Library Guides Library Workshops Opening Hours Book an AppointmentUniversity of Greenwich / LibGuides / Academic Support / Academic Support / How to Write Essay IntroductionsOur campus libraries are currently offering services in line with the university’s latest Covid-safeguidance.Academic Support: How to Write Essay IntroductionsHere you will find useful directions to the variety of study support services available toyou..Home Timetables & Workshops Resources Get Academic Support Search this Guide SearchKey points torememberThe length of yourintroduction will dependon your word count.You should view yourintroduction like asatellite navigationsystem for your reader,they should be able tosee the direction youressay is going in.You should make thingseasier for your reader byexplaining thingsthey maynot understand andinclude some generalbackground informationto engage them.Make the purpose ofyour essay clear.Don’t be too general –provide some generalinformation but alsomake it clearwhat aspect of the topicwill be discussed in theessay.Length ofintroductionMany students thinkthere is a set number ofwords to write in anintroduction but this isnot the case. The lengthof your introduction willdepend on the length ofyour essay. It isBackground information to your topicIn order to help your reader understand what you are goingto be talking about, and get them interested, it is a goodidea to give some sort of background to your essay topic.Background information could include some generalinformation about your topic. You should aim to giveenough information so that your reader understands whatthe topic is about. In an introduction you do not go in tomuch depth, you save your main points and the discussionof them for the main body of your essay.The specific aspect you will be lookingatOnce you have provided some background information toget your reader interested, you can say exactly what youressay is going to cover. This is known as the specificaspect or question that you will focus on. You have toshow in this part of your essay why the topic you arewriting about is important.Your limitationsAnother thing that is commonly found in an essayintroduction is your limitations statement. If you arewriting about a very large topic it will not be possible foryou to discuss everything about that topic in your essay asyou have a word count. With this in mind we often statethe exact focus of what we are going to be writing about.This could include things like the period of time you aregoing to be discussing, the geographical area etc. Forexample if you were writing an essay in which the topicwas obesity your limitations might include stating whichelement of obesity you were going to talk about, whichtype of people with obesity you would be discussing , thecountry you would focus on when looking at obese peopleand so on.. Limitations show that you have thoughtcarefully about what you can and can’t do in your essayand they make it easier for the reader to see what is goingto be focused on.What you areintending to doTowards the end of theintroduction you need totell your readerexactly what you aregoing to cover. The wayin which you do this willdepend on the type ofessay you are writingand what you have beenasked to do. You maybe required to give apoint of view and oftenthe stance ( point ofview) of the essay isshown in theintroduction. You may,for example, provideyour argument and thenreasons for it in astatement in yourintroduction. Forexample: This essayargues that televisionadvertising plays asubstantial part inteenage obesity as ittargets young peopleand markets fast food.In some cases, you arenot required to providean opinion. It is still agood idea to explainwhat you intend to do inthe essay.Last Updated: Aug 9, 2021 9:47 AM URL: https://libguides.gre.ac.uk/academicskills Print PageLogin to LibAppsSubjects: Academic Skills Tags: academic_help, academic_skills, academic_support_team, academic_writing, guides, remote_study,supporty ycommon to writearound two paragraphsfor an introduction. Youdo not want yourintroduction to be toolong otherwise it will begiving details that youshould be including inthe main body of yourtext. Lengthyintroductions could alsoconfuse your reader orbore them. You need tomake sure you haveprovided somebackground, shown whythe particular topic youare writing about isimportant , discussedany limitations , shownwhat exactly you aregoing to do in youressay and how you aregoing to do it andprovide a basic outline.Once you havecompleted thisinformation you canmove on to the mainbody of your essay.When to write your introductionAlthough the introduction is the first thing your reader willread, this does not mean you have to write it first. Manystudents find it is easier to put together the main body oftheir essay first and then their conclusion. When the wholeof the main body and conclusion have been done this canmake it easier for you to write a clear introduction. Whenyou write the introduction is up to you.The essayoutlineIt is often a good idea toexplain briefly at the endof your introduction thestages of your essay.This is known asthe outline. An outlinedoesn’t have to say firstthis will be done andthen this… but it canexplain the differentaspects you are goingto be looking at withinyour writing. The goodthing about an outline isit is like a road map foryour reader. It showshow you are going totravel through youressay until you reachyour conclusion. © University of Greenwich | FOI | Privacy and cookies | Legal | Terms & conditions | Library policies | ITService Status
