INTRODUCTION WRITING
Theory
Application
Before we start



There is no single way to write introductions!
There are many types of essays –
argumentative, evaluative etc
So sometimes some techniques are appropriate,
sometimes they are not…
Golden Rule: as you read for your course,
ask yourself how the introduction has
been written. BE AWARE / BE ACTIVE
READERS…
Task 1: Analyse all sorts
of Intros
How does a trailer to a film
introduce it?
How does Gary Linneker
introduce Match of the Day?
How do the presenters start
the News off?
Task 1
What are the basic
‘ingredients’ of an
introduction to an
argumentative essay?
THE INTRODUCTION MAY…


ANNOUNCE the topic (Include a topic
sentence. What is: the general theme of
your essay? The question you will be
answering? The hypothesis you will be
testing?) (Essential!)
Include a thesis statement where you
state the overall ARGUMENT of the essay
(ie: your answer/central idea/ assertion
about the topic). Where do you stand on
the issue? (NB Sometimes…)
An Introduction may…



Signpost the CONTENT (How will you
answer the question - what issues will you
discuss; what theories will you use and
WHY? To discuss why INTERPRET THE
TITLE – what’s this question about then?)
Maybe indicate the STRUCTURE.
Define (NB if necessary) terms/ key words/
concepts in the question
In Brief…
What (am I writing about)?
Why (am I doing this)?
How (will I do it)?
Task: Analyse the following Intro


Are contemporary Spanish women ‘free’?
This essay will discuss an important
issue in contemporary Spain: whether
Spanish women are free. In order to
discuss this, it will first be necessary to
define what freedom is. The essay will
then proceed by analysing some
important issues such as child care
and work.
My Reactions






Yes, it announces its topic and structure
but…
I find it rather bland, dull, predictable,
hackneyed, unimaginative, etc etc. Why?
INTERPRET the title – don’t repeat it
Look at the IMPLICATIONS of the title’s
terms
Be PRECISE – define the issues you’ll look
at
PROVE it’s important, don’t just say it is

PS I wrote it, not a student!
Recap…
What (am I writing about)?
Why (am I doing this)?
How (will I do it)?
WHAT (am I writing
about)?

Include a topic sentence i.e. state
what the essay is about (its general
subject/ try to the topic down to its
central issue)
NB Avoid word for word repetitions of
the title.
What (am I writing about)?

Topic Sentences:
– Simply state THE TOPIC: ‘This essay
will consider the representation of men
in …’
Or
– State THE QUESTION you intend to
answer: 'I seek/the essay will seek to
answer the question of whether
structural adjustment programmes have
a negative impact on the 'so-called'
Third World countries.'
Why (am I doing it)?
Build up to the topic statement:

Briefly INTERPRET the title/ give it
a context: what do you understand by
the title? What are its implications?
Why discuss this? Why write on this
topic? Why is it important? Is it
controversial? Why is this a question?
– IE How does it fit into the broader
theoretical debates of your
module/discipline?
Why? Context Warning


Setting the question into a doesn’t
mean ‘talk about the topic in general’,
but ‘sum up (briefly) the context of
THE TITLE’
(See Harvard for further info on scene
setting).
Why (am I doing it)?
Emphasise the IMPORTANCE of the topic (why
bother writing about this issue?) via:
1. A VERY brief reference to the historical,
cultural or social context e.g. is it of current
interest? Has it had a great impact
socially/culturally?
2. A reference to the reasons for critical interest
in it e.g. a BRIEF description of critical wrangling
over the issue (what is controversial about this
issue? Where do you fit into the debates?)
How (might I do it)?
May include a thesis statement i.e. literally
state 1. the topic or question addressed in the
essay & 2. your answer to the question
May mention the theories you will use to
conduct your analysis:
‘The essay will argue that Susan Bordo’s (1992,
144) theory of the body as alien is useful to a
discussion of the body within the texts of García
Lorca…’ (Check with lecturers whether they like
thesis statements!)
How (might I do it)?


Mention the specific
issues/themes you will consider in
the essay.
Outline the structure of the essay
(sometimes, but beware
tedium…).
An Intro may


Define problematic terms
(beware…)
Use an alarming statistic? /a
quotation & your comment/ or
(more difficult) make a bold
statement about the subject
A few Dos

Introduce your essay to somebody else in 1 minute!
Then write your intro.

Keep it short and to the point

Be creative! Explain the title. Boring? ‘In my first
section…, then I’ll…, then I’ll...'

Ask tutors whether you should include a thesis
statement

Ask yourself – have I really responded to each aspect of
the title?
A few Don’ts…




Don’t go overboard on contextual/
background/ biographical information –
get to the point!
Don’t repeat the essay title – discuss it
Write shopping lists (ie: I will do this, then
this, then…, then…)
Only define necessary terms (ie
ambiguous, complex terms) and beware
dictionary definitions!
Summary


Introduce purpose – topic statement/
thesis statement/
Set the title into a context: (EG: its
historical/social/political/critical/
ethical/legal setting)
Task

1.
2.
Can you spot the structure of the
following introduction?
Does it mention its topic? Where?
Does it mention its thesis? If so,
where?
Does it set the topic into a context?
If so, what sort of context?
Task: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of
Gender in Advertising by Reena Mistry
http://www.theory.org.uk/mistry.htm
Since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly
employed images in which the gender and sexual
orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and
purposefully) ambiguous. As an ancillary to this, there
are also a growing number of distinctly homosexual
images - and these are far removed from depictions of
the camp gay employed as the comic relief elsewhere in
mainstream media. This essay is concerned with
providing a critical analysis as to the potential of such
depictions to undermine conventional gender role
stereotypes and the norm of heterosexuality that
dominate advertising and the media at large. (…)
Intro Technique



What? She does not restate the title,
but narrows it down to a key issue.
She signals this issue as the question
she will be asking in her essay: ‘the
potential of such depictions to undermine
conventional gender role stereotypes and
the norm of heterosexuality’. This is her
TOPIC STATEMENT.
It does not contain a thesis statement.
Why? The context is the recent ambiguity of
adverts – this has provoked the issue she
has identified
Task: Towards The Margins
Describing a prostitute or an illegal immigrant as marginal implies no
stable or essential relationship to other, supposedly more ‘central’
women. The meaning of the term ‘marginal’, like that of ‘modern’ or
‘traditional’, varies with context. Despite a disturbing tendency in the
modern media and elsewhere to represent advancing age in
pathological terms or as parasitic on younger taxpayers, for example, a
healthy 70 year old surrounded by her extended family is not in any
simple sense marginal. On the other hand, some of Spain’s most
profoundly isolated individuals are elderly women who live alone and
in poverty. This chapter focuses on women who, for a variety of
reasons, experience more systematic social exclusion: abused women,
gypsies, illegal immigrants, drug users and prostitutes. It concludes
with a discussion of one of the least visible of all Spain’s marginalized
groups, lesbian women. (From: Brooksbank Jones, Anny (1997),
Women in Contemporary Spain, Manchester and New York:
Manchester University Press, 95).
Final Task



Introduce your essay to somebody
else in 1 minute
Maybe: 1. Explain the topic/ the
essential question you are grappling
with or the issues you will be
examining
2. Explain the context of the essay
Further Reading (1)



Pirie, David B. (1985) How to write
critical essays a guide for students of
literature London: Methuen
Redman, Peter (2001) Good Essay Writing:
a Social Sciences Guide, 2nd ed, London:
SAGE
For comments on intro technique (it’ll take
you 3 minutes to read this site):
http://www.mantex.co.uk/books/atoz01.htm
Further Reading (2)
Useful on ‘establishing context’

Harvard Uni’s succinct advice:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/docu
ments/Begin.html
The info on establishing a context for the
title is right at the start – in the ‘Introduce
the Essay’ section.
Further Reading (2)


These sites talk you through a
potential structure for an introduction:
http://dissc.tees.ac.uk/Writing/par
agraphs/page8.htm
http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/functi
on/introd.htm
http://www.ltn.lv/~markir/essaywritin
g/intro.htm
Further Reading (3)




Sites which include sample introductions
with tutor comments:
http://dissc.tees.ac.uk/Slah/SALHExcellent.html
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/english/es
sayguide/style/moreeffect10a.htm
http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/a31903.htm
SEMINAR
WRITING INTRODUCTIONS TO
ACADEMIC ESSAYS
Task 1: Analyse the following
introduction: ‘School represses children.
Discuss’.
Will Woodward states that ‘a classroom is an
environment you must fit yourself into
rather than one designed with you in
mind’1. Commenting in The Guardian on
the Design Council report, ‘Fit for Purpose’,
Will Woodward highlights a common
argument underlying alternative methods of
education today which argues that
traditional types of schooling are seen as
forcing children to conform to society rather
than encouraging them to express their
individuality.
‘School represses children. Discuss’
(Cont).
In the following essay I will focus on how
school can be seen as subordinating
children’s individual thought to external
demands and will look in detail at the
interaction between teacher and child. The
essay will consider, and critically evaluate,
traditional types of schooling, before looking
at examples of alternative education
systems to determine whether it is in fact
possible to design a method of schooling
which does not repress children in some
way’.
Discuss the 'Fallen Woman' as a Familiar
Feature of Victorian Writing
http://dissc.tees.ac.uk/Slah/SALHExcellent.html
 Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton may be
characterised as a 'social problem' novel.
Basch (1974: 263) states, 'Mrs Gaskell's
impure women came from ... the work and
exploitation which she knew, relatively
speaking, better than other novelists.'
Gaskell was the wife of a Unitarian
clergyman in Manchester. She devoted her
time to setting up homes for fallen women,
and after Mary Barton women became her
central characters, her novels primarily
seen through women's eyes.
Fallen Woman (cont)

Thomas Hardy, since his career began, has
been notably associated with his portrayal
of female characters. Erving Howe even
writes about 'Hardy's gift for creeping
intuitively into the emotional life of
women.' (Boumelha 1982: 3) From this
point of view, I intend this essay to
establish a comparison between Gaskell's
'fallen woman' in Mary Barton and the way
in which Thomas Hardy frames his central
female character in Tess of the
D'Urbervilles.