your essay lacks only two paragraphs now: the introduction and the conclusion. These paragraphs will give the reader a point of entry to and a point of exit from your essay.

introduction

the introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and give her an idea of the essay's focus. the attention grabber you use is up to you, but here are some ideas:

startling information this information must be true and verifiable, and it doesn't need to be totally new to your readers.

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It could simply be a pertinent fact that explicitly illustrates the point you wish to make. If you use a piece of startling information, follow it with a sentence or two of elaboration. Dialogue an appropriate dialogue does not have to identify the speakers, but the reader must understand the point you are trying to convey. Summary information a few sentences explaining your topic in general terms can lead the reader gently to your thesis. Each sentence should become gradually more specific, until you reach your thesis. if the attention grabber was only a sentence or two, add one or two more sentences that will lead the reader from your opening to your thesis statement.

conclusion

the conclusion brings closure to the reader, summing up your points or providing a final perspective on your topic.

All the conclusion needs is three or four strong sentences which do not need to follow any set formula. Simply review the main points being careful not to restate them exactly or briefly describe your feelings about the topic. In these few sentences, briefly describe the topic itself and then transition into the history of the topic. This is the point of the introduction where you will explain the who, what, where, when, and why of the paper, says ella berven of roane state community college.

In this section of the introduction, you are answering the question, why is this topic important? you may want to include a short quote in this section to prove the importance of the topic. According to the writing center at the university of north carolina at chapel hill, a thesis statement tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion, and serves as a road map for the paper. The thesis statement typically belongs at the end of the introduction, although it can sometimes be found in the middle of the paragraph. This handout will explain the functions of introductions, offer strategies for writing and revising effective introductions, and provide some examples of less effective introductions to avoid.

Introductions and conclusions can be the most difficult parts of papers to write. Usually when you sit down to respond to an assignment, you have at least some sense of what you want to say in the body of your paper. You might have chosen a few examples you want to use or have an idea that will help you answer the main question of your assignment these sections, therefore, are not as hard to write. But these middle parts of the paper can’t just come out of thin air they need to be introduced and concluded in a way that makes sense to your reader. Your introduction and conclusion act as bridges that transport your readers from their own lives into the place of your analysis.

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If your readers pick up your paper about education in the autobiography of frederick douglass, for example, they need a transition to help them leave behind the world of chapel hill, television, e mail, and the daily tar heel and to help them temporarily enter the world of nineteenth century american slavery. By providing an introduction that helps your readers make a transition between their own world and the issues you will be writing about, you give your readers the tools they need to get into your topic and care about what you are saying. Similarly, once you’ve hooked your reader with the introduction and offered evidence to prove your thesis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives. you never get a second chance to make a first impression. the opening paragraph of your paper will provide your readers with their initial impressions of your argument, your writing style, and the overall quality of your work.

A vague, disorganized, error filled, off the wall, or boring introduction will probably create a negative impression. On the other hand, a concise, engaging, and well written introduction will start your readers off thinking highly of you, your analytical skills, your writing, and your paper. This impression is especially important when the audience you are trying to reach your instructor will be grading your work. your introduction is an important road map for the rest of your paper. your introduction conveys a lot of information to your readers. You can let them know what your topic is, why it is important, and how you plan to proceed with your discussion.

In most academic disciplines, your introduction should contain a thesis that will assert your main argument. It should also, ideally, give the reader a sense of the kinds of information you will use to make that argument and the general organization of the paragraphs and pages that will follow. After reading your introduction, your readers should not have any major surprises in store when they read the main body of your paper. ideally, your introduction will make your readers want to read your paper. the introduction should capture your readers’ interest, making them want to read the rest of your paper.

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Opening with a compelling story, a fascinating quotation, an interesting question, or a stirring example can get your readers to see why this topic matters and serve as an invitation for them to join you for an interesting intellectual conversation. start by thinking about the question or questions you are trying to answer. your entire essay will be a response to this question, and your introduction is the first step toward that end. Your direct answer to the assigned question will be your thesis, and your thesis will be included in your introduction, so it is a good idea to use the question as a jumping off point. Imagine that you are assigned the following question: education has long been considered a major force for american social change, righting the wrongs of our society. Notice that it starts with a broad statement, that education has been considered a major force for social change, and then narrows to focus on specific questions from the book. One strategy might be to use a similar model in your own introduction start off with a big picture sentence or two about the power of education as a force for change as a way of getting your reader interested and then focus in on the details of your argument about douglass. Of course, a different approach could also be very successful, but looking at the way the professor set up the question can sometimes give you some ideas for how you might answer it.

See our handout on understanding assignments for additional information on the hidden clues in assignments. decide how general or broad your opening should be. keep in mind that even a big picture opening needs to be clearly related to your topic an opening sentence that said human beings, more than any other creatures on earth, are capable of learning would be too broad for our sample assignment about slavery and education. If you have ever used google maps or similar programs, that experience can provide a helpful way of thinking about how broad your opening should be. If what you want to find out is whether chapel hill is at roughly the same latitude as rome, it might make sense to hit that little minus sign on the online map until it has zoomed all the way out and you can see the whole globe. If you’re trying to figure out how to get from chapel hill to wrightsville beach, it might make more sense to zoom in to the level where you can see most of north carolina but not the rest of the world, or even the rest of the united states.

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And if you are looking for the intersection of ridge road and manning drive so that you can find the writing center’s main office, you may need to zoom all the way in. In the sample assignment above, the questions are probably at the state or city level of generality. But the introductory sentence about human beings is mismatched it’s definitely at the global level. When writing, you need to place your ideas in context but that context doesn’t generally have to be as big as the whole galaxy! try writing your introduction last. you may think that you have to write your introduction first, but that isn’t necessarily true, and it isn’t always the most effective way to craft a good introduction. You may find that you don’t know what you are going to argue at the beginning of the writing process, and only through the experience of writing your paper do you discover your main argument. It is perfectly fine to start out thinking that you want to argue a particular point, but wind up arguing something slightly or even dramatically different by the time you’ve written most of the paper.

The writing process can be an important way to organize your ideas, think through complicated issues, refine your thoughts, and develop a sophisticated argument. However, an introduction written at the beginning of that discovery process will not necessarily reflect what you wind up with at the end. 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. Sometimes it’s easiest to just write up all of your evidence first and then write the introduction last that way you can be sure that the introduction will match the body of the paper. don’t be afraid to write a tentative introduction first and then change it later. some people find that they need to write some kind of introduction in order to get the writing process started. That’s fine, but if you are one of those people, be sure to return to your initial introduction later and rewrite if necessary. open with an attention grabber. sometimes, especially if the topic of your paper is somewhat dry or technical, opening with something catchy can help.

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