Introduction+with+thesis+statement

Writing an Introduction
Your introduction paragraph is the first paragraph for your essay. In this paragraph, you want to grab your reader's attention. Then you want to inform your reader what you are writing about. You want to finish the introduction paragraph with the argument for the paper--the thesis.

Follow this format: **A.N.T.**


 * A = Attention-Getter:** The first sentence or two should be an attention-getter. There are multiple ways to write an attention-getter:
 * 1) Ask a question
 * 2) Use a relevant quote from the story itself or from somewhere else
 * 3) Use a fact or statistic
 * 4) Use an anecdote (a short story that illustrates a point)


 * N = Necessary information**: Necessary information includes:
 * 1) Author's full name
 * 2) Title of the story
 * 3) Brief plot summary or introduction to the story (no more than a few sentences)


 * T = Thesis:** The last sentence of your introduction should be your thesis. The thesis is what you are trying to "prove" in your essay. It is the focus for the rest of the paragraphs and should focus on some specific aspect of the story such as a trait of one of the characters, the theme, the setting, or a literary element like irony, foreshadowing, or repetition.

//Example from a student's paper on a story called "The Cask of Amontillado."//
Murder! Is this a right way to get back at someone? (attention getter) Montresor believes it is in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." In the story, Montresor tells the reader that he was insulted by Fortunato. It is because of this insult that Montresor has vowed revenge. He lures Fortunato into his family's catacombs and then Montresor chains Fortunato to a wall of granite and buries him alive. (necessary information) Montressor is able to murder Foftunado because of his intense desire to seek revenge. (thesis)