Writing an effective introductory paragraph binds the audience to the writer. A bound audience means you get to share all those wonderful ideas you’ve been wanting to share. Teaching this skill means instead of communicating with grunts, your students will communicate with words.
I felt good. I had taught students about thesis statements. I explained how to hook the reader. I had taught them how to research and use evidence. These were going to be the greatest essays ever. Then I read them. I realized I had not taught them how to write an essay introduction. After reading the 300th cliché introduction, and the 423rd lame definition introduction, I passed out.
When I awoke, Thomas Paine stood above me. He spoke: “Good thing you weren’t my teacher. When I asked my teacher how to write an effective introductory paragraph, he taught me how to do it.” Mr. Paine shook his head, uttered, “Oh, these are the times that try men’s souls,” bashed me on the head with a stack of pamphlets, and left. I woke up hours later. On my desk rested a stack of pamphlets with the title “How do I Write an Effective Introductory Paragraph: Information and Lesson Ideas for Writing an Effective Introduction.”
I’ve summarized it. Unless you want one of the founding fathers to visit you during an hallucination, I'd use it.
1) The Hook Introduction (Follow the link for a more detailed lesson plan on how to hook the reader with dynamite leads.). Think fishing when you think of hooking the reader. Once the reader is hooked, you’ve got ‘em. The following techniques are effective:
- An anecdote that exemplifies the thesis statement.
- An authoritative quotation
- A controversial opinion
- Shocking fact or statistic
- Definition of an unusual term central to your thesis
2) Funnel: A funnel introduction begins broad and then narrows into the thesis statement. For example, if your thesis statement were “For the active traveler, cross-country skiing is a perfect way to spend a day in Steamboat Springs,” you could begin your introduction with a statement on cross-country skiing, followed by its growing popularity in the Western United States, its health benefits, and finally to the actual thesis statement.
