We writers get few opportunities to seize the attention of you, the reader. Titles. Covers. Critical reviews. These are all handy tools of attraction that authors and publishers use to entice; but the introduction to an essay is the greatest hook that the writer possesses. Introductions are critical in establishing a text as a whole; its style, its content, setting the reader’s expectations for what is to come. This text will reveal the fundamentals to writing an English introduction that will blow the socks off of your teacher, an HSC marker, or yourself for that matter. Introductory writing is a skill that is easily attained, glorious when perfected, and dependant on understanding of two principles: structure and tone. After reading this text you will be able to write an introduction that you can repeat and adapt to a wide range of essay questions, whilst engaging and holding the focus of your reader.
As mentioned, a key principle of introduction writing is structure. Structuring is important for two reasons. Firstly, by effectively structuring your introduction, your reader is assured of the direction your text is heading in. Secondly, developing a repeatable structure allows you to readily articulate your ideas for an essay, saving time for later on.
Five steps to nail your essay introduction structure
1. The Whizzbanger.
Read the first line of the introduction again: “We writers get few opportunities to seize the attention of you, the reader.” This first sentence is dubbed the ‘Whizzbanger’. This is your opening line, designed to hook your reader and draw them into the text. A Whizzbanger should be broad, grand, and thought provoking. Let’s think about this first line. I have begun by establishing my own position (somewhat pretentiously) as the Writer, and you the Reader. I have used high modality language to construct an authoritative tone; I am not ‘asking’ you to consider my point, I am ‘telling’ you that my point is correct. Whilst this may seem overly bold and uncharismatic, I assure you it is an extremely effective way to hook your reader and introduce the general gist of your text.
2. The first Thesis.
It should be noted that the above mentioned Whizzbanger is not in fact the thesis of your text, and your introduction requires much further clarification and detail to make your argument evident. After the Whizzbanger, your next line should be what I call ‘The First Thesis’. This first thesis introduces the crux of your text, in my case I claim that “Introductions are critical in establishing a text as a whole; its style, its content,
setting the reader’s expectations for what is to come”. Your first thesis should specifically address the question, attempting to draw specific terminology that the question uses. For example, if presented with the question ‘How do composers invite audiences to reconsider their perspectives of shared human experiences?’, I would expect that in your first thesis line, you should pinpoint a specific shared human experience and make an argument as to how composers seek to challenge this - is it through the form that they use? Is it through the techniques that they employ? Is it through the subject matter that they are writing about? For example, ‘Through a range of unique forms and fictive techniques, composers seek to challenge the audience’s preconceived assumptions towards the shared human experience of belonging’.
3. The second Thesis.
The second thesis is quite simple. So far in our introduction we have not referenced the specific text that we are studying, or made mention to the text we are writing ourselves. The second thesis is our opportunity to do this. The second thesis should repeat the arguments and clause structure of your ‘first thesis’, except this time it should be text specific. Whereas in the first thesis we may have referred to ‘composers’ in general, in the second thesis we would refer to the author themselves, and the text that they have written. For example, ‘Through the world building that J.K.Rowling employs in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, the audience is asked to reshape their perspective towards the shared human experience of belonging.’
4. Signposting.
Signposting is the process of introducing the specific sub-arguments that you will discuss within your text; this is where you briefly introduce what you will cover in your body paragraphs. In the interest of saving time, especially for ‘in class’ essays such as the HSC exams, you should aim to limit your signposting to one sentence per body paragraph. When formulating arguments for your body paragraphs, you should seek to develop them under the umbrella of your first and second theses. For example, reverting back to the Harry Potter example, one signposting sentence could be ‘Through the character arc of Harry, Rowling argues that belonging and feeling welcomed are not just crucial to an individual’s emotions, but have a positive influence on all other aspects of their life.’
5. Linking sentence.
Now you are almost done with your introduction! The final step required is a linking sentence. This is the last line of your introduction and is designed to sum up your points, and restate your initial argument. Your linking sentence, much like the conclusion of an essay, should not introduce any new topics and does not require immense detail on any one area. A common mistake students make is to feel the need to repeat all the signposted arguments again in their linking sentence. This is simply not necessary and makes your final line sound rather clunky and repetitive. To write an effective linking sentence, try and sum up your whizzbanger and your first thesis into a single argument. For example, “After reading this text you will be able to write an introduction that you can repeat and adapt to a wide range of essay questions, whilst engaging and holding the focus of your reader.” This linking line from my introduction restates the argument of my thesis and incorporates elements from my whizzbanger in ‘engaging and holding the focus of your reader.”
That in summary, is a five step method to writing an English introduction. This introduction structure will allow you to quickly and easily churn out essay introductions to an incredibly high standard; also allowing you to adapt introductions and theses to other essay questions. I encourage you to take what you have learnt here and apply it to the last essay that you wrote in class. Try and follow this formula very specifically to begin with, before introducing your own unique tricks and quirks. Good luck with your writing!
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