Essay Introduction

Baseball managers have important decisions to make when it comes to the order of their batters in the lineup — much like the decisions a writer has to make when putting together an essay. In baseball, the person who is selected as the first batter is generally the hitter who is most likely to get on base, meaning that they would set up the next batters to be able to send them home and score a run. The first paragraph of an essay sets up plays for the writer much the same as the lead-off batter does for the rest of their team.

The essay introduction is the first part of an essay, and it contains a hook, a bridge, and a thesis. It also functions to provide an overview of the rest of the essay. It might not be the most important or powerful part of the essay, but without a good introduction to “get on base,” the rest of the essay will have to do a lot more legwork to make itself look good.

Another way to look at the essay introduction is comparing it to meeting someone for the first time. A first impression is the first experience a person has when meeting someone new. The essay introduction is the first impression that the reader gets of the essay.

How to Write an Introduction

Essay introductions generally have three basic parts. The introduction begins with the hook, moves into the bridge, and ends with the thesis. The best way to visualize the motion of these three parts is to think of a funnel. At the wide end of the funnel is the hook, and at the narrow end is the thesis. But what do each of these parts do, and why are they so important? The following list defines and states the general importance of each part of the essay introduction.

1. Hook – The hook is the opening line of the introduction. It draws attention to the essay with an interesting statement or question.
2. Bridge – The bridge is the link between the hook and the thesis. It provides vital background information.
3. Thesis – Thesis is another word for topic sentence. As such, the thesis informs the reader what the main idea of the essay is.

The three basic parts of an essay introduction transition to each other like liquid through a funnel.

Introduction Format

The format of an essay introduction can vary depending on factors including the age of the writer, the author’s reason for writing, or the style guide used to inform the writing. In academic writing in the United States, though, the overarching format of the introduction is standard. The introduction begins with the hook, which is followed by the bridge, and then it ends with the thesis statement.

The length of an introduction is usually correlated with the length of the overall essay. For example, in a standard 5 paragraph essay, the introduction would be a paragraph long. In the case of an essay that is many pages long, however, the introduction will be longer. A really good way to generalize how long an introduction should be is to take the length of the body of the essay and multiply it by 1/3. In a 5 paragraph essay, for example, the body is 3 paragraphs long, and 1/3 times 3 is 1.

Hook

Just like a fishing hook grabs a fish and doesn’t let go, the hook of an essay should grab the reader. The hook is also known as an attention getter or an attention grabber. The hook sentence should be written in a way to entice the reader to read more. But how should the hook be written? There are a lot of ways to write a good hook, and picking the best one to use in an essay really depends on what the essay is about.

• If the essay is expository, a great hook could include giving a jaw-dropping statistic or fact that relates to the essay.
• If the essay is informative, a good way to start off might be to ask an interesting question (that the reader probably doesn’t know) which will be answered in the essay.
• If the essay happens to be more narrative, then starting off with an anecdotal hook about something mysterious or odd that happened is a great beginning.
• All essay types can use a quote as a hook. The quote can come from a source attached to the essay, or it could simply be a quote that relates to the essay.

Another way to look at the hook is to draw a comparison to the events of a good concert. Think about what happens when an artist put on a great show and then leaves the stage. The crowd keeps cheering and won’t leave until the artist comes back for an encore. The hook is the essay’s show, and what comes afterward is the encore. If the show isn’t good, people get up and leave. As such, if the hook isn’t interesting, there is less of a chance that the reader will want that encore. The following table lists both some effective and ineffective hooks to demonstrate how to write the best one possible.

Bridge

The bridge is the transition between the hook and the thesis statement. It can be written in different ways depending on what type of essay is being created. The bridge generally comes in two basic forms: background information or context summary.

• Background information – Sometimes the reader will need some background information in order to understand the main points of the essay. This can be particularly true in persuasive essays when the writer is trying to argue for a side. Background information gives the reader enough basic information to understand and react to the content, and it can catch them up on any existing debate relevant to the topic. Background information bridges can also be used to define key terms that may be unknown to most readers, or which may be essential to grasping the concepts in the essay.

Example: The local general store in town was bought by a new owner last year. After just three months, the store changed from providing local products to providing products from overseas. The new owner also placed a giant political sign in the front window of the store promoting a very controversial and inflammatory candidate for local government. Because of the actions of the new owners, people in town need to stop supporting this establishment.

In the previous example, the writer gives background information on what the store owner has done since buying the store. This background information transitions into the thesis of the essay — the importance of not supporting this business.

• Context Summary – Context summary is when the writer sums up the main points or context of the body of the essay in the introduction. This is more commonly seen in 5 paragraph essays, and it is usually the first thing taught to students who are learning to write paragraphs. Think of each sentence in the bridge as a restatement of the main topic sentence of the body paragraphs.

Example: Last year alone, three people were hit and severely injured at the intersection of Main and Smith street. Businesses suffer because customers don’t feel safe trying to park and crossing the intersection to shop. The intersection is always busy because trucks use it to avoid going through the expensive toll on the highway. For these important reasons, the town must act now to put in a traffic light at the intersection of Main and Smith.

In this example, the writer lays out three examples of how the intersection is dangerous. The bridge then leads to the thesis of the town needing a traffic light. The body of the essay will contain three distinct sections, each one elaborating on one of the reasons listed out in the bridge.

Thesis

The thesis statement sums up the central point or argument of the essay. It’s the beating heart of the introduction, and the spine of the entire essay. Coming up with a good thesis is one of the most important parts of the essay writing process. Thesis statements come in three main forms, the persuasive thesis, the expository thesis, or the analysis thesis, although there is always freedom and variance in the writing process. The table below shows the three common types of thesis statement, and provides an example of each.

But what makes an ineffective thesis statement? The following are some characteristics of ineffective thesis statements.

• The thesis statement is a question – The term “statement” should be a hint that a thesis in the form of a question is an ineffective thesis.
• The thesis is too broad – For example, “climate change is bad!” While this is certainly true, the argument presented here is way too broad for a discipline as large as climate change.
• The thesis is too vague – “People have been driving cars for decades.” This is also true, but the statement is way too vague for a thesis.
• The thesis is too varied – “Dogs make great pets, and living on a farm is a tough life.” These two concepts are not closely related enough to be in the same thesis. Stick to a single idea.

Introduction Example

Putting the previous tips, suggestions, and examples to work, the following example of an introduction essay will be based on the following prompt, which could be given to a 5th grade class.

Assignment: Write about an issue in school that needs a resolution. Explain why the issue is a problem and how it should be solved.

1. Two weeks ago I nearly died at recess.
2. As everyone knows, the sidewalk that goes around the playground is cracking and buckling, which creates places that are easy to trip on. Kids are always running around at recess, and most of them aren’t paying attention to where they are putting their feet. No one even uses the sidewalk at recess because it’s too broken and chipped to play games on or draw on.
3. I believe that the school needs to rip out the broken sidewalk and replace it with more rubber mulch.

This example of an essay introduction took several steps to complete. It contains the following three pieces:

1. Hook
2. Bridge
3. Thesis

The list below gives a step-by-step account of how the example student wrote the introduction.

• They picked an issue that was important to them.
• They chose the solution that they were going to argue for.
• They wrote an anecdotal hook that got the reader interested by the use of hyperbole.
• Next they jotted down all the problems and issues with the sidewalk.
• They narrowed down the bridge to three main points.
• Then they wrote a persuasive thesis arguing for the removal of the sidewalk as the solution.

This persuasive essay introduction highlights the three examples the writer will use to backup their thesis.

Lesson Summary

An essay introduction is the first part of an essay, which introduces the reader to what will follow in the main body of the essay. The introduction consists of three main parts: the hook, the bridge and the thesis statement. The hook is designed to grab the reader’s attention while the bridge serves to transition to the thesis using summary or background information. The thesis statement is the central point or argument of the entire essay.

The thesis statement is the most important part of the introduction, and it must be written effectively. Thesis statements come in three general forms; the persuasive thesis, the expository thesis and the analysis thesis. A persuasive thesis presents the argument the writer plans to make, an expository thesis explains the main point in an unbiased way, and the analysis thesis conducts a deep examination of a concept. Ineffective thesis statements usually consist of a question, or a topic that is too broad, too vague, or which contains too many unrelated ideas.