Lakeland College
P.O. Box 359
Sheboygan, WI 53082-0359

Introductions

Most people think that an introduction simply “introduces” the subject of a paper.  However, this type of introduction leaves one important question unanswered: Why should your reader care?  And if you can’t get your reader to care, it will be a lot harder to get them to pay attention to your thesis and how you support it.  Simply put, an introduction’s job is not to introduce your topic, but to motivate your reader to care about the problem you are solving and the solution you offer.

You many have learned some introductory structures but some just don’t work.  The most common is called “The Funnel.”  It tells you to put the most general sentences first and then get more and more specific until you reach the thesis.  Often you end up with dime-a-dozen introductions like this introduction to a paper about Macbeth:

Since the dawn of human history, people have focused on death.  Religions and poets and average people have fixated on the tomb.  Shakespeare was no exception . . . .

This can go on and on – and get us no closer to what you’re saying about Macbeth and why your reader should care.  The funnel leads to the thesis, but it doesn’t make anyone want to get there.

Try a structure that convinces the reader either that she has a problem that needs solving or that she doesn’t know as much about a topic as she should.  Look at the first full paragraph of this page for just such a structure:

(1) Most people think that an introduction simply “introduces” the subject of a paper.  (2) However, this type of introduction leaves one important question unanswered: Why should your reader care?  (3) And if your reader doesn’t care, she probably won’t pay attention to your thesis or argument.  (4) Simply put, an introduction’s real job is not to introduce your topic, but to motivate your reader to care about the problem you are solving.

This 4-step introduction is very simple: (1) What many people think about your topic; (2) What’s wrong with their ideas; (3) Why those errors matter and need to be fixed; and (4) What new, better idea you have about the topic.

This structure poses a problem and does so in a way that motivates your reader to care.  It encourages you to focus on your ideas and how they are better than the “old ideas.”  It is flexible: each of the four parts can and should be expanded for most papers.  And finally it works with almost any type of paper – any paper that even slightly requires you to present an argument or present a new idea.