14 Parts of an Introduction Paragraph
What is an introduction paragraph?
An introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of an essay. It has three important purposes:
- Make the reader feel excited about reading the essay.
- Introduce the topic of the essay.
- Introduce the organization of the essay.
Now, we’ll look at the parts of the introduction paragraph and how they achieve the above goals.
Parts of an Introduction Paragraph
There are three basic parts of an introduction paragraph: the hook, the bridge, and the thesis statement.
As you can see above, the hook is the most general part, and the thesis statement is the most specific part. The bridge connects the two by getting gradually more specific.
The Hook
The hook is the first sentence of the introduction paragraph and is the most general part of the paragraph. The role of the hook is to capture the attention of the reader, or in other words, to make them feel interested in reading your essay.
Let’s look at an example.
Hook —> The sound of an ambulance siren at 3 AM makes everyone stop and think about the fragility of life. In moments of medical crisis, people realize how much they depend on doctors to help them. Every day, millions of people around the world visit doctors for their health problems. When people are sick or hurt, they trust doctors to take care of them and make them feel better. However, not all doctors provide the same quality of care to their patients. Some doctors are more skilled and helpful than others. What makes one doctor better than another doctor? There are many important qualities that good doctors should have to serve patients well. The most important qualities of a good doctor are medical experience and emotional intelligence.
One of the best compliments that your hook can receive is that it is dramatic. The hook above is definitely dramatic; the reader is imagining a medical emergency and thinking about life and death.
There are various types of hooks you can use to create an intriguing start that will capture your readers’ attention. Types of hooks include but are not limited to:
| Type of Hook | Example |
| Describing a scene | The alarm clock rings at 6 AM, and another day of classes, homework, and part-time work begins. (essay about the difficulties of being a student) |
| A common and relatable saying | “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” (essay about health) |
| A surprising or interesting fact | Every year, thousands of teenagers die in driving accidents. (essay about driving safety) |
| A famous quote | Cicero once said, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” (essay about the importance of reading) |
| Question
(Careful! Don’t use “you.”) |
How many people know where their food comes from? Most of the time, consumers just buy their food at a large grocery store, without thinking about which farm or factory it came from. (essay about food production) |
The hook is your time to be creative; if you can think of a different way to capture your reader’s attention, you should try it!
Using “You,” “I,” and “We”
In most types of writing, it is okay to use “you,” “I,” and “we.” However, academic writing is different. Generally, you should avoid using these words in your writing. This is because it is important to sound as objective and serious as possible in your work. While you want to capture your readers’ attention, you also want to keep some distance from the reader to sound more professional.
This rule can be difficult to follow at first, but it will get easier! One of the most common place where students accidentally use “you” is in a question hook, so be careful when you are using one.
There is one more thing to be careful with when writing a question hook. It is tempting to just copy the essay question I give you and make it the hook. For example, if the essay question is “What are the benefits of going to college?” you might feel like you should make your hook the same: “What are the benefits of going to college?” However, I strongly suggest that you do NOT do this. First, if you just copy the essay question, you cannot practice your own creativity. Second, my essay questions do not sound very interesting by themselves. They are just boring test questions!
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The Bridge
This part of the introduction paragraph works exactly how it sounds: it smoothly bridges the gap between your hook and your thesis statement.
Writing an effective bridge requires a lot of skill. It takes a lot of concentration and judgment to make sure that your bridge smoothly leads from your hook to your thesis statement.
Let’s look at an example:
Hook —> The sound of an ambulance siren at 3 AM makes everyone stop and think about the fragility of life. Bridge —> In moments of medical crisis, people realize how much they depend on doctors to help them. Every day, millions of people around the world visit doctors for their health problems. When people are sick or hurt, they trust doctors to take care of them and make them feel better. However, not all doctors provide the same quality of care to their patients. Some doctors are more skilled and helpful than others. What makes one doctor better than another doctor? There are many important qualities that good doctors should have to serve patients well. Thesis —> The most important qualities of a good doctor are medical experience and emotional intelligence.
Do you see the bridge in blue? It is getting more and more specific to connect the beginning and end of our introduction. In this case, I used 7 sentences in my bridge to achieve this goal. However, strong bridges can be as few as 3 sentences. If it sounds smooth and logical, it is an effective bridge.
Let’s look at the details of how the bridge works:
Do you see how each sentence/group of sentences of the bridge gets more specific? Your introduction should be formatted like this: an upside-down triangle.
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