A guide to writing the introduction of your essay
Since the evolution of man, writing has been a major tool used to communicate ideas. Things have not changed much even in modern times surely the writing style has evolved but the need to communicate ideas still remains the same. In the formal setting of an individual's academic life essays are used as a tool to communicate ideas effectively. Writing an essay is an unavoidable part of a student's academic life. Writing out-of-the-box essays is not an easy task. Students often struggle to a huge extent to score high grades in their assessments which require producing a strong and factual essay.
Most of the academic essays contain an introduction, the main body, and then a conclusion. An introduction is defined as a preliminary explanation included in an essay that builds up the content leading to an explanation of the purpose of the write-up. Students often face a lot of difficulty in writing the introduction of their essay. Their dozens of attempts often go down the drain as the introduction doesn't turn up to be impactful enough. In such a situation learning how to write the introduction of your essay might seem like a dream come true for many scholars. This article will focus on certain tips and tricks that will allow you to develop the essential skills required to write an impactful essay introduction. Before getting on to the tips let's understand what exactly an introduction means.
Introduction of an essay defined:
According to the various definitions available, an introduction in your essay acts as a roadmap to the entire piece of the write-up. It is the opening paragraph that sets the entire feel and tone of the essay you're writing for your professors or readers. A well-written and well-structured introduction is bound to catch the attention of the right audience and makes me get engaged in the essay from the very beginning itself.
Purpose of including an introduction in your essay:
Students often get confused about what is the reason that an introduction is given so much importance in the essay. Well, the answer is quite simple, an introduction is all about engaging and presenting your topic to the readers with a loud bang. It should be brief, clear, and concise enough to keep the interest alive. Remember that too much redundancy or too many facts kill the intrigue of an introduction. The main objectives of a good introduction are:
- Grab the attention and interest of your reader.
- Provide adequate context and background on the topic of your essay.
- Set up the tone, feel, focus, and goal of your essay.
How to write an introduction to your essay?
It is not an undeniable fact that it is the introduction of your essay that gets the readers interested in the topic and motivates or encourages them to continue reading ahead. It overarches the point you're going to make in the entire content piece. Thus, writing a powerful introduction becomes all the more important as it is the foundation of your essay being received successfully. Here are a few steps and tips you can keep in mind while writing your essay introduction
- Construct an authoritative opening for your introduction
- Recognize the readers or audience of your essay. The very first sentence of your essay introduction should hook up your reader to continue reading ahead. He should feel fascinated, outraged, or even intrigued by reading the first line or at max two. In order to bring in this kind of impact in your essay, it is very essential for you to identify who actually your readers are.
If you're writing for your class assessment, do not just jump on to concluding that your professors or teachers are your sole readers. If you do so you can end up glossing over the information that states that you've properly understood the topic of your essay.
It is highly recommended to reverse-engineer the introduction part of your essay as per the subject and topic of your entire write-up:
- Identify an element of surprise that can enhance the appeal of your introduction. You can begin your essay introduction with a shocking or startling fact as this will immediately grab the attention of your target readers. This step will also allow you to inform the readers about something they didn't know about the topic already. If you succeed in adding a mind-blowing fact at the beginning of your intro readers will get interested in knowing where your essay will go next. If you're not sure that if your fact will be a new discovery for your readers, you can test it with some of your friends first and check their reactions. If they do get surprised or shocked, well then hit the hammer on the nail and add that statistics in your intro's beginning. You can also use a fact or statistical data that is not directly linked to the topic of your essay but demonstrates the importance of your topic to the readers.
- Add in emotional pointers to tug at your reader's heartstrings. This technique usually works in essays that are either political or professional in nature. In order to get your reader emotionally involved in the topic of your essay use can use emotional statements or sentences in your essay introduction. An effective way to follow this technique is by describing a relevant tragic event or hardship you faced.
- Include relevant examples of anecdotes. Examples and anecdotes act as a source of entertainment in your essay introduction. Impressive examples and anecdotes will catch up with the interest of your readers and encourage them to read ahead in your write-up. You might come across various anecdotes while researching for your essay. These anecdotes might not fit in right with the body of the essay but can work great as an introduction hook of the document. You can include an odd personal habit and cleverly link it to the feel of the main topic of your essay or you can simply be less formal in your essay and follow a humorous approach while writing.
- Commence your essay with a thought-provoking statement or question. If the topic of your essay requires you to persuade the readers about a certain point of view, you can consider opening your essay with a relevant question or statement that will draw the attention of the readers and make them think actively about the topic and content of your essay. If your assigned essay topic had a question, do not use the same one to start your essay introduction.
- Avoid using cliché and generalizations in the introduction as it sets off the mood of a reader. Generalizations and clichés often make you appear as a lazy writer in the eyes of your readers. They make your work seem unoriginal and thus, often lead a reader to stop reading ahead in the write-up. Also, if you provide any broad generalizations in your essay introduction, it can alienate someone who does not agree with the presented statement.
- Create the content for your introduction section:
- Link your out-of-the-box introduction opener to the larger topic of your essay. Once you've decided your audience and the way you want to open your introduction, it is time to explain to the readers how the opening statement links to the topic of your essay. You should always try to begin with a broader and general statement to explain the relevance of your intro opening content. You can use appropriate transitional phrases or words to move from the anecdote to a broader area of the topic.
- Include relevant background information. At this point in time in your introduction, the things are still pretty general in nature. Hence, it is an appropriate time to provide them with the relevant information that'll make them understand the main argument made in the essay and also help them to identify the points you're raising or highlighting in your write-up ahead. Make sure that you provide an appropriate explanation of both sides of the story in a neutral manner while writing an argumentative essay.
- Define the major terms necessary to state the purpose of your essay. We know, that you might be thinking that the introduction is not a lengthy piece of work added in your essay so how can you define terminologies in the section. Well, you do not have to define all the terms used in the essay in your introduction section however, there can be a specific key term that might be misinterpreted by the readers while reading your essay. In such a case you define that particular term in the introduction of your essay making your readers aware of the context you're using it in your essay. This is essential when your essay focuses on a scientific topic, legal topic, or political topic.
- Shift the focus of your essay from the general appeal to a more specific area of the subject. While writing your essay introduction follow the inverse pyramid pattern to add in the information. With your opening statement at the top, your introduction will provide a broader background of the subject area to the readers. It will help them to understand the universe where your topic resides in. It is high time that you gradually shift the attention of your essay from the broader area to a more specific field by making each sentence of the introduction a bit more specific than the ones added earlier.
- Present your take on the topic in your essay introduction:
- State your take on a scenario or topic. Once you've set up a context for your essay, it is time to present your take on the things, telling the readers the goal of your essay. Use a thesis statement to effectively communicate to the readers what key point your essay will focus on in the content added ahead. Try to be assertive and confident in your introduction to writing. It is highly advisable to get straight to the point and state your claim loudly and boldly instead of using fluff stuff in the introduction.
- The outline you're presenting in your introduction should be proved in the content of your essay to show that the claims made are true or at least persuade the readers that they're most likely true.
- Describe the way in which you've proved your claims in the essay. Provide your readers with a basic and brief roadmap of what you're trying to say in your essay in order to support your take on the scenario or topic. It can simply be done in one or two sentences. Try to avoid the random amalgamation of the supporting points and try the approach of stating how and why your take is true and relevant to the essay topic.
- Ensure that the content of your essay introduction will transition smoothly into the main body of your essay. In most cases, this sentence or sentence is not required as you might have observed that you can dive directly to the first paragraph of the body of your essay. Some of the introduction includes a transitional sentence at the end of the content to ensure that the content flows effortlessly into the rest of your essay. You can read your essay intro out aloud to figure out if you need a transition sentence or not. If you stumble or pause while reading, you need to work on the transition to make the content move smoothly.
- Last but not least, bring the entire introduction together to ensure it appears in one piece. What are you including your introduction determines the quality of the rest of the write-up? Before writing your own introduction you can read the work of other writers to determine what might work and what might fail in the introduction part of your essay. But remember that you might need to make relevant changes in the essay as what might work in one academic field may be disastrous in the other.
Make sure that your intro is short and simple. Ideally, it should be over 5-10 percent of the overall word limit of your essay. Most importantly, do not forget that you should always write your introduction in the end as it becomes easier for you to present an impactful summary of the essay once you've already written the body content.
With all the above information in your hand, you are all set to write strong and influential essays that will help you score high grades in your degree program.
