How To Open An Academic Essay ...

Scott Eric Kaufman of UC, Irvine, blogs at Acephalous and The Valve. He has a recent series of posts on"How To Open An Academic Essay ...." Here they are for your convenience:

Part I: Hostile Habilis
Part II: The State of the Field
Part II, Part II: Know Thyself, Field Surveyor
Part III: Good Sir, I Implore You vs. The Historical Anecdote
Part IV: The Self-Aggrandizing Personal Anecdote
Part V: Build You a Metatheoretical Apparatus
Part VI: The Balinese Cockfight

These learned posts are supplemented by:

How Not To Open, Close, or Anything In Between An Academic Essay, Part I: My Formative Years and
How Not To Open, Close, or Anything In Between An Academic Essay, Part II: Welcome to Your New Low Opinion of Me.