What Should an Introduction Include?

The introduction of an essay is sometimes the most difficult part of the essay to write. Many teachers advise their students to put off writing the introduction until the rest of the essay has been written. With the rest of the essay completed, it is much easier to know where the essay is going.

Topic Sentence

From the beginning of the essay, the reader should be attracted to the text. A good topic sentence will draw a reader in and make her want to keep reading. A topic sentence sets the essay up and leads into the thesis.

Thesis

The thesis can often be included in well-constructed topic sentences, but it is easier to write the thesis, which is the main point being made by the writer.

Subjects

Depending on how many paragraphs are going to be written, the writer will need to mention the subject areas to be dealt with in each paragraph. For example, if three content paragraphs are planned, then three subject areas must be introduced in the introduction.

Linking Sentence

Once the subjects have been introduced, a linking sentence that will link the introduction to the first subject being dealt with, must be written. This linking sentence will move the essay naturally to the content paragraph with the use of transitions.

Transitions

Transitions are words that specifically point to another subject or move the discussion further along. For instance, some commonly used transition words are: "consequently," "therefore," "and so," "subsequently," "that is," "in addition," "furthermore" and "moreover."