1. Don't worry about the beginning
until you know what you want to say; start anywhere.
Many writers make the mistake of obsessing about the first
paragraph of an essay, trying to get it right before they move
on to the body. While "mapping out" your essay in the opening
can be helpful to you as you write, it's not helpful
if you're not yet sure what you have to say. Sometimes it's
best to plunge into the body of the paper, write through all
your ideas, and then step back and ask: What's my main point
here? What's my essay really about?
Once you have answers to these
questions, the opening paragraph may be easier to write. So:
Start anywhere. Just get something down on paper, knowing that
you can go back later and write an appropriate opening. A writer's
secret: Most writers don't write an "introduction" until after
they've written the body.
2. Sometimes an ending makes
a good opening.
If you're like a lot of writers, you figure out what you
have to say as you write it. This may mean that in the
last paragraph of your first draft, you really say what
you mean: your ideas are clearest here, most concise. So, take
that last paragraph and make it first, and you have your opening.
3. Think about the purpose
of your opening.
An opening needs to serve several purposes:
*It lets the reader know what your topic is, in a general way.
*It can (but doesn't have to) let the reader know what
you have to say about that topic.
*It "hooks" the reader into your essay, intriguing the reader,
drawing the reader onward.
This last purpose may seem extraneous
if you're writing academic essays; after all, your reader is
requiring you to write this essay--why should you have
to "hook" him or her? But forget for the moment that your primary
audience is your instructor. Imagine, instead, a real audience
for your writing. How would you snag that reader and make him
or her read on, while at the same time establishing topic and
perhaps thesis? Why not make your writing as interesting as
you can? It certainly can't hurt your grade if your instructor
enjoys reading your essay, right?
Some simple ways to "hook" the
*Begin with an example.
Specific things intrigue us; general things bore us. An
illustration that you might ordinarily use as evidence elsewhere
in a paper might make a good, intriguing lead. Follow this
up with the more general statements, and you've got as "one-two
punch" opening that serves your purposes.
*Begin with a quote.
Works the same way.
*Just jump into your discussion. We often spend more time "introducing" our topic
than, strictly speaking, is necessary. If it helps you get
started, go ahead and write that stuff in your first draft;
then lop it off, and make your second paragraph, where you
really get down to work, your new opening.
4. Think about the purpose
of your ending. An ending can serve these basic purposes:
*It can "tie things up," or
complete your argument.
*It can give the reader what he or she will take away from
the essay; it can drive the point home. It is the final
*It can sum up for the reader what has been discussed and
suggest a way to think about the meaning of that discussion
in a larger context.
Forget the old saw you may have
learned in high school, that what you should do in an essay
is "tell the reader what you're going to say, say it, and then
tell the reader what you said." Telling the reader the same
thing three times doesn't show much respect for the reader,
does it? Most readers are more intelligent than that. Yes, the
parts of an essay should "hang together"--but they don't have
to be redundant.
Try these strategies for "one-two
*Just stop. When you're done
with what you have to say, stop. Don't "conclude" at all.
Don't summarize. Stop. This works best with very short, very
focused essays, like an interpretation of a poem or short
story or an analysis of an article.
*Alternatively, save your real
thesis for the end. Punch the message home by putting it here,
where the reader will remember it. Structure your whole essay
so that it leads to this point. That's a professional writer's
trick: to lure the reader in with the opening, build an argument
throughout the body, and then conclude with the main point--at
the end, where it's most memorable.
*Or, having stated your thesis
earlier and made your argument throughout the paper, now step
back and take a larger look at the topic, suggesting what
your argument might mean in the larger scheme of things--in
the context of what you're discussing in class, for instance.
You're not opening a new topic here; you're simply putting
your essay topic, which is probably pretty specific, into
the larger context, giving your reader "food for thought"
to take away from the essay.
Beginnings and endings are important
parts of essays--but the most important part is the body. Once
you know what you want to say and have said it, writing an opening
and an ending is as simple as pie. Get the bulk of the paper down,
however you can; during revision, you can always make it better