Introductory paragraph is one of the most important paragraphs in your essay. The purpose of this paragraph are to get the reader’s attention, set tone for the rest of the essay and make a contract with the reader on what will be covered in this piece. Introductory paragraph consists of three parts.
The first part is the hook. It is designed to grab the reader’s attention immediately and give some indication about the essay’s topic. The second part is the transition. It moves the reader from the hook to the driving force of the essay. The last part is the thesis which makes the contract with the leader about what will be discussed without a blatant announcement. There consists of 7 types of introductory paragraph. The examples are as followed:
1) Personal Examples
- Provides strong, dramatic incident to use. Honesty in expressing thoughts and feelings will ring true with the reader. While, you can make up the personal experience, be careful that it sounds credible.
e.g.
On Friday, February 19, 2000, life changed for an eighteen-year-old young man. He became very ill from a bacterial infection. His body could not fight the infection. Why? After a week of tests and examinations by several specialists, the diagnosis was made. He had leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow. I am that young man. When a person finds out that he has cancer, just as I did, his whole world changes. A cancer patient is affected physically, psychologically, and socially by the impact of cancer.
2) Quotation
- Does not have to be form a famous person
- Must be relevant to the thesis statement
- Content of quota should be dramatic, emotional appealing, surprising, humorous
e.g.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” This thought by John Milton was recorded over four hundred years ago, but it is still timely for us today. He seems to be saying that we are the ones to control our lives. We can be miserable when things are going well, just as we can be happy when things are going wrong. With this thought in mind, we can control the way we face life through our attitude, our determination, and our ability.
3) Facts and Statistics
- must be startling or unusual
- must be form a credible source.
- use journal as a place to record both quotes and facts or statistics that might work for an introduction.
e.g.
In the desert regions of Arizona, solar homes date back to the pre-Columbian Indians. These people carefully designed their homes in the recesses of south-facing cliffs to receive the warmth of the winter sun. In the summer, shade was provided by overhanging cliffs. Today, as then, the desert-region solar home must be carefully designed to use the sun efficiently in the orientation, the exterior, and the interior.
4) Rhetorical Questions
e.g.
Why is it that we continue to take Mother Nature for granted? Do we really need a catastrophe to occur before we actually stop our errant ways? Research has shown that global warming in now at a very dangerous level. If environmental pollution continues to go unchecked, it may not be long before disaster actually strikes. Hence, it is high time that we did something to stop global warming by cutting down on the use of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), reducing the number of cars on the road and protecting our green lungs.
5) Current Events
- must be recent
- must be important
- should be made public by newspapers, television or radio
e.g.
This morning’s newspaper reported a man who had shot his twenty-three-year-old girlfriend and her nine-month-old child because he believed his girlfriend had transmitted AIDS to him. In 1984, a nurse in Kokomo, Indiana, refused to go into thirteen-year old Ryan White’s hospital room because he had just been diagnosed with AIDS, and in 1987, a bullet shattered his home’s picture window, forcing Ryan and his family to move to Cicero, Indiana, a community twenty miles south. Though these incidents seem bizarre in civilized America, many people fear AIDS because of the consequences of the disease, the misinformation concerning the disease, and the increasing number of cases of the disease.
6) Contrast to the Thesis Statement
- In direct contrast to the thesis statement.
- It is fun to prove an expert wrong.
e.g.
Since the middle 1940s, the female Cannabis sativa plant, commonly known as marijuana, has been classified by the United States government as a Schedule I drug. This classification recognizes marijuana as a dangerous narcotic, similar in potency to heroin and possessing no redeeming medicinal qualities. Research in the last few years, however, has brought many new discoveries in medicine relating to the possible uses of marijuana to treat many different illnesses, including glaucoma, cancer, and phantom limb pain suffered by paraplegics and amputees.
7) Definition
e.g.
Haemorrhoids, or piles, are swollen and stretched-out veins which line the upper part of the anal canal and lower rectum. The first symptom is usually bleeding. If the haemorrhoids become larger and bleed during a bowel movement, they generally protrude through the anal canal and are visible as a lump. In this case, they are called ‘prolapsed’. External haemorrhoids is a condition in which a small blood vessel burst just under the surface of the skin at the opening of the anal canal. Regardless of type, haemorrhoids cause distress and embarrassment. They hurt, burn, itch, irritate the anal are, and often, bleed. To save ourselves from all this pain, it is good for us to know the factors which contribute to haemorrhoids and ways to avoid them.
* THE HOOK, TRANSITION, THESIS STATEMENT
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