When to write the introduction to your essay:

First and last.

Draft it first—after you’re done pre-writing or concept mapping or outlining—and polish it last, after you’ve written a great conclusion.

Rethinking the “Intro Box”:

Many of us learned a formula for writing an introduction.  The formula can be useful, but it can also trap you in a box that limits your thinking and creativity.  Here’s what the formula usually says and some common pitfalls.  

Tell the reader what you’re gonna say (the intro), then say it…the introduction as a summary of your whole essay.  This is useful, but a summary should have its own purpose.  It should serve as a lantern lighting up the piece of your brain that your essay represents. 

Start with a broad focus and narrow it down until you get to the thesis at the end of the paragraph.  This is one way to approach the introductory paragraph—but it has some pitfalls.  If your opening sentence is so broad that you find yourself writing a sentence like “Throughout history and for all mankind…” you can be 100% sure you’re bullshitting.  Don’t.  You don’t know that much, and, what’s more, no one can hold you responsible for knowing that much.  Another pitfall is ending the paragraph with a sentence that is unrecognizable as a thesis.  It’s really just a preliminary idea about what the thesis might be.  It’s vague, it’s simplistic, it’s a cliché, its connection to the rest of the essay—especially the best parts—is loose at best.  

If you do start with a broad focus, keep its breadth consistent with the scope of your essay.  Instead of trying to write about the universe of ideas or all of time, write about the specific context of the ideas you’ll be discussing, framing the context in a way that will support your thesis.  The context might be geographical, it might be theoretical, it might be the text itself—there are a number of ways to frame it. 

You can also start with a very close focus, choosing some detail from your source material that especially got your attention or stimulated your thinking.  It could be an anecdote, an image, a brief passage—something that vividly illustrates what you want to talk about.

Drafting the introduction

Before you start drafting an essay, you should already have thought through your ideas in some rough form, whether fast-writing your ideas, outlining, or creating a visual representation of your ideas.  Later on this page, I’ll offer some detailed prompts for prewriting toward an introduction, if you’d like some ideas about how to go about this.

To draft your introduction, you’ll write a paragraph based on your pre-writing.  Organize your thoughts so they do the following:

·         Set the context for your essay (the larger framework in which you’re exploring something specific)

·         State the challenge (what’s interesting, difficult, controversial, subtle, or in some way challenging about the material you’re writing about?)

·         Pose the counter-arguments (what complicates the topic?  How do you resist it? How might someone else argue against the position you’re taking?)

·        Forecast comprehensiveness (how, within the limited scope of your essay, will you ground your argument in both theoretical concepts and concrete details, draw the audience close to your topic, and analyze it thoroughly?)

·        Propose a thesis (what are you going to demonstrate?)

Remember, this is just a draft so far!  You can (and should) change it after you’ve written the rest of the paper, including the conclusion.

Polishing the Introduction

Once you’ve written ALL of the rest of the essay (including the conclusion), return to the introduction.

At this stage, what gives the whole essay consistency and balance?  What organizing principle locks the pieces together?  What are the central tensions?

Take another look at your working thesis.  How can you enrich it now?  This revised thesis is the guide for your finished introduction—the direction in which everything in it is heading. 

Revise the introduction so that it correlates with the whole argument, including any new insights you reached at the conclusion. 

Edit for clarity and flow. 

Prewriting Prompts

Before drafting the essay....

1.      Think about the central question you’re exploring.  If it’s broad, or assigned (and not a question you yourself came up with), turn the question around, analyze it, interpret it, consider other questions that it implies. Sketch out theories; think of different ways you could answer the question; imagine what the final essay will look like.

2.      Set the scope and scale of your project.  You’ll be seeking an answer to your question, not the final answer.  Choose a specific issue to illuminate in your writing, and aim to create new knowledge through your analytical skills.  What can your research on this question teach you?  What can you teach others?  What knowledge do you need to demonstrate in order to fulfill the assignment?  What gift do you want to give the reader?

3. Take some time to focus on why this project matters to you:  how your experience, instincts, fears, passions, knowledge, talents, and energies relate to the project. What about the project energizes and excites you?  Look both for where your convictions connect with the project and ways that you may resist the project.  When you find those areas of resistance, stay with them—what is your resistance about, what can you learn from it?

FROM WORKING THESIS TO ARGUMENT

Review your pre-writing.  At this point, what answer do you propose to the central question?  Make the answer clear:  what does it all mean?  Take a stand.  

You may already have that sentence, or you may need to compose it.  Your working thesis should represent what you want to do and serve as a guide as you represent, explain, and illustrate your topic.  (Remember that it’s ONLY a guide, and you can change it if you need to.) 

Write a sentence explaining your thesis statement.  Based on your research, your source texts, your own analysis, what makes this statement true? 

Now explain why the second sentence is true.

Keep this up until you’ve produced at least nine sentences.  As you write, try to capture the center of the idea, its breadth, and its power (why it matters)—and to do so with clarity.

These sentences can be multidimensional…they can explore

Specific, concrete issues

General, theoretical issues

Examples and illustrations

Your own feelings toward the material

Issues about which you have a lot to say

Reasons to say it

Notice what you do not know (and will have to leave alone for now).

Analyze your nine sentences.  Decide which are the truest, the most useful, the freshest.  Get rid of the others.

Of the ideas you like best, test them with these questions:

• What about this idea will endure beyond this project?  What has lasting value for me, for others?

• Test the implications of the idea:  what are the consequences, the implications?

• Test the relevance of the idea to the purpose of the piece of writing and the interest of the potential audience.

• Test the relationships among the best ideas.  How are they connected?

DRAFTING THE INTRODUCTION

Review your prewriting and draft a paragraph that leads up to your thesis.