In a research paper, readers are accustomed to seeing the thesis statement—the paper’s main point—at the end of the first or second paragraph. The advantage of putting it in the first paragraph is that readers can easily recognize your position. The advantage of delaying the thesis until the second paragraph is that you can provide a fuller context for your point.

As you draft your introduction, you may revise your working thesis, either because you have refined your thinking or because new wording fits more smoothly into the context you have created for it.

In addition to stating your thesis, an introduction should hook readers (see 1c). For example, in your first sentence or two you might introduce readers to the research conversation by connecting your topic to a recent news item or by pointing to emerging trends in an academic discipline. Other strategies are to pose a puzzling problem or to cite a startling statistic. Anna Orlov begins her paper by using results from a recent study to show a significant trend in companies’ electronic surveillance of employees.