Effective Introductions Mel Kinchant Academic Skills Adviser academicskills@napier.ac.uk

What should be included in an effective introduction? Essentially the purpose of an introduction is to ‘Set the Scene’ for the reader by providing … Key background information to the broad topic of the assignment and then information about the specific or narrower focus in relation to this (pay close attention to the assignment brief to help you identify what these are). For example the broad topic of an assignment might be ‘entrepreneurship’ and the specific focus might be ‘female entrepreneurs’. It should aim to give the reader with some context and clarification about what will be covered within the piece of work.

What should be included in an effective introduction? Try to see the ‘scene setting’ or background information as an attempt to engage with your reader as early as possible and really draw them in with some interesting information in your introduction. For example you may highlight that this is a really important issue! It is very likely to be the first impression that the reader (your marker) has of your writing.

Effective introductions should … Answers the questions: What is this report / essay about? How is it useful / what is its purpose? Give some brief background information Define the main problem/topic State the scope of the report /essay: what it will cover? (perhaps identify what it will not cover if this is relevant) May provide a brief summary of some of the key relevant work so far May provide a brief definition of any important / key terms State the overall purpose or aims if a report or it may set out the argument argument being presented if an essay for example. The length and style of the introduction differs – it may contain all or some of these aspects (again refer to your specific brief).

Introductions should always provide a clear, but concise ‘statement of intent’ or ‘statement of purpose’ This will usually fit quite nicely at the end of the introduction, although it doesn’t have to. This lets the reader know exactly what will follow in your essay or report and the order in which this will occur. For example; This essay will argue … This report will provide … X will be discussed in relation to Y, followed by an analysis of…

Top tips … The length of your introduction will vary according to the particular assignment, however as a general rule, the introduction will usually account for 5-10% of the word count. It is very important to refer to the assignment marking criteria as the percentage of marks that are allocated to this part of the assignment is generally a good indication of the expected word count. Whilst the structure of essays and reports differ, there should be a clear introduction in both. The key difference is that in a report the structure tends to be highly visible, with the use of distinct sections, sub- headings, etc. In contrast to this, an essay will usually have a hidden, internal structure.

Top tips … Pay really close attention to the assignment brief to help you with your introduction. For example if the brief asks you to ‘discuss’ A in relation to B, in your introduction you should say something like; This essay will discuss A in relation to B. By using the key words and instruction terms / verbs (i.e. discuss, critically analyse, outline) from the assignment brief in your introduction, you are highlighting to the reader ‘look, I am on topic and will be doing exactly what you have asked me to do’ ! By all means draft an initial introduction, but always ensure that you re-visit at the final editing & polishing stage of your work to ensure that it does fit exactly what you ended up doing. For example your content order might change.