The a crucial key in the quest for an above average paper.

 The intro sets a tone for the whole paper.  Starting strong sweet talks the reader. “Often, I can tell if I will be reading a good or bad paper by the end of the intro”(Aye).  The introduction quality and overall grade have a surprising correlation.  Translation: a quality intro begets better grades.

 Many struggle with coming up with an opening line…  In papers as well as life.  Being too direct will often scare away the direction of your attention.  Start general and then slowly ease into the focus of your paper.

 I mean for a paper.  Everybody likes a good story. What do you think it was like on a deserted island. Put the reader there, meeting on the sandy platform, sitting on fallen palm trunks.  Did you know that left-handed people will lie to someone they know 63% more than a right-hander.

 Did you also know that 73% of all statistics are made up?  Some people love facts. A good fact that seems almost too strange to be true. But it is.  “There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Cracker zoo.”

 “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”(Kerouac)

Webster’s defines the word perfunctory as, “done mechanically. Without thought or interest.” Please only use definitions for times of desperate need.

Now that the hardest part is done we can get back to the flow

Opening line is of course first. After we have just shocked and awed, the reader needs to know what this paper will be about.

 This second part could be considered one of the important grease spots of the intro.  It is important for sustaining that flow.  It is a link from opening line to the meat of the intro.  It adds just a bit more information than the opening line. Starting to move from general to more specific.

 The opening line  The Information adder  The Meat

 The sustenance of the intro comes from outlining the bodies of the paper.  Each supporting paragraph should have a sentence place here in the intro. 5 body paragraphs means 5 preview sentences in the body.  You are preparing the reader for presenting the argument.

 The opening line  The Information Adder  The Meat  The 2 nd grease spot is a transition to your thesis. Wrap up any lose ends left from the meat segment.

 Opening line  Information adding line  Preview of supporting paragraphs  2 nd Transition  Thesis sentence

 The thesis is the last sentence in your introduction paragraph.  Subject + Opinion