Introductions

Introductions should:

A)                Capture the reader’s attention and develop interest

B)                Establish the tone of the essay

C)                Guide the audience to the thesis or central idea

 

When Muhammad Ali flunked his army intelligence test, he joked (with a wit that belied his performance on the exam): “I only said I was the greatest; I never said I was the smartest.” In our metaphors and fairy tales, size and power are almost always balanced by a want of intelligence. Cunning is the refuge of the little guy. Think of Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Bear; David smiting Goliath with a slingshot, or Jack chopping down the beanstalk. Slow wit is the tragic flaw of a giant.

A good composition will not plunge abruptly into the subject.  You can capture the interest of your reader by the use of one or more of several devices:

            1)         A question to set the reader thinking

            2)         A startling statement

            3)         A narrative incident or a bit of dialogue

            4)         An appropriate quotation

            5)         A comparison or contrast

            6)         A brief background of the subject (Do not start too far from the thesis idea

A Funnel Paragraph

The handiest and most frequently used device for introducing the topic, however, is the so-called funnel paragraph. The funnel-shaped opener begins with an assertion covering a broader area than the topic will address; this gives the reader a wide perspective and a context for understanding the actual topic when it is stated. Then, in perhaps two or three subsequent sentences, the funnel paragraph narrows to the topic and thesis, which is usually revealed just as the paragraph ends. The following example is typical:

Only a few politicians have taken a craftsman’s pride in self-expression, and fewer still – Caesar, Lord Clarendon, Winston Churchill, DeGualle – have been equally successful in politics and authorship. Of these, Churchill may be the most interesting, for he was not only among the most voluminous of writers, but also commented freely on the art of writing. He was, in fact, a writer before becoming a politician.

Demanding a Response

When the thesis of the essay states an opinion or expresses an attitude, the introduction usually makes a forceful, perhaps somewhat surprising assertion that demands a response of some sort:

The revival of the forties and fifties is upon us. The Middle-American time of my youth is gaining its place in our historical imagination. Movies, essays, stories, novels, and the sheer passage of time have already begun transforming that era from banal to exotic. The record is being filled no only with nostalgia but with critical insight, as writing men of wit try to pin down those days. Nevertheless, something crucial is missing, for the reality being recorded about that era is essentially a male reality, the experience a male experience. And until the female side is acknowledged and recorded, the era cannot even begin to emerge in perspective.

This paragraph certainly could be strengthened: the first five sentences are constructed alike, the diction is somewhat repetitive, and little progress is made from the first sentence through the fourth. Yet the author does what needs doing. The opening sentence gives us orientation and a promise of interesting details to follow; we can tell from the tone that this will be a no-nonsense essay, factual and critical in its emphasis; and the paragraph ends with a thesis sentence for the whole essay, thus concluding one movement of thought and opening up a more ambitious one. Not very much has been said, but we have settled back and prepared ourselves for the rest.