Core 1: introduction tutorial

Writing Effective Lead-ins

RATIONALE: The lead-in…

  • grabs the attention of your readers and force them to encounter your topic in an interesting and relevant way.
  • introduces the subject matter and tone of your essay.
  • sets up, or leads into, the presentation of your claim and argument.
  • must relate back to the main idea (CLAIM) you are arguing.

PRACTICE: Try one of these types as you begin your introduction

1. A paradoxical or intriguing statement

“Eat two chocolate bars and call me in the morning,” says the psychiatrist to

his patient. Such advice sounds like a sugar fanatic’s dream, but recent studies have

indeed confirmed that chocolate positively affects depression and anxiety.

It can be argued that most great art explores the nature of man as a lonely individual. Whether lamenting the woes of loneliness or celebrating them, creativity undoubtedly stems from them.

2. An arresting statistic or shocking statement

One of every seven women living in Smith County will be raped this year, according to a recent report prepared by the Smith County Rape Information and Counseling Services office.

Despite recent political claims otherwise, women are still undervalued and, ultimately, unequal to men.

3. A thought provoking question

Despite a flock of good-news headlines recently that proclaimed – as did The New York Times – “Americans Reducing Fat in Diet,” Americans are tubbier than ever. One in three of us is obese now, up from one in four as recently as 1980. What’s going on?

While purity is surely admirable, is it really enviable? Should adults continue to long for the comfort and innocence of a childhood that has long since passed?

4. A quotation or literary allusion.

“I think onstage nudity is disgusting, shameful, and damaging to all things American,” says actress Shelley Winters. “But if I were twenty-two with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic, and a progressive religious experience.”

5. A relevant story, joke, or anecdote

A group of young women were questioning Saturday afternoon shoppers about their views on the 1982 defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment. An old man in overalls answered, “ERA, well, I like it just fine. But you know, I can’t pick it up on my darned old radio after dark.” That was the problem – too few people knew what ERA really stood for.

Unfathomably successful, Arianna Huffington, creator of the ubiquitous Huffington Post, argues tjat in order to have what she has, an award winning and highly viewed online new outlet, we have to do one thing above all else: sleep.

6. A description, often used for emotional appeal

With one eye blackened, one arm in a cast, and third-degree burns on both her legs, the pretty, blonde two-year-old seeks corners of rooms, refuses to speak, and shakes violently at the sound of loud noises. Tammy is not the victim of a war or a natural disaster; rather, she is the helpless victim of her parents. She is one of the thousands of children who suffer daily from America’s hidden crime of child abuse.

7. A factual statement or a summary of who-what-where-when-and-why

Texas’s first execution by injection is scheduled for September 17, at the Huntsville Unit of the state’s Department of Corrections, despite the protests of various human rights groups around the country.

8. An analogy or contrast

The Romans kept geese on their Capitol Hill to cackle alarm in the event of attack by night. Modern Americans, despite their technology, have hardly improved on that old system of protection. According to the latest Safety Council report, almost any door with standard locks can be opened easily with a common, plastic credit card.

9. A personal experience

I realized times were changing for women when I overheard my six-year-old nephew speaking to my sister, a prominent New York lawyer. As we left her elaborate, luxurious office one evening, Tommy looked up at his mother and asked, “Mommy, can little boys grow up to be lawyers, too?”

10. A catalog of relevant experience

A four-hundred-pound teenager quit school because no desk would hold her. A five-hundred-pound chef who could no longer stand on his feet was fired. A three- hundred-pound truck driver broke furniture in his friends’ houses. All these people are now living better, happier, and thinner lives, thanks to the remarkable intestinal bypass surgery first developed in 1967.

11. Statement of a problem or a popular misconception

Some people believe that poetry is written only by aging hippies or solemn, mournful men and women with suicidal tendencies. The Poetry in the Schools Program is out to correct that erroneous point of view.

Today, the American Dream is littered with young people carrying their college degrees, standing in the unemployment lines, calling the bank, and asking for just one more day to pay that ever-present, ever-growing student loan payment.

Modified from the Tallahassee Community College writing lab webpage