Louis riel hero or villan question

Hi I'm writting an essay on how Louis Riel is A hero or a villan i am taking the argumant of hero and i was wondering if you can give me any tips on how i can start my essay of i was reading a statement posted by someone else and he said that i should start off speaking about how he was a villan than go into hero is that a good idea please[/font] anwser ASAP need freply by June 7th 2009 thanks bye :) and by the way the assignment is only 5 paragraghs long so not to much room

Well, first you have to decide what you want to say. What is your thesis? Why do you think he was a hero? Once you know that, you can decide what supporting evidence you will cite in your essay. At five paragraphs, you should have one paragraph of introduction, including a thesis that lists three reasons you think he was a hero. Each of those three arguments should be supported in a separate paragraph, leaving you one more paragraph for your conclusion.

You might start by defining your key terms. In this case, what do you think it means to be a hero? A villain? Is it possible for a person to be both at once? Hint: It has been said that every villain is the hero of his own story. Which characteristics does Riel have that would put him into one or the other category? This should quickly lead to a thesis with plenty of supporting evidence you can use to craft a draft of your essay that you can then post here for more feedback.