So you want to see a sample introduction, the sort of thing I might post as a draft of an introductory paragraph? Well, let's see. What can I write about? I have a lot of experience with institutional education, and I can see two works that, to a certain degree, discuss the idea of education.

In The Empire Strikes Back Jedi master Yoda tells fledgling apprentice Luke Skywalker, "Unlearn what you have learned." One of Skywalker's difficulties is that he cannot free himself of the preconceived ideas that he has absorbed from others. In other words, Skywalker has few lived experiences to draw from and instead continually reverts to the inherited knowledge others have given him. Little of this information proves valuable to him now. While Skywalker is a fictional character in an imaginary universe, his problem is very real and has application to us as well. For example, as a child I rarely followed the directions for how to assemble anything because I often found that the directions were of little to no help. Instead, I fiddled around with the pieces until I found the right combination. In college, I sat through many literature classes hoping to learn how to write. While the classes certainly helped expand my understanding of literature by exposing me to new ideas and providing a forum through which to express my ideas as well as hear the ideas of others, they never taught me how to write. Finally, it was by constantly writing for class and on my own time that I learned to write. Although school can provide us with a solid foundation, ultimately, we learn by more doing, by lived experience and direct practice. In a sense, we cannot really become students until after we have left the classroom. Plato and Walt Whitman take on this same issue. Specifically, Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" address the issue of institutional education versus direct experience and each text argues that direct experience is how we discover and develop an individual sense of truth.

* the thesis should be a specific one sentence explantion of the final conclusion of your paper. It should not be a question. *

Questions for the reader:
1) Am I making sense?
2) Do you seen any obvious flaws in my argument that I need to address now?
3) Are there counter arguments that you can anticipate a reader making that I should keep in mind as I am working on the rest of this?
4) Will people get the Yoda reference? I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with it. I have another quotes I could use that goes something like "I must develop my own system or be enslaved by another man's" by William Blake. I wonder if that quote would be more direct and better reflect what I have to say. Do you think that would work better? Why or why not? Do both of these quotes seem like bad choices?
5) When I am talking about myself as a child and in college, should include more specific examples, or could I wait until the body paragraphs to do so?
6) Do you see me using any words too often and you can suggest some substitutes?
7) Any words that I have obviously use incorrectly?
8) Is my thesis specific enough and does it make sense?
9) I use a lot of "has + (verb)ed" constructions. Is this a problem? If so can you offer me suggestions for fixing them?
10) If I switched out one of these readings for O'Brien's "Combat Zone" do you have any ideas about how I might use that reading?

Using the readings in a paragraph: Incorporate short, quotes of no more than several sentences that you clearly connect to what you are talking about.

Not using the readings in a paragraph: W. B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" talks about a world gone mad. [The paper needs specific quotes, not a general summary]

Not using the readings in a paragraph: Nuclear war is a big problem. As Robert Frost says in "The Road Not Taken," "I took the one less traveled by" (702 line 19). [How does this quote and this poem relate to nuclear war? Looks like the writer is just sticking in a random quote]

Using the readings in a paragraph: War is a problem that the world has faced for thousand of years. W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" eloquently illustrates this recurring historical situation. The narrator of the poem states that "mere anarchy is loosed upon the world / the blood-dimmed tide is loosed" (705 lines 4-5). The blood-dimmed tide comes from the bloodshed of individuals fighting and dying in a war. Furthermore, "the ceremony of innocence is drowned," according to the speaker (705 line 6). In other words, society has lost its innocence, its sense that everything will be okay, due to all of the fighting. [This pargraph uses specific quotes and clearly explains and relates these quotes to the topic sentence]

Further sites of interest for Whitman:

Walt Whitman, bibliography, class notes, information, links to texts and information and common questions on Walt Whitman

biography, analysis, reviews, photographs, and images from Whitman's manuscripts, notebooks, and letters

The Academy of American Poets presents biographies, photographs, selected poems, and links as part of its online poetry exhibits

The Poet At Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection offers access to four Walt Whitman notebooks and cardboard butterfly that disappeared