Short on time? This page is the recap. For explanations and worked examples, use the full study guide.
Recap
- The introduction introduces the subject and/or the writer to the audience.
- It may present the thesis, but it need not.
- It may orient, engage and focus the audience.
- Common strategies: a quotation, an intriguing statement, an anecdote, a question, a statistic or data, contextualised information, a scenario.
- A strategy is judged by its effect on this audience for this purpose, not by its type.
- In reading questions, name the strategy and then its effect. In writing questions, choose the opening that best prepares the reader for the claim.
Key relationships
| Job | What the reader should know afterwards | Typical tools |
|---|---|---|
| Orient | Subject, speaker, situation, why now | Context, a scenario, the writer’s own position or role |
| Engage | A reason to keep reading | Anecdote, surprising fact, question, striking image |
| Focus | What kind of claim is coming | A thesis, or a sentence that points straight at it |
| If the audience is… | Consider opening with… |
|---|---|
| A decision-making body that values evidence | Data or contextual information, then the claim |
| A general audience that needs to care | Anecdote or scenario |
| An expert or busy reader | The thesis first |
| Sceptical or hostile | A shared value, a concession, or a question that does not threaten them |
Assumptions and conventions
- In a timed essay an introduction is usually three to five sentences.
- A short quotation is fine if it is accurate, relevant and discussed.
- Where the exam gives sources, refer to them by author or title; do not invent facts or numbers to make an opening more vivid.
- Opening with the thesis is acceptable; so is leading to it.
Mistakes to avoid
- Starting with “Since the beginning of time…” or any other empty generalisation.
- Announcing the plan (“In this essay I will discuss…”) instead of making a claim.
- A decorative quotation that is never connected to the argument.
- A long anecdote that delays the claim until the reader has lost the thread.
- A dictionary definition that does not help the argument.
- Writing an opener unconnected to the claim so that the two feel like different essays.
- Naming a strategy without its effect when analysing a text (“the writer uses a question” and stopping there).
Quick self-check
- Name the three jobs of an introduction. (Orient, engage, focus.)
- A writer opens a speech to a town council with the cost of a proposal and the number of people affected. Which strategies are these, and why might they suit that audience? (Data and contextual information; councillors decide on costs and effects.)
- Why is “In this essay I will discuss both sides of the issue” a weak opening? (It describes the task, takes no position and gives the reader no stake.)
Next: practice questions.