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Writing a proper introduction is essential to you scoring very well on the exam.

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And so in this lecture we're going to really teach you how to write a complete introduction.

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You've just learned how to do a thesis statement, which is the last sentence of the introduction.

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Now let's go ahead and build a complete introduction right now.

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What I want you to do is review this short paragraph that you're going to read below.

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This short paragraph is actually an introduction explaining how to do an introduction.

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So it reads, According to many writing experts, the introductory paragraph is considered the most

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difficult component of an essay to compose.

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Introductory paragraphs include vital information to guide the reader.

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Additionally, the introduction works as an outline of the writer's argument and entices the audience

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to continue reading the composition.

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Therefore, writers should craft strong introduction paragraphs because this paragraph is the seed from

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which their writing will grow.

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Now let me say this about the introduction also.

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Some students take the position and and there's nothing wrong with this.

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They'll go ahead and write the body paragraphs first and then they'll go back and write the introduction.

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Why might somebody do that?

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Well, number one, they've already done an outline.

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And when you have an outline, you have all of the information to start writing body paragraphs right

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away.

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Now, especially if in your outline you've also already done the thesis statement, then literally,

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if you wanted to, if you want to do, you could go ahead and write down the right, type out the thesis

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statement, and then do a body, paragraph one, body paragraph two, then go back and fill in the two

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missing sentences for the introduction and do your conclusion.

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For some people, it's easier to do it in that way because after writing the body paragraphs, they

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have a better idea of what they want to say in the introduction.

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For some students, when they start with the introduction, they don't know what to say.

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They're sitting there thinking, thinking, thinking and wasting time, and that's something that you

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don't want to do.

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So whatever, whatever, whatever makes you comfortable, whatever allows for you to complete your goal

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within the time constraints, that's what I want you to do.

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So an introduction is your roadmap for the entire essay.

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It's not an argument paragraph.

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Do not make arguments inside of an introduction.

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That's not the place for you.

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Should not be explaining your reasons.

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You should not be explaining how or why something is going to happen or occur.

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The component parts of an introduction include the general statement detailing the essay subject matter,

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paraphrasing the specific question, and then providing the author's position and controlling ideas.

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The Roadmap.

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Here's a little bit more information about the components.

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The general subject What is the general subject of the essay?

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Question that sentence number one.

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Next, the specific question What is the controversy regarding the subject?

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What is the specific question that you need to paraphrase here?

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That is sentence number two.

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And then sentence number three is the thesis statement.

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What is your position and blueprint or roadmap?

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That sentence number three.

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So for the purposes of this course, I need you to write a three sentence introduction.

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A three sentence introduction.

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This will also help to make sure that you are meeting the word count and also showing proper development

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to the examiners.

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Proper content and development.

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So with the general subject, this is usually some type of comment, some overreaching general comment

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that shows the reader.

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This is the topic we're going to talk about.

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Right.

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The topic might be the Internet or the topic might be social media.

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That's the general topic.

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And then the second part is where you're going to you're going to paraphrase the specific controversy

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regarding that topic.

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So the specific question might be something like some people feel that children should be limited to

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how much social media they use every day.

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Do you agree or disagree?

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That's you know, that's the limited restricted question on the general topic of the Internet of social

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media.

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Right.

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So you have the general subject first social media, for example, then you have the second specific

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paraphrasing the question about social media and young people.

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And then third is the thesis statement.

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This is your response to the question, your final answer.

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Right?

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It can be expressed in 1 to 2 sentences.

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Make sure that you outline your arguments so that there's no mystery.

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All right.

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So let's get into doing the introduction examples.

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As I've done in the previous lectures, I will do and I will do a live writing introduction first,

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and then I'll show you introductions that have already been prepared to teach you about the introduction

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in a different kind of way.

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I think it's great for you to see writing done live before your eyes because it helps to see how sentences

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are put together, and that way you can replicate that process when you're doing your own introduction.

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So this first one is about the boarding schools, and we've seen this question before already.

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We know what it's about, right?

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This question is asking us.

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Some people feel that boarding schools are an excellent option for children, while other people disagree

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for various reasons.

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Conclude both sides of this debate.

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Consider both sides of this debate and conclude and also there's a part on here, what is your opinion?

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Right.

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This question also asks what?

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You don't see it there.

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But this question also is asking, what is your opinion?

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All right.

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So I'm going to go ahead and minimize the screen so I can write the introduction and I'll go silent

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for a moment.

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But please pay attention.

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Watch the sentence structure.

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If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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All right.

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And there you have my introduction.

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Various circumstances exist that would compel parents to send their child off to boarding school.

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Be that as it may, parent, psychologists and politicians, policymakers often debate if the nature

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of boarding schools presents positive or negative outcomes.

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This essay will explore arguments for both sides and provide detailed analysis to aid readers in coming

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to their own conclusions.

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Now, when I wrote this introduction, I just really restricted myself to the question because I didn't

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write that the question is asking for you to give your own opinion.

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I didn't put it there this time because I want you to you know, because that language is in there.

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I think it's you know, it's better for me to just restrict myself to the language that I've been presented.

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Right, right here.

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Right.

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So in doing an introduction, you want to also one thing I want to point out to you in doing this introduction

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is we have the three parts here.

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We have the general statement right here that we're talking about boarding schools.

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Then we have the specific

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we have the specific controversy about whether they are viewed as positive or negative.

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That's what the question is.

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Right.

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And then we have our final part, which is the thesis statement, and those are the three necessary

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parts of an introduction.

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Now, one other thing I wanted to point out to you.

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Here is one one reason why this introduction that you're looking at right now would score very, very

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well is because there's not one weak verb in the entire introduction.

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Look at it very carefully.

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You don't see is our was were has have having had been being am you see none of that weak language.

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We're not you don't start off these statements with in my opinion there's nothing there's nothing necessarily

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wrong with that.

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It's not grammatically incorrect, but it's not the most authoritative way of writing is actually a

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weaker position.

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It's actually a weaker position, but that's what a strong introduction will look like.

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Again, if I had the language there that said, what is your opinion, that I would have added that

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to the thesis statement.

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All right.

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So let's go back to full screen mode.

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And there you can see the information here for the in full screen mode.

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You can see the introduction here if you need to.

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You can take your time and read it again.

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I'm going to go ahead and move forward to the next one.

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Introduction number two.

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Now with this one we're talking about, this is the one that's talking about overpopulation in major

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centers and what are the problems and what are the potential solutions here?

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You can read the introduction now with this introduction.

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What I really want to highlight to you is how I'm using really good connecting language, which really

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helps to demonstrate development, structure, coherence, cohesion.

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We have the same three parts.

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It doesn't matter what type of question it is, we always have the exact same three parts.

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I'm giving you a structure.

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I'm giving you a template that fits any question.

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General specific thesis.

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So it reads A cloak of smoke hovers among the population of Beijing, which indicates how increasing

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urbanization leads to potential uncontrollable issues for governments.

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With this in mind now, look, that's that's coherence language right there.

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With this in mind, I'm building off of the previous sentence.

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I'm connecting this sentence to the previous sentence.

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With this in mind, one must ponder We're not going to use a weak word like think about.

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One must ponder the problems resulting from overcrowding and any plausible solutions to diminish these

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challenges.

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The analysis contained within the following paragraphs will explore the issues and solutions in greater

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detail.

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Right?

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And the only thing that we really would add to this thesis statement here is instead of saying in greater

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detail, explore the issues and solutions surrounding urban urban overpopulation that needs to be added

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in there also.

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All right.

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So there we have our general our specific and our thesis statement and our thesis statement right here.

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But the main the main the main goal with this one is I wanted to really show you how to use the connecting

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language between sentences.

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All right.

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Introduction number three.

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And this is the one about the tobacco smoking, right?

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So the first general statement is going to introduce that.

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We're talking about smoking being seen as dangerous as smoking numbers steadily drop.

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The dangerous logic of prohibition becomes more tempting.

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Anti smoking groups present cigarettes as a product absent of any benefits and therefore always push

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for banning cigarettes.

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This essay supports smoking by first proposing reasons it should remain legal and then arguing for its

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positive attributes.

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Now, with this introduction, I'm trying to point out to you ways you can elevate your writing.

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So what really is great about this one is it starts off with a coordinating conjunction as and then

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the next sentence is a compound sentence, and the following sentence is also a compound sentence.

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So where we're really showing higher skill level to the examiner and that's where that's really what

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you want to be able to do.

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Right.

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And here for this one, right where this is the question, dealing with the international community,

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requesting that you act immediately on the reduction of fossil fuel consumption.

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To what extent do you agree or disagree?

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There's the outline there.

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Here's the introduction.

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In general, for decades, human beings dependent on oil.

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In our professional and personal lives.

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So now, you know, we're talking about dependence on oil.

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That's the general idea.

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Nevertheless, many problems correlate with oil usage, and some global administrative bodies now demand

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that citizens minimize petrol usage.

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Again, paraphrasing the question, paraphrasing the question, using the word nevertheless as my transition.

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Again, building coherence and showing the level to use higher level words instead of first, second,

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that kind of stuff.

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And then finally, we have our thesis statement.

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In fact, policymakers should reduce petroleum due to pollution, due to pollution and alternative sources

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of power.

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Now, my thesis statement, we could, if we wanted to leave out the language, in fact, and just start

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with the word policymakers.

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Policymakers should reduce petroleum due to pollution and alternative sources of power.

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That will be perfectly fine also.

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All right.

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But there there again, we have the three parts, the general, the specific and the thesis statement.

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That's what you need to do.

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And remember, it's about quality.

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Quality.

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You can do something.

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You can do something perfectly correct and just receive a mid level or lower mid level score.

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And the reason why is the quality of your writing, right?

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If you're writing all these simple sentences with simple verbs and simple words and every sentence is

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just three, three or four words long, it could be perfect, but it's not going to get a great score.

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Number five, this is the question dealing with the experienced person.

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If you have a problem, you should seek out experience people or look on the internet for research.

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The complete introduction is there below.

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At different stages of life, individuals will encounter life changing complications that will irrevocably,

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irrevocably alter their plans.

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Specific.

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Now, the question with that in mind connecting language one must consider potential solution.

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Right.

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With that in mind, one must consider potential solutions and these often resolve.

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These often revolve around two options seeking experienced person advice or conducting self-directed

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Internet research.

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Both options offer enticing benefits, but experienced sources present the better alternative due to

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common past themes and sounding board benefits.

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Now there's our thesis statement.

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Now, as I told you in a previous lecture, if we wanted to, we could just write the thesis statement

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like this.

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We can leave off that first part and just start right there with experienced sources, present the better

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alternative, and then give the controlling ideas of common past themes and sounding board benefits.

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Now, the language that you see in purple is I'm trying to point out to you some vocabulary.

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You've heard a lot about collocations and how collocations really, really impress examiners.

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So when they when they mention the word collocations, they're talking about words that are connected

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together.

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So, for example, consider potential solutions, life changing, self direct the Internet research

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that you know, that's that's vocabulary that is considered as a collocation using a word like irrevocably

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is a really great word to use.

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Also, we can see here that we have a compound sentence at play and a complex sentence.

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So within this one introduction, we're showing a lot of skill level and that's what doing well on the

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exam is about showing a higher skill level.

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Right.

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So now let's go ahead and move forward.

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I want to thank you very much for joining me in this first part of doing an introduction, and now we're

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going to go ahead and move on into part number two.

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Thank you very much.