As students near the end of their multigenre work, take time to look as a whole class at the introductions of several multi-genre papers (Romano provides examples in his books).

You might let students meet in small groups for exploratory talk before meeting as a whole class.  Discuss what the authors are doing with their introductory words.  What information are they supplying?  What attitude are they establishing?

Try this workshop after students are well into writing their multigenre papers and have discovered much themselves:

¨ Ask students to jot down important things readers ought to know before they begin reading their papers.  They should reject nothing in this brainstorming and generate many possibilities.

¨ Team students in pairs.  Give each four minutes to talk about the important things he or she jotted.  Ask the listening partners to play the role of naturally curious human beings and to "say back" what they understand from the partner's talk.  Just as important, instruct them to ask the questions that have risen naturally in their minds.  Such questions might lead the writer to reveal more pertinent information that readers ought to know about.

¨ Take ten or fifteen minutes for everyone to bear down and write directly to perspective readers, telling them things they ought to know before reading.

¨ Have the class put these drafts aside for two or three days, then come back to them to reread and revise.

¨ Ask students to determine whether these pieces should preface their multigenre papers.

From: Romano, Tom Blending Genre, Altering Style (Boynton/Cook, 2000)