Top 5 Ways to Spice Up Your Introduction Paragraph

What makes a successful introduction paragraph in an academic essay—or any essay for that matter?

First, it must capture the reader’s attention. This is often described with the fishing metaphor “hooking the reader.” Let’s unpack this metaphor so we completely understand it.

When we go fishing, we don’t just walk up to a lake or river and cast out our line without any bait. What fish in his right mind would willingly chomp down on a pointy little hook unless there was a worm attached? Fish are busy creatures by their very nature—they’ve got to keep swimming in order to breathe after all. They’ve got no time to bother with empty hooks. They’ll just swim on by, leaving you with nothing to eat for dinner except a can of baked beans.

Thus, the metaphor “hook the reader” implies that you must use some bait to grab the reader’s attention and entice her to read your composition. After all, most people are far busier than some trout paddling around a pond. They’ve got bills to pay, yard work to do, people to talk to, and an infinite number of issues to address in their lives. If you don’t use the right bait, you won’t catch any readers.

Yet, how do we do this? What techniques or strategies can we use to “hook” our readers?

Ask a Question:

Asking a question at the beginning of an essay immediately engages the reader in the topic you want to inform them about. Look at the following example:

The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in 2001, which immediately fueled the housing boom during the early part of the decade.

Vs.

What fueled the housing boom during the early part of the decade? Could Federal Reserve be to blame for lowering the interest rates so drastically?

The second example immediately engages the reader, who may or may not have her own opinion on this topic. Once the reader is engaged, you’ve just increased the odds that he or she will continue reading your paper.

Tell a Story

If there has been one constant during the evolution of mankind, it is a love of stories. From our earliest ancestors huddled around a fire spinning yarns to explain where lightning comes from to people today huddled around their television sets to watch the latest episode of “The Office”, we thrive on stories. So, why shouldn’t we use them as “bait” for our readers?

Compare these examples:

The character of Superman premiered in 1939, just as America was on the brink of entering World War II.

VS.

One can imagine a little boy peddling his bicycle up to a newsstand on a warm summer in 1939. Amidst countless newspapers featuring headlines about Nazi aggression in Europe, the boy finds a slim comic book featuring a man in red and blue spandex lifting a car over his head.

Does the latter introduction reel you in more than the first? Of course it does. Although true stories are undoubtedly more effective, you can still use a hypothetical story like the one above as long as it is reasonable. One thing to note: Effective storytelling, even in an essay, requires writers to use concrete details to help the reader visualize the events in your story.

Using a Quote

Many students misinterpret this device. They go to one of the countless boos of quotations in the library or find a nifty Web site of quotations and just cherry pick some random quote from a famous person and force it into the introduction of their paper. This does not work. The quote must have some relevance to the topic you are introducing. The best strategy is to keep an eye out for interesting or compelling quotes while you are researching your paper.

Startling Statistics

Some may say statistics are boring, but it all depends on how you use them. (Mark Twain was never more correct than when he said “There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics.”) However, I’m not encouraging you to use the statistics to bend the truth. We’ll leave that to the politicians. In academic writing, we want to use accurate statistics to help make your case. Yet, if you do find some statistics during your research that you believe will make your reader look twice, these statistics should come right at the beginning of your paper. For example:

For all the money America spends on education, the country still has a high illiteracy rate.

Vs.

Currently, one-third of Americans cannot read at the high school level.

A Surprising Statement

Once again, approach this technique with caution. You cannot just make any old surprising statement. It must lead into your topic. As a writer, I would not try and use this strategy until after I had finished a rough draft of my introduction. You can tweak your introduction during the revising stage of the writing process to find the appropriate startling statement to use. Again, an example:

America failed to act swiftly to the brutal genocide taking place in Rwanda during the late 1990s.

VS.

America was party responsible for the genocide in Rwanda.

Concluding Thoughts

Remember, you don’t need to use these right from the start. You can…and maybe sometimes should…wait until you’re revising the paper before choosing one of these strategies. Don’t let uncertainty over which method you will use keep you from actually writing your paper.

Dan Tarker

Comma Use and Writing Style

Are you a heavy punctuator or a light punctuator?

Don’t know the difference?

Read this article http://www.startribune.com/business/17860429.html in the Star Tribune to find out which camp you belong to. You may also learn a thing or two about mandatory and optional commas…not to mention how your use of commas impacts how the reader may interpret your writing style.

Mortal Syntax

Unlike other disciplines, grammar should not be treated as a list of iron clad rules designed to make writers sweat every prepositional phrase or infinitive they use. As this recent National Public Radio story highlights, grammar, like all language, is creative and constantly evolving. Listen to June Casagrande, author of Mortal Syntax, share her thoughts on these and other grammar related issues by following this link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89307936