What Are The Four Parts Of An Introductory Paragraph
Shameka Cretsinger
In this lesson, you will learn about the two parts of an introductory paragraph. An introductory paragraph is usually the first paragraph of an essay. The two parts of an introductory paragraph are as follows:
If you were writing an essay in response to that prompt, how could the first paragraph in your essay, the introductory paragraph, draw your reader in and make him or her want to read your essay? What kind of hook could you use?
Though pretty simple approaches, any one of these three types of hooks (if related to your topic or thesis statement) could do a wonderful job of drawing your reader in and making him or her want to read your essay.
Another important part of the introductory paragraph is the thesis statement. The thesis statement serves as the road map for the rest of your essay-it indicates the controlling idea you will be focusing on throughout your essay (your response to the prompt question) and also outlines the controlling ideas of each of your body paragraphs.
One of the keys to a great basic (or body) paragraph is a single controlling idea-as stated in the topic sentence of that paragraph. The basic essay is no different. Just as the basic paragraph requires a single controlling idea, so too does the basic essay. And just as that controlling idea is established in the topic sentence of a basic paragraph, the controlling idea of the basic essay is established within its thesis statement.
The answer to that question indicates the controlling idea of your essay. Since one of the roles of your thesis statement is to establish the controlling idea of your essay, this same answer, if phrased properly, can become the thesis statement for your essay.
Another thing your thesis should do is outline the controlling ideas for each of your body paragraphs. Sometimes the prompt question you are answering asks for only one specific answer, resulting in just one specific controlling idea in one body paragraph. This is the case with the prompt question above. It asks for one thing that can be done to overcome a specific thinking error.
This is not always the case though. Many prompt questions may ask for two or three items to be focused on instead of just one. What might a thesis statement like that look like? How could a thesis statement indicate not only the controlling idea for the entire essay, but also the controlling ideas that will be addressed by the two or three body paragraphs to follow?
What might a thesis statement that needs to address not just one but three things a person can do to overcome a specific thinking error look like? It could take on many forms, one of which can be seen in the example below:
This expectation sounds simple, but you would be surprised by how many students struggle with this sometimes. When writing a basic essay, it is important that you place your thesis statement at the end of your introductory paragraph. It should come after the hook, as shown in the graphic below:
Think of it this way, how frustrated would you be if you were promised a map to the local theme park for a day of fun, only to receive directions to an oil refinery? You would likely be frustrated by the fact that what you were promised up-front was not delivered to you in the end.
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I think that if I write all these points a single section, it will be a huge block of text (even with proper use of paragraphs and writing), and some readers may not pay attention to some important points. So I thought about breaking down my introduction in subsections, as it seems a logical solution to the problem.
I saw some articles doing this, but the majority of journal articles I have read on my area don't do this. Do you guys think it is an acceptable solution to use subsections on an introduction? Can it impact positively or negatively a review process?
Typically I'm looking for papers on topic X. I usually have a long list (10 - 100) of papers that may or may not be relevant. I can't read them all in depth, I have to "triage" them to determine which ones to spend time on. So first I read the abstract. If that sounds interesting, then I skim the introduction and conclusion. If that sounds interesting, then I glance through the figures. If I'm still interested, THEN I start reading text in depth.
I'm going to suggest that you don't do so much in an introduction. I suspect that reviewers will say the same. Most of what you have listed should be sections of the main part of the paper, not the introduction. If the intro is so long that it gets boring, then readers may not get to the more important stuff.
I recognize that you are trying to be "logical", but that can be a mistake in an introduction. What you want to do is tell the reader why they should read the whole paper, not present most of the paper itself. But your sections seem to include nearly everything except the results and conclusions.
The key in the intro is to say what problem is being attacked, whether the methodology is standard or innovative, and what we can conclude in general from the research. Put the rest of it in sections of the paper itself.
What you seem to be wanting to do is write half or so of an extended abstract in the introduction. I'd suggest not doing that. Capture the reader's interest in a few sentences. If the various sections of the paper itself are properly named and set off, then there is little need even to write what amounts to a table of contents in the intro. Let the paper's structure do that. Point to things that are unique/innovative/interesting in the intro, but not a general outline. The good will get lost in the ordinary if you try to do too much.
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