Your introduction will usually be a paragraph of 50 to 150 words (in a longer paper, it may be more than one paragraph). Perhaps the most common strategy is to open the paragraph with a few sentences that engage readers and establish your purpose for writing, your central idea. The statement of your central idea is called a thesis.

In the following introduction, the thesis is in green.

As the United States industrialized in the nineteenth century, using immigrant labor, social concerns took a backseat to the task of building a prosperous nation. The government did not regulate industries and did not provide an effective safety net for the poor or for those who became sick or injured on the job. Immigrants and the poor did have a few advocates, however. Settlement houses such as Hull-House in Chicago provided information, services, and a place for reform-minded individuals to gather and work to improve the conditions of the urban poor. Alice Hamilton was one of these reformers. Her work at Hull-House spanned twenty-two years, and she later expanded her reform work throughout the nation. Hamilton’s efforts helped to improve the lives of immigrants and drew attention and respect to the problems and people that until then had been ignored.

—Laurie McDonough, student

Each sentence leading to your thesis should engage readers by drawing them into the world of the essay and showing them why your essay is worth reading.

Whether you are writing for a scholarly audience, a professional audience, or a general audience, you cannot assume your readers’ interest in the topic. Your introduction should spark curiosity and offer readers a reason to continue reading.

Strategies for writing an introduction

Putting your working thesis to the “So what?” test

Effective thesis statements