What is an essay? An essay is a text in which the author presents and argues his or her point of view on a particular subject (it can be social, cultural, or political…). The essay is generally used in academic contexts, but nowadays, many authors publish essays that are accessible to everyone. Indeed, the sale of this literary genre has increased a lot in the last few years.

Each essay, like each author, is totally different. However, there are some basic rules about the structure of an essay, which help to make the text accessible and clear to readers. If you are planning to write one, it is essential to know how to start your essay, and therefore how to make the introduction of an essay. In this article, we explain what is the introduction of an essay, what it consists of, as well as other points that may be useful for you.

What is an introduction for an essay?

Before you know how to make an essay introduction, you need to consider the fact that it is the first part that exposes the reader to the topic at hand, and it is what comes right after the title of the essay. Readers are not necessarily experts on the topic they are about to read about, which is why the introduction should be clear and show that you have mastered the topic. If you are wondering how to start an introduction for an essay, you can start by defining the basic terms of your topic, reading the tips from academic writing services, or by reminding the reader of the historical context or theories surrounding it. In this article, we will explain what words to use to begin an essay introduction, and what structure it should have.

In general, this type of text is divided into several basic parts, which you absolutely need to know in order to learn how to make an introduction for an essay:

The introduction (which we will discuss in this article).

The development of the text: part in which you will expose your ideas, your opinions, your agreements, and/or disagreements justified and argued.

The conclusion: part in which you review all the ideas developed throughout your text, presenting your final results.

Appendices: Appendices may or may not appear in an essay. This will depend on whether you have consulted specific sources, cited authors and their works, etc.

There are different types of essays, such as literary, critical, scientific, or narrative. The language and vocabulary of your essay, as well as its purpose, should be tailored to the genre your essay will be a part of. However, generally speaking, all types of essays should contain the same parts.

If you want to learn more about the structure of essays, and how to develop each part, we invite you to read the article.

How to start the introduction of an essay

 The first thing you need to know about how to write an introduction for an essay is to know exactly what you are going to talk about. Do you want to express your opinion and thoughts on the current politics of a country? Do you want to analyze and let the world know your ideas about consumer society? There are many topics that can be discussed and addressed in an essay. The important thing is to be clear about what you want to write about, and why.

How you will introduce the topic you are going to write about?

What writing style you will use: Is your essay a dialogue in which two people ask questions and give answers to the main topic? Or is it a narrative divided into several chapters, in which the different parts of your argument are presented?

Remember that what you say is as important as how you say it, especially if you want your work to be read by as many people as possible.

How you begin an introduction is as important a task as writing the essay itself. With a good introduction, you will be able to capture the attention of the reader. To make a good introduction, it is important to start your essay with a so-called “hook” sentence, which clearly states what you are going to talk about.

If you want your essay introduction to be effective, you should consider the following tips:

• Structure the introduction clearly with distinct paragraphs.
• Use an academic or more specialized style if the text is intended for experts.
• If you want to write essays for the general public, use language that, although formal, can be understood without the need to use specialist dictionaries.
• If you need to use a specific term, explain it clearly using annotations or illustrative examples.
• You should also explain the subject you want to talk about, and at the same time put the reader in a situation. To give an example of an introduction to an academic essay, saying that “Mobile phones are destroying social relations, and I am against them” is different from starting your text like this:

“Today, due to the great social and technological changes we are experiencing, our interpersonal relationships have been diminished by the use of mobile phones and, consequently, social networks. We all use these virtual communication channels to create new friendships and even romantic relationships. Will there come a time when technological advances will eventually override or even transform human feelings? Will we lose our innate communication and social skills to an exclusively virtual world?

The idea is to give the reader the opportunity to put themselves in the context and, if possible, to identify with or understand the problem, idea, or theory you are going to discuss next.