94 – Introductions
2
The constituents of an introduction
For many students an introduction suggests a discourse on the background to a topic, a definition of terms, a setting of the scene, or
attention to some other set of preliminaries to the essay proper. An
introduction may well include a number of these things, but not at
the expense of coming to grips with the essay topic itself: stating
your case is the fundamental function of your beginning, not only
because readers tend to look for such a statement but also because it is
here that the relevance of your answer to the question and the coherence of your argument are first established. A relevant and coherent
beginning is perhaps your best single guarantee that the essay as a
whole will achieve its object. That is why your introduction – of all
parts of the essay – needs the most careful consideration and the most
frequent re-writing.
The only necessary constituent of an introduction is, as we
have seen, a statement of your case. This statement will typically
take the form of an answer to the question (or implied question)
contained in the topic. But once an answer is given, it tends to beg
another question: what are the reasons for your answer, or (which
may often amount to the same thing) what are the criteria according
to which you have made your judgement? This, in turn, may suggest
yet another constituent of an introduction. If you make a judgement,
the implication is that you have decided in favour of one answer
(your ‘best’ answer) over alternative answers – you have made a
choice. Consequently, your introduction will need either to indicate
the nature of that choice or convey in some way the confidence you
place in the adequacy of your answer (or, when your topic asks you to
discuss another writer’s viewpoint, the adequacy of that viewpoint).
In other words the introduction should express your ‘motive’, as this
term was developed in the previous chapter (see pp. 69–70). It can say
r what point of view you are proposing or acceding to;
r what point of view you are conceding subject to certain
qualif ications, conditions or emphases you wish
to highlight;
2
The constituents of an introduction
For many students an introduction suggests a discourse on the background to a topic, a definition of terms, a setting of the scene, or
attention to some other set of preliminaries to the essay proper. An
introduction may well include a number of these things, but not at
the expense of coming to grips with the essay topic itself: stating
your case is the fundamental function of your beginning, not only
because readers tend to look for such a statement but also because it is
here that the relevance of your answer to the question and the coherence of your argument are first established. A relevant and coherent
beginning is perhaps your best single guarantee that the essay as a
whole will achieve its object. That is why your introduction – of all
parts of the essay – needs the most careful consideration and the most
frequent re-writing.
The only necessary constituent of an introduction is, as we
have seen, a statement of your case. This statement will typically
take the form of an answer to the question (or implied question)
contained in the topic. But once an answer is given, it tends to beg
another question: what are the reasons for your answer, or (which
may often amount to the same thing) what are the criteria according
to which you have made your judgement? This, in turn, may suggest
yet another constituent of an introduction. If you make a judgement,
the implication is that you have decided in favour of one answer
(your ‘best’ answer) over alternative answers – you have made a
choice. Consequently, your introduction will need either to indicate
the nature of that choice or convey in some way the confidence you
place in the adequacy of your answer (or, when your topic asks you to
discuss another writer’s viewpoint, the adequacy of that viewpoint).
In other words the introduction should express your ‘motive’, as this
term was developed in the previous chapter (see pp. 69–70). It can say
r what point of view you are proposing or acceding to;
r what point of view you are conceding subject to certain
qualif ications, conditions or emphases you wish
to highlight;