Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Writing Introductions

If we remember the Burkean Parlor from ENG 100 and 101, we know that the conversations we are about to enter have been going on long before we arrived and will continue long after we leave.

Recognizing this, the point of the introduction paragraph of an academic paper is often to catch the reader up with the conversation. A good introduction often makes assumptions about what the reader already knows and does not know. This depends on how the writer perceives the identity of the audience.

Even though in college your only real audience will be your professor, we should practice writing for real audiences. The audience may depend on the subject and purpose of the paper.

Below, we will look at a few specific strategies to frame the debate and set up the thesis of the paper.

In very scholarly papers, this might look like a long list of summaries of previous studies and their findings. In popular or argumentative papers, the introduction may use more classically persuasive techniques. (Remember Ethos, Pathos, and Logos from ENG 100.)

The Inverted Triangle or “Funnel Introduction”

In this type of introduction, the paper begins by introducing the subject in a broad way, then narrows it down to the thesis statement.

For example, if I were writing about the benefits of video gaming as literature, I could write a funnel introduction:

Since the Atari 2600 Game system flooded the market in the early 1980’s, parents have pilloried video gaming as a mind melting waste of time, an addition that if left unchecked will lead to the zombification, illiteracy, and atrophy of youth. Yet through time video games have become much more than the simple physics games of Pong. Recent video games are immersive experiences with stories often written by the same authors who

write our movies and sometimes books. There is still plenty of hand-eye coordination, but today’s video games are becoming literature in themselves.

This is a popular topic, so I don’t need much citation of scholarly sources. In academic papers, it is often the case that the inverted triangle introduction will contain a lot of summary of previous studies.

The Narrative Introduction

The narrative introduction is just that—a story. This strategy is often useful when your personal experience or the experience of another is central to your argument. The narrative will likely be an example of the main point you are trying to prove. For example:

Tyler Winslow’s thumbs are sore and the carpel tunnel is acting up again. The crowd cheers. The television cameras zoom in on his face, breaking a nervous sweat. Tyler can’t bench press more than two ten-pound weights. His fifty-yard dash is a pathetic twelve seconds. He admits to getting winded riding an escalator, but the sixteen-year-old Californian is a star athlete in the new sport of competitive gaming.

In this introduction, it was a good strategy to draw the reader into the excitement of the moment to show how popular and exciting this new sport can seem to some, especially its participants.

Interrogative Introduction

In general, your paper will ask many questions. Academics make inquires. Sometimes you will have more than one question. Sometimes you will have a series of questions or one question will lead to another? The role of the interrogative introduction is to get us to the right question. For example:

Are video games good for kids? Perhaps this isn’t the right question because it implies every video game is the same. But are all video games equal? Can we really compare Pong to Final Fantasy 7? Paul McKnight of Purdue University argues in his article,

“The New Immersion” that Role Playing games by their nature are much more beneficial than other types of purely reactive games because they teach the fundamental concepts of drama and acting, they call for kids to play roles other than their own and learn to empathize. But how productive are these “roles” that they play and how might they reinforce or challenge dominant cultural hegemony and economic systems?

So, think in your paper if your questions lead to questions. If so, the interrogative strategy might be useful for you.

Minding the Gap or Finding a Niche

This introduction is very common in academic writing and especially research papers. Like the Burkean Parlor, this strategy outlines where a conversation has been; however, its main goal is to point out a gap in knowledge in that conversation which the paper intends to fill. For example:

Scholars like Paul McKnight in “The New Immersion” and Steven Johnson in “Why Games are Good for You” argue passionately for the benefits of video games. McKnight expounds on how video games teach children narrative structures and let them participate in them, creating the essential elements of drama. Steven Johnson focuses on the possible cognitive benefits of gaming. Very few people, however, have studied the social aspects of gaming, for gaming has long been held as a solitary activity. But gaming is far from antisocial anymore. Gaming, is, in fact, the primary social community for many young people. While there is a solitary element to some gaming, there is no doubt that socialization is happening in gaming communities.

Of course, these are just some common patterns of introductions. There are many other strategies for introductions, and you can combine these strategies at will. There are also some strategies that have been used too much in high school writing and should be avoided, tricks that you may have learned in the past may come off as amateurish in college writing.

Read the section on this website titled, “Five kinds of less effective introductions.”

Are you guilty of having done any of these in the past?