Simple Tutorial on How to Write an Introduction for an Essay
In any paper, you must have an introduction and conclusion. Many students and writers are not sure of what should be included in the introduction, in the abstract, and in the first chapter. As the name suggests, in the paper introduction, you are introducing the reader to the paper. The introduction comes after the abstract and is part of the body of the paper. The difference between the introduction and the abstract is that the latter is a thorough but brief description of the research problem, the findings and the summaries.
The abstract thus tells the reader what is in the paper about in brief manner. In the first chapter, you will get the reader to the crust of your paper. It is important to note that in addition to having general introduction in the paper, each chapter should have its own introduction and also a conclusion.
- The purpose of introduction
The introduction for essay serves three important objectives –
- Explaining the context of the paper.
- Giving answer. It should provide the essay’s overall focus and response to the main question. In other words, it should support the thesis statement.
- It should describe the organization and structure of the paper.
- How long should an introduction be?
The already stated three objectives can be given less or more emphasis depending on the type and length of the paper. If the paper is very short, such as for instance if it does not exceed 100 words, there may be no need or relevance of giving detailed and full structure or context. If the essay is longer in length, it may provide room for addition of more details. Look at this website for insightful tips on how long the introduction to your paper should be. - The context
As you seek to know how to write an essay introduction, know that academic papers are written for the intelligent audience which is not informed on all issues as matter of fact. On thus understanding, when writing introduction you need to start with context, which is basically the topic background, the scope of the topic and other important definitions are also important. There are two important things to note in this regard –
- An introduction should begin with broad opening statement which establishes the background and the subject matter of your research. However, it should not be unreasonably too broad. It should however identify the relevant topics and sub-topics.
- It should establish the scope for research and also answer the basic questions such as why? How? Where? When? What? Who? Also important to answer is whether your research is limited to some specified period of time, some particular country or some group of people.