BC MANUAL

Bridgewater College Online Writing Manual

Writing Introductions

The introduction should be functional in most academic writing. The introduction should provide necessary context for the topic, present an overview of the paper, and in most cases should include a clear and explicit thesis sentence.

• Context: It is important to establish enough of an explanation of the topic that the reader knows what he or she needs to know in order to understand your thesis. This may include identifying a text that you are discussing (by naming the text and its author, at a minimum). You may want to think of your paper as identifying a problem that needs the reader’s attention. What makes the topic significant, worthy of someone's attention?
• Overview of your paper: You may want to consider including in your introduction a sentence about each paragraph in the body of your essay.
• Thesis sentence: A thesis sentence may be considered as a one-sentence summary of your entire essay. In some cases--especially in a problem-solution essay structure, an inductive argument, or the utrum paper favored by several BC instructors--you may defer the thesis sentence to the end of the paper. However, most college faculty readers will appreciate an early and clear statement of your position on the issue at hand, that is, a thesis sentence in the introduction. (See the Writing Center page on the thesis sentence for more information.)

So--
1) Forget what your high school English teacher told you about “catching the reader’s attention” with a vivid anecdote, an apt quotation, or a startling statistic, unless creative nonfiction writing techniques are explicitly encouraged.
2) Don’t try to establish suspense or deferred gratification by hiding your position until you reach the conclusion.
3) Don’t start in medias res, or “in the middle of things,” in the style of epic poetry, or use the stale cliché, “It all started when . . .”.

By A. L. Trupe, updated Sept. 2006