First: Think about

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First Think about the general topic.
Humanity
Human Tragedy
Value of Life
Human Rights
Human Dignity
Dehumanizing Forces
Human Suffering
Introductions Conclusions
Beginning Ending Effectively
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• Start with a Question
• Start with a Story
• Start with a Comparison
• Start with an Astonishing Fact
• Start with a Quotation
• Start with a Definition

Grab the Audiences Attention
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Start with a Question
When was the last time you saw images of human
destruction on your television? Was it on 9/11,
as burning victims threw themselves from the
windows? Or in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean
tsunami, as bloated bodies lay on heaps of
rubble? Or perhaps last week, as starving
children in Darfur appeared on your screen? How
did you respond? Did you donate money,
volunteer, or write your congress- person? Why
is it that more of us do not take some
responsibility for ending human suffering around
the world? As we can see in the accounts by
Richard Preston, Chris Hedges, and Luis Urrea,
forces of dehumanization persist in many parts
of the world, and no one appears to be doing
much to stop them.
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Start with a Story
I remember so clearly the time my niece came from
Mexico City to the United States. She was 15
years old and wanted to join her mother, who had
been living in Los Angeles for 10 years. They
were so desperate to be re-united. However, Lupe
did not have documentation, so they hired a man
to sneak her over the border. On the morning when
she was supposed to arrive, there was no sign of
her or the man. We began to count the hours, and
then the hours turned into daysstill with no
word from Lupe. Her mother cried desperately,
imagining her daughter lying dead in the desert
or being raped in a brothel. Like Lupe and her
mother, the people in Ebola River, Gaza Diary,
and Border Story encounter horrible forces of
dehumanization that leave them with no clear
hope or resolution.
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Start with a Comparison
Imagine a world with no light. At first, this
world might be populated with people, animals,
and vegetation. But with no light, there would be
no color, no way to tell a hillside of dirt from
a vibrant field of wild- flowers. Then
eventually this sunless world would start to turn
cold, as well, and we would lose that most basic
of human comfortswarmth. In this environment,
we might go on living for a while, if we could
call it living. We would shiver and grope our
way through the darkness, each hour more
difficult and frightening and hopeless than the
last. As unimaginable as this world sounds, it
is not much different from the worlds portrayed
in the essays of Robert Preston, Chris Hedges,
and Luis Alberto Urrea. All three authors write
of people who have been stripped of their
essential rights and needs by a variety of human,
environmental, and circumstantial forces.
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Start with an
Astonishing Fact
We all like to think that advancements in science
and technology have made us more comfortable,
more likely to live longer, and above all more
civilized. Yet since 1948, thousands of
Palestinian refugees have lived within
electrically-wired fences, drinking contaminated
water and living in constant fear of their
lives in 1976, medical science was unable to
stop an unknown virus from wiping out entire
villages in the Southern Sudan and to this day,
immigrant families are hunted and trapped like
animals at the U.S.-Mexican border. As the
essays of Preston, Hedges, and Urrea show,
despite our illusions of advancement and
progress, there remain a number of forces that
continue to deprive people of their basic human
rights of dignity, freedom, and the pursuit of
happiness.
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Start with a Quotation
British playwright George Bernard Shaw observed
that the worst sin toward our fellow creatures
is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to
them that's the essence of inhumanity. Every
day, we read and watch reports about human
suffering around the world, yet we seem
indifferent to these tragedies, choosing instead
to go shopping at the mall or rent ten movies
for the weekend. Our neglect toward the victims
of war, disease, and poverty, contributes to
their dehumanization. As Preston, Hedges, and
Urrea show in their articles, these forces of
dehumanization have devastating effects on their
victims.
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Start with a Definition
I always thought that humanity simply meant
mankind. Therefore, I was surprised to find
that, according to the Merriam-Webster On-Line
Dictionary, the first definition of humanity
is listed as the quality or state of being
humane. In turn, humane is defined as being
marked by compassion, sympathy, or
consideration for humans. In other words, we
are a species characterized by our loving
treatment of one another. How ironic, then,
that in so many instances we continue to take
from others of the very quality they need to be
who they are. The essays of Preston, Hedges, and
Urrea examine the forces at work in various
parts of the world that deprive people of their
humanity.
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The Conclusion
Possibilities for Ending Your Essay
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Which environment has the worst dehumanization?
In conclusion, (name of article) shows the
worst scene of dehumanization because
_______________________________________ __________
__________________________________________________
_. For example, __________________________________
_______________ __________________________________
___________________________.In contrast, (name
of article) depicts ____________________________
__________________________________________________
___________. For instance, _______________________
___________________________ ______________________
_______________________________________. Last,
(name of article) portrays _____________________
____________ _____________________________________
________________________. As a case in point,
_____________________________________________ ____
__________________________________________________
_______.
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Why does the dehumanization continue and how can
we stop it?
In conclusion, the dehumanization described in
these articles continues because
____________________________________________ _____
__________________________________________________
______. For example, disease and poverty
________________________________ _________________
____________________________________________.Also
, war and violence________________________________
__________ _______________________________________
______________________. In order to stop these
forms of dehumanization,_____________________
__________________________________________________
___________. _____________________________________
________________________. For instance____________
_______________________________________ __________
__________________________________________________
_ ________________________________________________
_____________.