how to write an introduction for an essay
Seven Essential Tips For Writing The Perfect Essay
I think an important thing to point out here is that there’s a huge difference between writing a 1000 word essay and writing a good 1000 word essay. You can write an essay in hardly any time at all if you don’t do the proper research and don’t spend time editing what you wrote. If you’re going to write a good essay, it’s going to take more time. You should always give yourself more time than you think you’re going to need to get it done. If you already have all the research done and know what you want to say, then a 1000 word essay shouldn’t take more than an hour to write.
That is, you are framing an approach to your topic that necessarily eliminates other approaches. Thus, when you determine your context, you simultaneously narrow your topic and take a big step toward focusing your essay.
You don’t need to say everything in that first paragraph. You just need enough in those few sentences to give the reader a clear idea of where you’re going with your essay and to inspire them to keep reading. A hook—an opening line to grab your reader’s attention. Creative, informative, and sometimes amusing, this sentence sets the tone for your essay. You might have to revise this line several times throughout the revision process to get just the exact wording you need.
In other words, the order in which you accomplish the business of the beginning is flexible and should be determined by your purpose. The purpose of the introduction is to give your reader a clear idea of what your essay will cover. It should provide some background information on the specific problem or issue you are addressing, and should clearly outline your answer. Depending on your faculty or school, ‘your answer’ may be referred to as your position, contention, thesis or main argument.
When you have finished, label each part of the sentence . Now that you know what makes a complete sentence—a subject and a verb—you can use other parts of speech to build on this basic structure. Good writers use a variety of sentence structures to make their work more interesting.
Whatever term is used, this is essentially your response to the essay question, which is based on the research you have undertaken. An action verb answers the question what is the subject doing? In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are action verbs.
Now it’s time to narrow your focus and show what your essay aims to do. This is your thesis statement— a sentence or two that sums up your focus and overall argument.
As a general rule of thumb, introductions should be about 10 per cent of the total word count . An introduction gives the reader an idea of where you are going in your project so they can follow along.
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. 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.
The fullness of your idea will not emerge until your conclusion, but your beginning must clearly indicate the direction your idea will take, must set your essay on that road. The beginning lets your readers know what the essay is about, thetopic. The point here is that, in establishing the essay’s context, you are also limiting your topic.
You can give them more background details and supporting evidence for your thesis in the body of the paper itself. Has your writing ever been critiqued for a lack oftransition words? Transition words prevent our writing from sounding stilted or choppy. They sew our paragraphs together, making our writing flow better, connecting one idea to the next. If you commit this list of transition words to memory, the next time you write, you’ll be able to weave yoursentencestogether smoothly.
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In a paragraph, the topic sentence tells the reader what the subject of the paragraph will be and how it will be developed. In an essay, the introduction, which can be one or two paragraphs, introduces the topic. The concluding paragraph must summarize the essay. This is often the most difficult paragraph to write. In your conclusion, you should restate the thesis and connect it with the body of the essay in a sentence that explains how each point supports the thesis.
Make these sentences as interesting as you can. Through them, you can hook a reader and get them very interested in the line of thinking you are going to develop in your project. 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.
Your final sentence should uphold your main idea in a clear and compelling manner. Be sure you do not present any new information in the conclusion. Does the business of the beginning have to be addressed in a particular order? Usually, for instance, the question or statement that focuses the essay comes at the end of the beginning, where it serves as the jumping-off point for the middle, or main body, of the essay. Topic and context are often intertwined, but the context may be established before the particular topic is introduced.
In fact, it probably can be done in 30 minutes or less. The time-consuming part of an essay is the research and how long that takes depends on how much you have to do. But the actual writing of the essay shouldn’t take too long at all. Throwing yourself headlong at a 1,000-word essay and writing till you reach the word count may seem like the easy option, but it isn’t.
Planning your essay so that it begins with an introduction, highlights the most important points you want to make and then wraps everything up into a conclusion actually saves you time. Sometimes, essay instructions will tell you how to structure the piece, so read them carefully and extract any information you can use to guide your essay’s structure. Use our free and easy online tool for counting characters, words, sentences, paragraphs and pages in real time, along with keyword density and reading level. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body.
After your “hook”, write a sentence or two about the specific focus of your paper. This part of the introduction can include background information on your topic that helps to establish its context. In the first example, we see all three elements. As usual, the topic sentences go first, followed by the outline and thesis. The order of these elements may vary in your own introduction.
This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this paper. This hook also leads into the last, or concluding, paragraph. The introduction is the beginning of an essay. It does the same job for an essay as the topic sentence does for a paragraph.
Use what you have learned so far to bring variety in your writing. Use the following lines or your own sheet of paper to write six sentences that practice each basic sentence pattern.
A good opening paragraph captures the interest of your reader and tells why your topic is important. As the first part of your essay that will be read, your introduction needs to be clear, concise and compel the reader to carry on. Make sure you highlight the gist of what you will be discussing and sum it off nicely with what your conclusion will be. You’re not writing a story; the reader needs to know what to expect so surprise them with your ability to engage and eloquent discussion technique, not your end result.
This section covers different sentence structures that you can use to make longer, more complex sentences. because it links the subject to a describing word. In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are linking verbs.
The first paragraph of the body should contain the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the “reverse hook” which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the second paragraph of the body. Before your introduction is finished, give the audience an overview of your main points.
Working through the main points will set the destination of the speech, and it doesn’t hurt to have a clear idea of where you’re going before you set out. If you finish writing the body of your speech and come back to the introduction uninspired, refer to the chapter, “Getting Attention and Interest” for more ideas about effective openings. Start with a couple of sentences that introduce your topic to your reader. You do not have to give too much detailed information; save that for the body of your paper.
Introductions And Conclusions
If you have an anecdote, quote, question, or some other “hook” that inspires you to start writing the introduction, go for it. In some cases, the right story will set up a natural sequence for your main points, launching the speech effortlessly. Otherwise, it may be easier to begin the introduction after you write about your main points.
It may help to refer to your outline, which should provide a concise list of your main points, in order. Translate that list into complete sentences, and voila! The main idea of the essay is stated in a single sentence called the thesis statement. You must limit your entire essay to the topic you have introduced in your thesis statement.
Chapter 2: Writing Basics, What Makes A Good Sentence?
This part of the introduction paragraph is important to set the limits of your essay and let the reader know exactly which aspect of the topic you will address. The third paragraph of the body should contain the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the second paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the second paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence.
