Writing Your Paper 2: Drafting

Though an introduction is the first paragraph of your paper, it is not the first step of the writing process. Before you begin writing a paper, you should spend time thoroughly planning and doing any necessary research. Check out our guide on planning and researching your paper here.

An introduction sets the stage for the paper. It hooks the reader, provides background information, indicates why this issue is important, and clearly lays out the point of the paper (the thesis statement).

An introduction should hook, or engage, readers and give them some insight into where you'll take them. The first sentence or two of your first paragraph set the tone for the entire piece. Here are some ideas for a strong start:

• Lead with a quotation that is provocative or well-phrased.

• Historical/Bibliographical Review – give context and background.

• Review the Controversy – involve your reader in the battle or issue you will be addressing.

• From the General to the Specific (inverted triangle) – begin with a broad situation, concept, or idea, and narrow the focus to your purpose statement/thesis.

• Begin with an anecdote or illustration – capture the audience’s imagination and interest with a story that sets the stage for your argument.

• Ask questions – place your reader in an active role.

• State your thesis/point right off the bat.

• Present a paradox – begin with an assumption that readers accept as true and lead into a claim that not only challenges that assumption but may very well seem paradoxical.

• Minding the gap introduction – call the audience’s attention to a gap in the research or subject matter; promise that you will fill in the gap. You can also identify what readers know and then what they don’t know (or what you believe they need to know).

One of the best ways to practice writing a hook is to "imitate" the way others start their pieces. Take a look at your favorite news source or blog (you could try the New York Times blogs or The Millions) and try some of the writers' strategies (without directly copying their hooks, of course!).

An introduction quickly catches the audience up on anything they need to know about the topic before they read the paper. For example, if my paper is going to argue that current practices in clothing manufacturing are bad for the environment, I may want to give a three-sentence history of clothing manufacturing, definitions of key terms like "fast fashion," and statistics like the percentage of clothing ending up in landfills.

The introduction must also help readers understand the "so what" of this issue. Why should this paper matter to them? In my argument paper on clothing manufacturing, for example, I would mention how wide-reaching this problem is and how it can only improve if consumers change their shopping practices.

An introduction is not complete without a thesis statement, the guiding purpose of the paper. This idea will be restated in different ways throughout the paper like a thread weaving everything together. A thesis statement often (but certainly not always!) appears toward the end of an introduction paragraph and is usually one or two sentences long. See more about writing a thesis statement here.