The Introduction

Introduction

Now that the outline has been created, it is time to focus on the actual writing. The first part of any essay is the introduction, which establishes the subject, the topic, and the thesis statement, upon which the rest of the written work is based. Additionally, the introduction serves as a tool to hook the reader's interest and gracefully guide them into the body of the essay. This lesson will examine various details of the introduction, including how to capture the readers' attention and some poor introductory styles to avoid.

Reeling Them In

Many essay writers make the mistake of thinking if they write an essay, readers will be happy to read it, no matter how dull the introduction may be. No matter how good the essay it, its brilliance will quickly fade to obscurity if no one ever reads it.

Certain audiences can get away with uninspiring and outright boring writing, such as in academic communities, where writings are reviewed by a body of peers; or in technical circles, such as engineers who write exclusively for other engineers; or even by government policy writers. These types of specialized fields do not require essay writers to put much effort into capturing the reader's interest, although they probably should. However, since most people who want their opinions to reach larger audience and perhaps even build a following, this sort of approach will never work.

The principle is simple. Just like a book that starts with little action, unlikable characters, and a story that seems to go around a never ending circle, an essay that has a weak introduction or is uninteresting in the first fifty words or so will not command much of a readership. To make the ordinary and non-compelling essay into something that people will actually want to read, several strategies can be employed.

Important subject! This type of introduction assumes the reader wants to be well informed about something and plays to that desire. The format of it should be something similar to, "What the well read citizen should know about XYZ." or "Here is something you might consider when thinking about XYZ." In any case, the importance of what is to be covered in the essay should be featured prominently at the beginning of the introduction.

Piquing curiosity. Generally more effective than stressing how important the subject is (Kane, 2000), this approach usually starts by employing a brief factual statement that raises several questions in the mind of the reader. (Kane, 2000) Intrigued, the readers will read the rest of the essay to learn the answers (if the essay is well written). However, care should be taken not to open with a quote, reference, or other tidbit that is deliberately strange or murky; it must "...Combine clarity of statement with mystery of intent." (Kane, 2000) The reader should understand what the opening says, but not understand why. In addition, dragging out a mystery too long will eventually lose the reader. Resolution is needed!

Start off funny. Humor is a marvelous way to get people to lower their initial reticence. Professional comedians have honed this skill into an art and use their routines to support various causes or to raise money for charities, using laughter as a means to get the audience to drop their guard. The same technique can be used in writing by starting with a humorous quote, an offbeat story, or a joke that is relevant to the content of the essay. In addition, starting with something funny is an excellent way to pique curiosity in the reader.

Above all, the opening paragraph or paragraphs of an essay should indicate the purpose and establish the overall tone of the writing. The actual length of the paragraph is a secondary concern. Whether the introduction is well formed, relevant, and interesting should be the primary emphasis for the author. Some writers will even wait to create the introduction until after the rest of the paper has been written. This approach gives the author the ability to custom fit the introductory material to the body of the essay. (Eggenschweiler and Biggs, 2001).