Starting Your Paper

An Introduction Should…

1. Grab the reader's attention.

2. State your thesis clearly and concisely.

3. Provide any necessary background information.

4. Establish an appropriate tone and level of formality of the essay

7 Ways to Grab Your Reader’s Attention

1.

Begin with a shocking statement. The writer in the previous lesson planning an essay about global warming that focused on polar bears might open the essay with a shock like this:

In 50 years, there will be no more polar bears on the planet.

2.

Ask a startling question.Are you willing to watch a polar bear die of starvation?

3.

Quote an authority on your subject."In a shrinking ice environment, the ability of polar bears to find food, to reproduce, and to survive will all be reduced," said Scott Schliebe, Alaskan polar bear project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

4.

Describe an imaginary scenario.

Think of what the world would be like if there were no more polar bears, no more ice pack, no more Arctic Circle at all.

5.

Begin with an anecdote, personal or not.

Research scientists in the Canadian Wildlife Service are reporting dramatic declines in the polar bear population. Eyewitness accounts by field workers describe the bears as growing visibly skinnier because they can't find enough food.

6.

Set the scene with interesting background information.

Global warming may be a difficult subject for the individual to grasp, but field workers in the Canadian Wildlife Service are finding the global problem reduced to a very local level as they conduct their annual demographic count of polar bears in the western coastal area of Manitoba.

7.

Adapt a familiar quotation or phrase to your subject matter.

To be concerned about global warming, or not: That is the question facing every person in the world right now, and it's probably the single most important question we face.

What is a thesis?

It is usually a single sentence at the end of your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader.

The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

The thesis statement is the “road map” of your paper, directing you as you write it and guiding the reader through it.

Do Know your essay’s type. Make a statement. Make a debatable claim. Be specific

Don’t Announce the thesis, e.g. “This paper will discuss….” Announce yourself, e.g. “I am going to prove that….” Ask a question. Leave your reader asking “How?” or “Why?”

Example Thesis Statements

Harriet Tubman, also known as Moses, risked her life many times over in order to make a difference doing what she believed was right.

As a result of Dot Richardson’s dedication, desire, and commitment to excellence, she has become a role model for all young female athletes.

Marked by his imagination, persistence, and perfectionism, Walt Disney spent his life changing the world of entertainment and altering the way people lived.