Importance of the Introduction
Writing an essay is not easy. It requires a lot of research and thinking. The first step to writing an essay is to know what you want to write about. Once you have decided on your topic, you need to write an introduction. Your introduction is the first thing people will read. It is you saying hello. Make it powerful and set the context. Here are some tips on how to write an essay introduction:
Hook the reader
The introduction is the first thing that your reader sees. It's what pulls them into your essay and makes them want to keep reading. Therefore, it needs to be strong and engaging so that people will keep reading!
Here's what an introduction should include:
A hook - e.g., an interesting quote, question, or statement
An anecdote or statistic (if applicable)
A fact that supports the thesis
Introduce your topic
It’s important to introduce your topic at the beginning of your essay. You should tell your reader what you are going to talk about and what the context is for your discussion. This can be done in one or two sentences, depending on how much information you need to provide.
If you are writing an academic essay, it is often helpful to give a short summary of the main point that you will make in the essay. Then write a thesis statement (one sentence) that states this point clearly and concisely:
● I am going to argue that…or
● The main idea of my paper is…Thesis statements should state exactly what it is that you are going to argue or explain in more detail later on in the body paragraphs.
Provide relevant background information
An introduction should present the general topic of your paper and then narrow it down to your specific research problem. This can be done in a variety of ways, but generally speaking, you don’t want too much or too little background.
Too much: If you use too many details about existing research, it may come off as unoriginal or redundant. It can also slow down your readers, who might get bogged down in details they don’t need right now or immediately see why they aren't necessary for understanding your paper's main point--and also might not care about them at all! After all, most papers are read by people with some level of familiarity with the topic already anyway (at least enough that they know what "topic" means).
Too little: On the other hand... if there isn't any useful context for understanding what matters about this particular problem within the larger field--or if there is no sense yet made about why one should care about this topic--then readers won't know how best to focus their attention on reading further into an article or book chapter; instead they'll just leave confused and frustrated after skipping through pages feeling like nothing was explained clearly enough before getting into details."
Define key terms or concepts
In this section, you should define key terms or concepts that are relevant to your essay's main idea. This is typically done by introducing them in the context of answering the question at hand. For example, if you're writing about how your high school experience prepared you for life after graduation, then one of those terms might be "high school." You could start by explaining what a high school is: an educational institution that prepares students for college or university studies by providing them with an education in academics, athletics, and other areas of personal development. And then you could explain why high schools do this: so that when they graduate from high school they can go on to attend college or university themselves without having any trouble doing so. Once all your key terms are defined and explained, it's time to wrap up this section with a statement about what will come next in your essay—the introduction itself!
Establish your viewpoint on the topic
To begin, you need to establish your viewpoint on the topic. This can be accomplished in a number of ways:
● Provide your opinion (if you're writing an argumentative essay).
● Explain why you're writing about this subject (if you're writing an informative essay).
● Give a definition for the word (if you're writing about a word or concept).
Preview main points
The body of your essay is where you're going to make all your main points. In this section, you'll explain in detail what each point is and how it relates to the thesis statement in the introduction. You can also include any sub-points that relate to the main point, as well as any examples or evidence from outside sources (i.e., research).
You don't want your readers getting confused about where all these points are coming from by putting them all at once at the end of an essay; instead, previewing the main points helps readers understand your argument before they get into reading every single detail about it. This way they won't have to read through ten paragraphs before realizing what exactly is being argued for or against, which makes for a much more enjoyable reading experience!
An essay introduction should grab the reader's attention and provide background information about the paper's topic. You'll want to start with an engaging opening that draws in your reader, then provide some context for your thesis statement.
Let Law Tutor help you learn to write essays!
The first thing that you need to do when writing an essay introduction, is making sure your essay is well researched. This will impress your tutor and prove that you have put in the time and effort required for good marks. Secondly, make sure your essay is grammatically correct. If there are any mistakes in spelling or grammar then these can be easily rectified by using a grammar checker or asking one of our team who will happily help edit your work! Finally, if you do need some extra guidance with any aspect of writing an essay or dissertation then we are always here to help with our extensive experience in the field.
