Hey there, it's Wendy from Worldwide Speak.
This video is about the introduction paragraph.
It's part of the series "Writing an Essay in English
for English language learners."
In this video, I'm going to go over
the exact things that you need
in order to write
a clear, effective introduction paragraph.
Keep watching. You can do it.
OK
I like to tell my students to think of
like a triangle
that looks like this one in the side.
It starts out bigger
and then gets smaller.
And when we think about this in terms of
an introduction paragraph,
our first sentence starts out very
general.
And then as we continue to write we become
more specific and more specific
to the point of
our thesis which will be the most specific sentence
of our paragraph and
tells the reader exactly
what you're writing about and why you're writing.
So the first
sentence of your introduction paragraph
should be very, very general
but still related
to your topic.
For example:
let's say that your topic is about the
best city to visit in the United States.
What would your first sentence look like
in your introduction paragraph?
It could be something like this.
There are so many incredible cities
to visit throughout the world.
You're talking about visiting a city
and you're talking about
a location in the world.
It's still on your topic, which is
the best city in the United States
but it's much more general
Next,
you want to have a couple of sentences that become
a little more specific to your topic
but that are not as specific
as your thesis.
Remember, the first sentence of your introduction
paragraph is going to be that big, general statement
related to the topic, and then
next, you're going to have more
information about your topic
a little more specific, but not
as specific as your thesis.
For example, what does this
look like when we write?
We could mention
New York City and San Francisco as a couple of
popular destinations for visitors in the United States
It's not *the* best city
in our opinion, but it's other
cities that are in the United States so
we've gone from the world
to the United States. We've gone general
(the world), the United States
- more specific. We mentioned a
couple of cities, but not
the city that we think is the best.
So it would read like this:
There are so many incredible cities to visit
throughout the world. A lot of people
prefer to visit cities in the United States
because there is such a variety to suit anyone's
interests.
Often, visitors choose New York City
since they have amazing theater performances.
Others like to go to San Francisco for the natural beauty.
Do you see how we start out general
(a lot of cities in the world), we get more
specific (a couple of cities in the United States).
The last thing you need to do
in your introduction paragraph
is state your thesis.
If you're writing an essay, you probably know
what your thesis is.
If you're still confused about what a thesis is
you can watch my video that gives clear
explanation about
how to write one effectively.
So, remember:
The first sentence of your introduction paragraph
is that big, general statement
or sentence
related to your topic.
Your next sentences will be
more specific,
and they will relate to your topic, but they're not
going to be as specific
as your thesis.
Now it's time to talk about your thesis.
That is going to be the last
sentence
in the introduction paragraph.
It tells the reader exactly
what you're going to talk about in your body paragraphs
and why you're going to talk about it.
Your thesis tells the reader
the purpose of your essay.
It is the most important sentence
of your introduction. For example:
In this
we are going to
tell the reader what we think
is the best city to visit in the United
States.
We talked about the world, we talked about New York City and San Francisco,
and then we tell the reader
which city that they need to visit
because it's the best.
And let me read you the example:
Yet, the most amazing
city that one must visit when travelling
in the United States is Chicago
because of its architecture, its restaurants, and
its museums.
So now, the reader knows
I'm going to be reading
reasons and examples and details
about why I need
to visit Chicago.
I'm going to read about its incredible architecture,
I'm going to read about delicious restaurants,
and I'm going to read about these amazing museums.
And after I read this, I'm probably
going to want to visit Chicago because the
writer (that's you) has been so
convincing with their details and examples.
Ok. So you have the image of the
upside down triangle for the
introduction paragraph.
Let's now move to what it looks like in real life.
Here is the same example
in paragraph form like you would write it for school.
Let's read it together.
There are so many incredible cities to visit
throughout the world.
A lot of people prefer to visit cities in the United States
since there is such a variety.
Often visitors choose New York City
as they have amazing theater performances.
Others like to to go San Francisco for the natural beauty.
Yet, the most amazing city that one must
visit when travelling in the United States
is Chicago
because of its architecture, restaurants,
and museums.
So this is an example of a clear
and effective introduction paragraph.
It's a very basic introduction,
which is a perfect way for the English language
learner to start.
Let's review the introduction paragraph
Remember, we use this upside down triangle
because we start out big, or
in writing terms, general,
and then we get much more specific.
So, we have the big general
sentence that starts out your paragraph,
and it's about your topic.
Then we add a couple more sentences that are
more specific, still related
to your topic, but not as specific
as your thesis.
Your thesis is the most specific
in the introduction paragraph.
And remember, this thesis
tells the reader
what you're going to talk about
and why you're going to talk about it.
It helps the reader focus
on the purpose of your essay.
Big general statement,
more specific statements,
and then the most specific statement of all -
your thesis.
Those are the pieces that you need in order to write
a clear, effective
introduction paragraph for your essay.
For those of you who would like more practice,
I have left a link
in the notes below
for more examples of basic
introduction paragraphs.
You can click on that link
and it will take you to more examples
so you can have more practice.
If you'd like even more practice
after the examples, you can always sign up
for a 1-to-1
with me
at our website at
worldwidespeak.com
Make sure that you watch the next video, Part 3
on the body paragraph
and the pieces - the exact pieces -
that you need in order to have
a very clear, detailed
body paragraph in your essay.
Take care. Thanks for watching.