Funnel Opening
“Reduce It”
Some things are traditionally recognized as good or effective. They are things that have been around for a long, long time, and no one questions them: apple pie; a button-down, oxford-cloth shirt; tennis shoes; The Sound of Music, and hamburgers. They just seem to work! In the writing world, the funnel opening is also one of those known to be traditionally “effective,” you know the kind, the one that will work for almost every paper. It is simplistic in nature, but it is a bit more difficult to do effectively.
To write a funnel opening, start with an extremely broad statement, and then reduce the scope of that statement with another statement that is an extension of the topic but more limited in scope. The writer continues that process until the thesis is stated.
In order to do this effectively, take the following chart and fill it in, checking to see that each sentence is a logical reduction of the sentence above. You should be able to do at least four deductions before stating the thesis on the final line.
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______
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Thesis: ______
Examples of Funnel Openings
Indigenous people of today range from Easter Asia all the way to the Americas. Currently, more than one thousand indigenous tribes have been documented, inhabiting every continent, Native American still remain as the most common known indigenous people of the world. Southwestern Native American, as the name implies, live in the arid deserts of the United States. The Navajo people remain the largest Southwestern Indian nation of the United States. The Navajos are the best indigenous nation of the world.
By Adrian
There are many athletes that grace us with their amazing talents. A major portion of these athletes play major league baseball. Today, major league baseball is a very diversified association when it deals with race. However, major league baseball wasn’t always so ethnically mixed. Among all the greatly talented white male baseball players, one stood out from them in both color and style. Jackie Robinson, the first African American major league baseball player, changed baseball forever.
By Sam
Movies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment because of how they appeal to all types of emotions. Among action movies, it is not that easy to find those that are explosive but also contain a good balance of serious and funny moments. Many actors have attempted to pull this off, but few have done it as well as this man. With memorable lines such as, “Get down!” or, “Get in dachappa!” he is also probably one of the most recognizable actors today. Without a doubt Arnold Schwarzenegger is the greatest action movie star of all time because of how well he balances action, seriousness, and hilarity in all of his roles.
By James