Here are five common types of introductory paragraphs. Although most follow the “funnel shape” we discussed of starting off with broader statements and leading into more specific ones, some of these do not. All of them lead up to the thesis statement.
Standard opening
This opening paragraph starts with a broad statement and then proceeds to make narrowed and more specific statements, leading up to the narrow thesis.
The environment is the world around us, and everyone agrees it needs a cleaning. Big corporations gobble up the countryside and disgorge what's left into the breeze and streams. Big trucks rumble by, trailing their fumes. Everyone calls for massive action, and then tosses away a cigarette butt or gum wrapper. The world around us is also a sidewalk, a lawn, a lounge, a hallway, the room right here. But some people need strong incentive to keep their space clean. Anti-littering laws should be strongly enforced in order to remind people that a clean environment begins with personal responsibility.
Anecdotal
This introduction relates an incident that demonstrates or exemplifies the thesis. The anecdote or story is usually brief, feels informal, and leads up to the thesis.
Thelma Gray and Lucy Taylor, both fifteen years old and known for their adventurous spirits, said goodbye to their mothers on a sunny morning in May 1976 and set out for the bus stop on the corner. They had been invited to a picnic and swimming party at a park a few miles away. Clutching their bathing suits and beach towels, they hurried toward a fun-filled day in the sun. Thelma and Lucy, however, never reached the park. By nightfall their bodies had been found besides a seldom-used road in an isolated part of town. Reconstructing the girls’ last day, police determined that they were two more on a growing list of girls who had decided to hitchhike and who paid the ultimate price for it. People who accept rides with strangers run the risk of losing their lives, even when they take precautions.
Comparisons and Contrasts
This type of introduction relies on basing the first paragraph on a comparison or contrast in order to make an idea more understandable or interesting to the average reader.
Most people assume that learning to ski is not extremely difficult. They imagine the process consists of little more than strapping on two long boards, pushing off the top of a hill, and gliding gracefully and effortlessly to the bottom. After all, gravity does all the work, doesn’t it? In addition, those who have not skied often draw a connection to the times when they were young and sat on a sled or a garbage can top and then went schussing down a hill. Finally, you get to have a lift take you back to the top at he end of your run – simple, no? Learning to ski, however, is more difficult than people realize, requiring long hours of practice, extremely good physical condition, and a lot of determination.
There is something simple and majestic about seeing pictures of natural moons or satellites as they orbit a planet. Each has its own personality, based on its shape, size, and distance from the planet. But moons do more than just float with little effort around a planet they influence the conditions on their larger master, despite their relatively puny stature. Think of a big, fat man trying to dance a Viennese waltz with a skinny girl: that’s something akin to the effect moons have on the planets they orbit.
Description
This introduction relies on physical description of a person, place, or situation to draw the reader in. Once the reader is in, the thesis clarifies the point of the description.
It is easy to pick Curtis Wilkie out of the lunchtime crew at the Class Reunion. It is easy because everyone else in this small, cluttered Washington reporters’ bar had access that morning to a tie rack, steam iron, and some decent clothing. But look at Curtis: the shirt that seems made of wrinkles, the jacket that hangs too big on him, the shoes with heels worn down. The other journalists have been around a long time and are starting to make a decent salary – enough money to afford tailored shirts and a good meal. Rookie reporters, however, make preposterously low money and work incredible hours just to keep their jobs.
Startling statement
A strongly worded factual statement or an interesting and different quotation start the paragraph and lead the reader to the thesis.
If you haven’t picked up that violin by age thirteen and expect to become a virtuoso, forget about it. Brain research now reveals that the neural networks of violin prodigies older than 13 cannot catch up in complexity to those prodigies who started at an earlier age. [A few more sentences here…] Potential prodigies should be identified and encouraged at a very early age in the fields of music, art, and athletics.
Gun legislation is dead for another year. As a result, if statistics are any guide, there's every likelihood that a lot of people now living will also be dead before the year is over. There's no point in citing those statistics again they may prove something, but they're not likely to prompt any concrete action. What is needed to produce results is passion -- and that's where the antigun-control lobby has it all over the rest of us. Those who favor stronger gun control legislation can't hold a candle to the lovers of gun when it comes to zeal.
