Brainstorming Title and Introduction Ideas

Take fifteen minutes to brainstorm title and introduction ideas. Remember, effective title ideas should catch the reader’s attention with something familiar and something new, but should still be appropriate to the purpose, audience, and tone of your essay. A good title will also forecast the essay’s topic and argument.

Your introduction should present old information first to orient the reader within your subject. Then it should present new information you’ll be discussing so that the reader knows what to expect. Try starting out with a “hook,” a surprising fact, anecdote, or angle that will immediately engage your reader. Many of you have chosen topics that mean something to you personally, or that you have had some personal experience with. You might begin by recounting one of these experiences as a way into your topic.

Obviously, you are at the early phases of research and drafting. Feel free to try out different approaches and ideas during this time. Be creative. You will not be showing your writing to anyone else in class. I will collect this writing at the end of the activity, but I will only scan it to make sure you’ve done the assignment. This inclass writing activity could be used in conjunction with this slideshow: Effective Titles and Introductions Slideshow