tips on writing an essay introduction

Writing Help Part 1 of 3: Crafting the Hook Pull your reader in with a hook. A great hook will make it almost impossible for the reader to put down the paper. Your first sentence should pull the reader in, making him or her want to read the essay because they are fascinated, intrigued, or even outraged. Think about using an interesting fact or statistic as a hook. This interesting fact or statistic should surprise your reader. While the fact should be relevant to what you're saying, this is not the place to state the facts that you are using for evidence down in the body of your essay. Some examples of interesting facts or statistics as hooks: The average iceberg weighs over 100,000 metric tonnes. Think about using an anecdote as a hook. If you are writing a less formal paper, consider beginning with a relevant, humorous, or moving story. This will provide context and allow the reader to get to know you, or the person or thing you're writing about, a little bit better. Note that in many cases it is not appropriate to use the first person in an essay, so double check before you the first person I in your hook. Some examples of anecdotes as hooks: When I was a young boy, my father worked at a coal mine. For 27 years, he made it his occupation to scrape and claw and grunt his way into the bowels of the earth, searching for fuel. On April 19, 2004, the bowels of the earth clawed back. Sergei Filin was walking home on a cold Moscow morning when a man in black approached him. With his hand held behind his back, the man in black muttered something menacing. Before he knew what hit him, Filin was on the ground, tossing snow in his face, his skin literally burning off. Filin had been attacked with acid. Think about using a quotation as a hook. Finding a good quotation is also an appropriate way attract your reader, as it connects the essay both to a point in history and to.
Introductions and Conclusions Written by Leora Freedman and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre    Printable PDF VersionFair-Use Policy Introductions and conclusions play a special role in the academic essay, and they frequently demand much of your attention as a writer. A good introduction should identify your topic, provide essential context, and indicate your particular focus in the essay. It also needs to engage your readers' interest. A strong conclusion will provide a sense of closure to the essay while again placing your concepts in a somewhat wider context. It will also, in some instances, add a stimulus to further thought. Since no two essays are the same, no single formula will automatically generate an introduction and conclusion for you. But the following guidelines will help you to construct a suitable beginning and end for your essay. Some general advice about introductions Some students cannot begin writing the body of the essay until they feel they have the perfect introduction. Be aware of the dangers of sinking too much time into the introduction. Some of that time can be more usefully channeled into planning and writing. You may be the kind of writer who writes an introduction first in order to explore your own thinking on the topic. If so, remember that you may at a later stage need to compress your introduction. It can be fine to leave the writing of the introduction for a later stage in the essay-writing process. Some people write their introduction only after they have completed the rest of the essay. Others write the introduction first but rewrite it significantly in light of what they end up saying in the body of their paper. The introductions for most papers can be effectively written in one paragraph occupying half to three-quarters of the first page. Your introduction may be longer than that, and it may take more than one.
What this handout is about This handout will explain the functions of introductions, offer strategies for writing effective ones, help you check your drafted introductions, and provide you with examples of introductions to be avoided. The role of introductions Introductions and conclusions can be the most difficult parts of papers to write. Usually when you sit down to respond to an assignment, you have at least some sense of what you want to say in the body of your paper. You might have chosen a few examples you want to use or have an idea that will help you answer the main question of your assignment: these sections, therefore, are not as hard to write. But these middle parts of the paper can’t just come out of thin air; they need to be introduced and concluded in a way that makes sense to your reader. Your introduction and conclusion act as bridges that transport your readers from their own lives into the “place” of your analysis. If your readers pick up your paper about education in the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, for example, they need a transition to help them leave behind the world of Chapel Hill, television, e-mail, and the The Daily Tar Heel and to help them temporarily enter the world of nineteenth-century American slavery. By providing an introduction that helps your readers make a transition between their own world and the issues you will be writing about, you give your readers the tools they need to get into your topic and care about what you are saying. Similarly, once you’ve hooked your reader with the introduction and offered evidence to prove your thesis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives. (See our handout on conclusions.) Why bother writing a good introduction? You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The opening paragraph of your paper will provide your.
This guide covers stages and issues involved in writing up your essay, including: Printable version of this guide (this is designed to be printed double-sided on A4 paper, then folded to make an A5 leaflet). We also have a series of bitesize Video tutorials to help you develop key aspects of your essay writing. Introductions and conclusions Introductions and conclusions are not just the bits tagged on to the ends of your essay. They form a conceptual framework which the reader will need to understand your arguments. Always keep your reader in mind when writing the beginning and ending to your essay: What do they need to know at the start so they become interested in reading your essay and can follow the rest of your argument? What do you want to leave them with as the main message of your essay at the end? The best introductions and conclusions tell the reader exactly what they need to know to understand the main body of the essay. Watch our Structuring your essay for more suggestions. back to top Writing your introduction An introduction gives your reader a way in to your essay. It is like consulting the map before starting on a journey; it situates the journey in the surrounding landscape, and it identifies the main route. You can think of an introduction as covering what / why / how: What the question is about – explain your interpretation of the question and what it is asking you to do. Why the question is important – put the question into context and identify the main issues that are raised by the question. How you are going to answer it – let the reader know what you are going to cover in your essay in order to answer the question. If you want to narrow down a very open-ended question, tell your reader that you are doing this in your introduction. Explain briefly that you are aware of the many issues raised by the question, but that you are only going to focus.
Your essay lacks only two paragraphs now: the introduction and the conclusion. These paragraphs will give the reader a point of entry to and a point of exit from your essay. Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and give her an idea of the essay's focus. Begin with an attention grabber. The attention grabber you use is up to you, but here are some ideas: Startling information This information must be true and verifiable, and it doesn't need to be totally new to your readers. It could simply be a pertinent fact that explicitly illustrates the point you wish to make. If you use a piece of startling information, follow it with a sentence or two of elaboration.Anecdote An anecdote is a story that illustrates a point. Be sure your anecdote is short, to the point, and relevant to your topic. This can be a very effective opener for your essay, but use it carefully.Dialogue An appropriate dialogue does not have to identify the speakers, but the reader must understand the point you are trying to convey. Use only two or three exchanges between speakers to make your point. Follow dialogue with a sentence or two of elaboration.Summary Information A few sentences explaining your topic in general terms can lead the reader gently to your thesis. Each sentence should become gradually more specific, until you reach your thesis. If the attention grabber was only a sentence or two, add one or two more sentences that will lead the reader from your opening to your thesis statement.Finish the paragraph with your thesis statement. Conclusion The conclusion brings closure to the reader, summing up your points or providing a final perspective on your topic. All the conclusion needs is three or four strong sentences which do not need to follow any set formula. Simply review the main points (being careful not to restate them exactly) or briefly.
How to Write an Essay Introduction. In writing the introduction of your essay, keep in mind that the introduction paragraph is where you are supposed to first present your topic. It is where you introduce to your readers what it is that you are going to write about. State the most basic and most relevant information about your topic, especially the answers to the who, what, when, where, how types of questions. Do not immediately jump to a thorough discussion of your supporting arguments. That should be done in the body paragraphs. Towards the end of your introductory paragraph, provide your thesis or main argument for or against the topic. Your thesis will be the controlling idea for the rest of your body paragraphs.Knowing how to write the essay introduction requires knowing the things that you want to discuss beforehand. This will allow you to outline the key ideas that you want to include in your introductory paragraph. For example, if your essay is about gun control in New York, some of your key ideas may include but are not limited to:There is a correlation between gun ownership and crimes in suburban New York.Handguns are easily acquired even without the required federal or state license.Firearms in the wrong hands is a threat to society.Given the ideas above and your topic, you may then write your essay's introduction as follows:Guns are weapons that can take life in an instant. In suburban New York, records indicate a correlation between gun ownership and crimes. Since handguns can easily be acquired even without the necessary permits from either the federal or state government, these firearms can place the society under constant threat when they fall into the wrong hands. It is imperative to have effective gun control laws in New York as a matter of necessity.Apparently, the example provided for the essay's introduction essentially gathers the salient points.