Research Paper Introductions

Research Paper Introductions

The introduction of research paper should accomplish two purposes:

1. It should grab the reader’s attention.
2. it should present the paper’s main idea and thesis statement

In addition, the introduction may define key terms, supply necessary background information, or both. The introduction can be of any length, although most introductions are one or two paragraphs long.

Capturing the Readers Attention:
There are many ways to capture a reader’s attention in an introduction. You can begin with

• a startling or unusual fact,
• a question,
• an anecdote,
• an analogy,
• a paragraph that compares or contrasts,
• or examples pertaining to your topic.

Thesis Statements:
Most of your thesis statements are already scoring a 10 on that Sentence outline rubric—if not, see Ms. Miller with revisions!

Here are some helpful links:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/writeintro.html

http://web.mit.edu/writing/Writing_Types/introstrategies.html

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/introductions.html