Sally Begins Her Paper

Sally knew just where her professor told her to find a set of instructions for formatting an MLA-style paper, so she had no problem setting up the first page. She then launched into a general introductory paragraph, in which she tried to grab the reader's interest with some snappy prose.

Student 1
 
Sally Student
Professor Dennis G. Jerz
English 110 Researched Essay
31 January 2000
The Terrible Problem of X
     Never in the history of mankind has problem X been 
so important to the daily lives of human beings across 
the globe. One need only look around to see how often we 
are talking about, worrying about, and recovering from 
incidents of this terrible problem. In this paper, I will 
talk about how(1) problem X is one of the biggest threats to

society today.(2) It affects us in our homes, at school, on 
the street, and everywhere we go.| 

(1) Cut the fluff.  I read papers, I don't weigh them.

(2) This is a simplistic thesis.  You never offer a solution, mention other threats or provide anything else to draw my attention.

(3) If you conclude your introductory paragraph in this manner, I expect to see one paragraph on homes , one on school, one on streets, etc.

Sally Supports...[ Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 ]