Tips to Teach High School Students to Compose an Essay Introduction
Since the introductory paragraph is the first readers will digest,
writers must make a strong statement to attract attention.
Here are some tips to help you do just that.
Novice writers anguish over composing an introductory paragraph for their essays. They have been instructed at some point to include a “hook” to capture readers’ attention, but they’ve also been warned to avoid sounding gimmicky. Starting an introductory paragraph with a rhetorical question may at first seem like an effective technique, but it can easily develop a formulaic or immature tone for the essay. If you are struggling to guide students with overarching suggestions that can apply to most high school essays, you will find these tips helpful.
When to Write the Introduction
While students often feel they must write their introduction first, this can hinder their progress. You may want to suggest that students compose a loose thesis statement to guide their writing, but postpone completing their introduction until after they have written the body of their essay. This may at first seem counter-intuitive to students, who are lulled into comfort once their introduction is complete. However, students may digress from their introduction when writing their paper. Encourage students to try a new approach, and they will quickly reap the reward of an expedited, more structured essay.
Identify the Topic
Following these simple steps will help students quickly write an introduction paragraph after the body has been written. In the first sentence, students should identify, or generally define, the topic. The topic is a broad overview of what will be discussed in the essay. For example, if students are writing about whether Kurt Vonnegut supports or criticizes the government in “Harrison Bergeron,” the topic may address government or the idea of too much governmental control. Encourage students to visualize an inverted pyramid structure, where the paragraph begins very generally and gets more specific as it progresses.
State Your Opinion about the Topic
The second sentence of the introduction paragraph will be slightly more specific. Here is where students can pick an angle from which to approach the topic. Are they for or against it? Are they intending to persuade or describe? For example, students can express their opinions about excessive governmental control and how they feel it affects society. These questions can be answered when students articulate their thoughts on the broad topic.
Build a Bridge
The third sentence is where the transition occurs from general to specific. That is, students must build a bridge from their general topic to their specific thesis statement. For instance, students can state their interpretation of Vonnegut’s view of government. Building a bridge is a simple but necessary component to the introduction paragraph, and it may take consist of two sentences.
State the Thesis
The thesis works well as a final sentence in the introduction paragraph. By definition, a thesis is specific. It outlines the body of the essay. Writing a loose thesis before the essay is written serves as a helpful guide to students, but be sure to remind them that it needs to be adapted once the essay is complete to ensure the content in the thesis is aligned with the content in the actual essay.
These tips define the purpose of each sentence in the introduction paragraph. When students realize that an introductory paragraph needs to be only four or five sentences in length and that it serves a very specific purpose, they feel a sense of relief. They are more than willing to impose structure on these mysterious entities and turn their attention to the heart of their essay, the body.
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