reader shift from one paragraph to the next. These connections between paragraphs help the reader see the relationships of the various parts. Transition words—first, second, next, another, last, finally, and so forth—signal your reader that a new idea or a new part of the idea is coming up. In addition to transition words, writers often tie paragraphs together by using a key word or idea from a previous paragraph in the first sentence of the following paragraph to “hook” the paragraphs together. The following paragraphs from James Twitchell’s “Miss Clairol’s ‘Does She ...Or Doesn’t She?” illustrate how transition words and paragraph hooks work together to create smooth connections between paragraphs. PROFESSIONAL COPY—NOT FOR RESALE
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A prolific painter of portraits before and after the French Revolution ...

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