Writers Notebook: The Introduction

The introduction to an essay is without a doubt important for any students essay. Introductions set the entire tone of an essay. I always tell my students think about the books you read. If it has a boring beginning, are you likely to continue reading it? NO! The same goes for your essays...

Here are some notes from our writers notebooks about what an introduction is.

The Introduction-

• The very first part of your essay
• Introduces the main idea/ topic of your essay
• Grabs the readers attention 
• Sets the tone of the essay 
• Provides necessary background information 
• Maps out your essay 
• ***Contains the thesis statement*** 
• I say it could be 3-5 sentences but let's be honest, I expect 5 good ones. 
• A sentence or two of fact, piece of information, story, anecdote, or whatever to grab the readers attention. 
• I  am not a fan of when my students just start their essays with a question so I don't even teach them that anymore. It seems to be their "go to" once they get the ok from me to do it so i try and teach other techniques.

How to write an introduction with thesis statement graphic organizers 

How to write and introduction and conclusion

 

How to Write A Thesis Statement in 4 Easy Steps

The thesis statement is super important! Because it is so important,  it can be overwhelming when you are first trying to write one.

The thesis is usually one sentence that explains the main idea of your entire essay. Once you have thesis statement, your entire essay revolves around it. You will spend the next several paragraphs explaining and giving examples that all relate to your thesis.

You can write a thesis statement in 4 easy steps.

1. The Question - The question is posed by the writing prompt. It is up to you to decide what the prompt is asking you to write about. This is the topic of your essay.
2. The Declaration- You must make a formal statement about the topic and then write about it.
3. The Reasoning- Your reasons will be facts, statements, or further explanation about why your declaration is correct.
4. The Thesis- Put all the information together from steps 1-3 into a single sentence and you have a thesis!

Use a graphic organizer like the one below to help you form a thesis.

If you would like some additional hep writing a thesis, click HERE. 

How to Write a Topic Sentence

When writing a topic sentence, I say that every topic sentence needs a TOPIC and A MAIN POINT. Here's what I mean, students are writing about something but they also need to make a clear and focused point about that something. Here is what I mean....

Your topic is watching TV and the point you are making in this paragraph is that violence negatively influences behavior. 

When students are just beginning to write a topic sentence, it might be ok for them to write "watching too much TV is harmful." But, as they become better writers, if students just wrote "watching too much TV is harmful," it really doesn't provide the reader with enough information about the paragraph. What about watching too much TV is harmful? What else is the writer going to write about harmful TV watching?  

Teaching students the TOPIC + MAIN POINT technique helps students make sure their topic sentence is specific and focused, which allows them to further expand on the topic in an effective way. 

Some activity suggestions: 

Two activities I have liked to do to help them understand topic sentences are using sentence stripes and writing topic sentences for already written paragraphs. You could easily write a paragraph with a good quality topic sentence, mix up the sentences, and have the students put them paragraph back in order identifying the topic sentence and other parts of the paragraph if you want. The other activity I like to do is to pre-write some paragraphs that are missing a topic sentence. The students should then write a topic sentence that goes with that paragraph. Then, have the students share their topic sentences and they will see that while not everyone's is the exact same, they are fairly similar. 

If you would like to download the activities suggested above please CLICK HERE. I also have a whole group PowerPoint lesson available to you. 

Writing an Introduction Strategies

Introductions are so important because it's the first impression the reader gets about your essay, it provides a road map for the rest of your essay, it makes readers want to keep reading your essay, and it provides the writers opinion.

An introduction needs to have 3 things.

1. Something to get the readers attention or get them interested
2. Necessary background information
3. The thesis statement

This graphic organizer is something I created to help beginning writers write an introduction. 

Some strategies for writing the introduction are as follows:

1. Begin with a shocking statement. - Use some facts from a text that goes along with your essay or make a bold statement about the topic of your essay. This grabs the readers attention and makes them want to keep reading.

2. Ask a question- Ask a question and have your whole essay be a response to the question you posed. Be careful though. This is an "easy" way for students to start their essays and very often they get stuck using the questioning technique.

3. Begin with a personal anecdote - Make a connection to your essay! Refer to something that happened to you. This can be a VERY powerful way to start an essay because it makes the reader want to see how your experience unfolds throughout your essay.

4. Give historical background to set the scene- Depending on the topic of your essay, you might want to provide some background information to set the reader up to successfully understand your writing.

5. Use a quote from someone who is knowledgeable on the subject. Don't forget to give the author credit for their quote :)

6. Begin with a sensory description of the setting- Set the scene using descriptive words that pull the reader in.




If you would like to see a full PowerPoint Lesson with graphic organizers on how to write an introduction, thesis, and conclusion, click HERE.