What should include in introduction

Finally, drawing a map for the reader means drawing one for yourself. Define important terms e. Different types of essays may require different types of introduction. Different subjects may follow particular conventions for written work. A social science or psychological study of a group of people may start with details of the research sample.

A long essay or dissertation may start with a literature review. Your tutor may even tell you not to waste time on elaborate introductions.

Nonetheless, the reader does need to have some idea of where your essay is going to take them and what you are trying to achieve in it. You should certainly start out with a clear idea of what you are going to do but this can be in draft or note form.

After all, you may start out thinking you are going to use the theories of Professor Bloggs and then, halfway through writing, come across the theories of Professor Smith which cast an interesting new light on your subject.

So always check your introduction against your essay. Have you followed your own map? Do you need to add or remove a few things here and there? Or do you need to draw a new one? Introductions An introduction should do at least four main things: i. Show that you have understood the title and what you are being asked to do.

State your objectives in the essay i. Outline which aspects of the subject you are going to deal with and how. Indicate what you are going to argue. Refer to our article about front matter for more ideas for what to include at the beginning of your work. You can even present the point you are going to argue against. You must provide your readers with a little background or basic information about the topic you are covering. Start with the broader subject and lead your readers to your specific topic.

This is especially important when writing a book report. Show them how your topic relates to the bigger picture. After providing your readers with some background, use your essay introduction to outline what you are going to discuss. Lay out your main points and arguments, preferably in the order in which you are going to discuss them.

The most important thing to include when writing an introduction is your thesis! A thesis statement is the main point of your paper; it is narrow, focused, and specific.

A thesis can be something you are arguing for or it can be something you are arguing against. Whatever the case, be sure to include it. The thesis can come before your outline or at the very end of your essay introduction. There is no rule for exactly how long an introduction should be. You must consider the length of your overall paper when writing your introduction. An appropriate length for a five-page essay is about half a page, but if you are writing a page paper, your introduction will span several pages and multiple paragraphs.

Check out our example introduction to an essay to get a better understanding of how to best lay out your first paragraph.

One final tip: write the introduction when it's easiest for you. Some writers find introductions extremely hard to write. It may be easier for them to write the introduction last and maybe even write the conclusion and back matter first. Other writers find introductions help them find the direction of their paper and write them very early in the writing process.

You will need to revise your paper to make sure that the introduction, all of the evidence, and the conclusion reflect the argument you intend.

Some people find that they need to write some kind of introduction in order to get the writing process started. Open with something that will draw readers in. Consider these options remembering that they may not be suitable for all kinds of papers :. Pay special attention to your first sentence. Start off on the right foot with your readers by making sure that the first sentence actually says something useful and that it does so in an interesting and polished way.

Ask a friend to read your introduction and then tell you what he or she expects the paper will discuss, what kinds of evidence the paper will use, and what the tone of the paper will be.

If your friend is able to predict the rest of your paper accurately, you probably have a good introduction. The placeholder introduction. If you had something more effective to say, you would probably say it, but in the meantime this paragraph is just a place holder.

Example: Slavery was one of the greatest tragedies in American history. There were many different aspects of slavery. Each created different kinds of problems for enslaved people. The restated question introduction. Restating the question can sometimes be an effective strategy, but it can be easy to stop at JUST restating the question instead of offering a more specific, interesting introduction to your paper. The professor or teaching assistant wrote your question and will be reading many essays in response to it—he or she does not need to read a whole paragraph that simply restates the question.

Example: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass discusses the relationship between education and slavery in 19th century America, showing how white control of education reinforced slavery and how Douglass and other enslaved African Americans viewed education while they endured. Moreover, the book discusses the role that education played in the acquisition of freedom. Education was a major force for social change with regard to slavery.

This introduction begins by giving the dictionary definition of one or more of the words in the assigned question. Anyone can look a word up in the dictionary and copy down what Webster says. If you want to open with a discussion of an important term, it may be far more interesting for you and your reader if you develop your own definition of the term in the specific context of your class and assignment.

If you feel that you must seek out an authority, try to find one that is very relevant and specific. Perhaps a quotation from a source reading might prove better? Dictionary introductions are also ineffective simply because they are so overused. Instructors may see a great many papers that begin in this way, greatly decreasing the dramatic impact that any one of those papers will have.

This kind of introduction generally makes broad, sweeping statements about the relevance of this topic since the beginning of time, throughout the world, etc. It is usually very general similar to the placeholder introduction and fails to connect to the thesis. Instructors often find them extremely annoying.