Introductions present particular challenges for writers. Generally, your introduction should do two things: capture your reader's attention and explain the main point of your essay. In other words, while your introduction should contain your thesis, it should also do a bit more work than that. You are likely to find that the first paragraph is one of the most difficult parts of the paper. It is hard to face that blank page or screen, and as a result, many beginning writers, in desperation to start somewhere, start with overly broad, general statements. The mere sight of an opening line like Throughout history Shakespeare's plays have been considered the greatest ever written will likely create in the experienced reader a feeling of exasperation. Not only will he or she have seen this type of opening in scores and scores of essays before (perhaps even several times in the current pile of essays to be graded), the phrase, frankly, just does not make sense. Very few things have applied throughout history or throughout time; there was a time when Shakespeare was utterly unheard of because he had not been born. While some instructors do encourage students to start broadly and proceed to a more narrow focus—and this can work well—it is a risky strategy. Potentially, it creates a funnel effect: a wide chunk of writing at the start of an essay that narrows into the desired focus of the paper somewhere below. But why not just get right to the point? Here is a great rule of thumb: If you have a sentence, paragraph, or page of writing that could be erased entirely from the paper without anyone noticing it is missing, then you should immediately remove it. Academic writing is a very economical genre of writing, and, generally speaking, every line and paragraph should play a part in supporting your thesis and developing your arguments. So it makes sense to hit the ground running in an introduction, starting with a powerful quotation from your text, precise questions that you will answer moments later with your thesis statement, or even the thesis itself. Each of these methods will draw readers into a paper, enveloping them immediately in the issues and problems at hand. In whatever way you feel is best, get right to the principal text or texts of your essay. See how not a moment is wasted in the following introduction. After initially establishing the key topic—components of two Shakespeare texts that are separate from the main body of action in each play—the introduction quickly poses questions and follows up with an answer that functions as the essay's thesis statement:The "Induction" scene from The Taming of the Shrew and the play within the play in A Midsummer Night's Dream are both departures from the larger dramas. However, while the humiliation of Christopher Sly by an aristocratic hunting party brings forth many of the play's central themes, its relationship to the text as a whole is more questionable than Bottom's play in Dream. What effect does the "disappearance" of Sly from the play have on the action in Padua? What are the metaphysical implications of a framing device that does not frame? In a comparison of the Sly episodes in Shrew to the play within a play in Dream, two distinct types of metatheatrical devices become clearly visible. While Bottom's play offers an alternative ending and threatens to darken the outcome of Dream, the Sly action fundamentally calls into question the reality of the play it introduces. Now compare that with the followingReality is a difficult concept. Think how difficult it is to really understand anything in your everyday life. Shakespeare’s plays often present protagonists who fail to understand the truth, such as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the first scene calls into question the reality of the play it introduces. This introduction begins with a vague, overly broad sentence; cites unclear, undeveloped examples; and then moves abruptly to a thesis.Sample Introductions1. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," we are introduced to the Peters family: Lincoln and Marion Peters, their children Richard and Elsie, and Marion's niece Honoria, of whom the Peters have custody. The family seems to be living in harmony until Honoria's father, Charlie, comes along and wants to regain custody of his daughter. As Charlie's past comes to light, we learn that he is an alcoholic whose irresponsible behavior contributed to his financial ruin and the death of Honoria's mother. Charlie endeavors to prove to the Peters that he has reformed and can now offer Honoria a good home. While it might appear that Honoria would be better off remaining with her aunt Marion's family, the young girl would actually have a greater chance to prosper with her father, whose losses and hardships have made him a more open, positive, and compassionate character than Marion.2. In "The Birth-mark," Nathaniel Hawthorne first introduces his main character as "a man of science." In the second paragraph we learn the name of the man of science: Aylmer. Scholars have noted that Aylmer's name means "noble," and it does seem that there is much that is noble about him. At first, the narrator seems to admire Aylmer's scientific abilities. As the story proceeds, however, it pits Aylmer's love of science against his love for his wife, Georgiana. In the second paragraph the narrator tells us that this struggle has "a deeply impressive moral." The moral seems to be revealed in Aylmer's determination to remove a birthmark from Georgiana's face. This experiment ends in Georgiana's death, which seems to show that Aylmer is not an entirely noble character. His science and his learning are admirable, but his obsession with his scientific experiments is a major flaw.3. John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men celebrates the power and poignancy of friendship. The friendship between George and Lennie, the two main characters, is a refuge for them. Their affection is "opposed sharply to the … sordid reality of the bunkhouse and the ranch" (Levant 125). George and Lennie reassure themselves of their future and their difference by frequently discussing a dream they share of a steady home with a farm where they will be self-sufficient and "an' live off the fatta the lan'" (15). The friendship they have is a difference remarked upon by nearly all the people in the story, who are not used to itinerant workers, or "bindle stiffs," sharing the road and a life together. What the events in the novel ultimately demonstrate is that George and Lennie are right about the importance of friendship: Human companionship makes all the difference in life. Those characters who lack friendship—and that would include all the other workers at the ranch—long and suffer for it. In Of Mice and Men, all the characters are driven by the need for friendship, but the story presents friendship as tenuous and therefore rare. The novella ultimately presents friendship as a nearly impossible achievement for individuals in an otherwise heartless society.
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