Begin at the beginning

So how hard is iot to write an effective introduction, a good first paragraph. The answer, of course, is "It depends." For most of us, what it depends on is the muse -- is she sitting on my shoulder tonight? Will she be there at three in the morning when I'm desperate to complete this f-ing essay? Or it depends on happenstance: did something happen to me today that as luck would have it relates to my paper? (Like, did I happen to be behind some dude at the corner store who was talking to the Sri Lankan guy at the counter about economic prosperity in South Asia -- only to find out that he was the author of the book I'd been frantically scouring for some good quote to slip into my essay on the very same topic? Wow, what a piece of luck! Not.)
Fortunately, for the student of writing, there are some pretty good guidelines both for writing effective intros and avoiding the not-so-effective variety. You can access these at a number of online writing centers, UNC and Purdue being two good ones (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/introductions.html; http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/writeintro.html)
Or you can study these sites and read enough essays and come up with a list like I have here:

1.Vivid Description – vivid description is the foundation for all effective writing, including introductions. Using clear, concrete details and active verbs, the writer can create an impression in the reader of a SCENE.

2.Anecdote – this is the bedrock of all effective introductions. Readers are often intrigued by the stories writers use to open their essays. These brief stories require some background and context from the writer to be clear and coherent. Avoid moving so fast that your reader gets lost. Most of the other effective intros involve using an anecdote to work effectively.

3.Mistaken Impression – a kind of anecdote in which the writer describes her initial impressions of a situation, only to have those impressions reversed by the end of the introduction.

4.Thought-Provoking Question – students often like to begin their essays with a question. Keep in mind, however, that your question should be specific. It will therefore probably need some background and context (see anecdote), and thus might need to come at the end of the paragraph. You might also try to avoid asking the yes/no question – for what will happen if the reader answers “no” to your great question: “Have you ever…?”

5.Puzzling Scenario – this is similar to the Mistaken Impression, but here the writer doesn’t necessarily reverse her position in the first paragraph. Instead, she often looks at a situation that seems to work contrary to the forces of logic with an eye to solving the puzzle in the essay.

Over the next few weeks, I'll try to write some introductions in which I use these strategies. And maybe I'll give you some good examples that I find in student work -- always careful to avoid using real names, dates, or places of course. Of course!

Remember that Thursday Sept. 21 is International Peace Day.

Peace,
CK