Everything in the introduction is relevant to the main body of the essay.
A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay. It sets up your argument and tells the reader what to expect.
In many ways, the invention of the printing press marked the end of the Middle Ages. The medieval period in Europe is often remembered as a time of intellectual and political stagnation. Prior to the Renaissance, the average person had very limited access to books and was unlikely to be literate. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed for much less restricted circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.
The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay.
Checklist: Essay introduction
- An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
- Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
- A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.
This introduction to an argumentative essay sets up the debate about the internet and education, and then clearly states the position the essay will argue for.
- Catch your reader’s attention.
- Give background on your topic.
- Present your thesis—the central point of your essay.
When it comes to the question of ‘‘how to start a narrative essay’’, the introduction starts with a hook (a leading statement about the story that grabs the attention of the reader). Then you continue with setting the scene: when did the event occur? Where? Under what circumstances? Having the ability to answer these questions will enable the reader to dig deep into the story and will be fascinated by it until the end. The introduction ends with a thesis statement that lets the reader know the truths or insightful experience stemming from your story.
The format of a narrative essay is almost similar to a general essay format:
In this section, the writer presents his or her thoughts and analysis of the situation and also highlighting the reason why these experiences are important to the readers.
Selecting a topic may be the most challenging thing to do. Here are a few ideas to assist you to brainstorm topics:
How to Start a Narrative Essay: A Simple Guide
- Narrative writing guidelines recommend beginning your narrative essay examples with an interesting quote, fact or even a question. Your readers will be intrigued and thus have the urge to read the rest of your story.
- Refrain from long-winded sentences in your introductory paragraph.
- With this kind of essay, you are supposed to write from your own viewpoint. Therefore, make use of suitable words that will express your mindset.
- Narrative essay examples are written in the first person narrative – follow this for your essay too.
The main story develops in this section. It generally contains three paragraphs. The first one involves the engaging action (a catalyst of the event talked about in the reflective essay). Moreover, the second paragraph concentrates on the middle stage (the advancement of the story and hints to its significance). Finally, the third one describes the end action (what has been done to arrive at a resolution and the lessons learned from that experience).
- You begin from the introduction, which is supposed to be captivating to capture the reader’s attention.
- Next, you outline your plot in the body.
- Finally, you come up with a conclusion, explaining the lessons learned from that experience and how it can be useful to others.
- State an interesting fact about your topic . It can be anything that comes to your mind that you find curious or funny. Don’t state something obvious to many
The introduction is one of the hardest parts of an essay. A well-written beginning will make the readers interested in your paper, while a boring intro will push them away. Writing a successful introduction requires some time and effort, but the result is going to be satisfying. So how to start a personal narrative essay and write the best story ? The answer is in the article.
Here are a few tips on how to write a beginning that will get the attention of any reader.
- Don’t make your intro too long. It will be boring for readers to read a very long introduction. Keep the introduction short and clear, and don’t put anything unnecessary in the introduction.
- Write more than one draft of your introduction and change the outline if needed. Your thoughts change with time, and your introduction might not show the whole topic in the finished paper. You can always make corrections to your paper, so reread your introduction from time to time.
- Don’t forget to explain why your article matters. Your readers need to know why your story is important and what it taught you.
- Write a thesis statement for your intro. This is the most important part of your essay that states the main idea. It shouldn’t be longer than 1-2 sentences.
Ways To Start A Personal Narrative Story
Here are a few ideas to help decide on the best way to write a paper intro.
All writers know that without good introduction you won’t get a lot of good readers. Make sure you dedicate your time to the paper’s introduction to make it perfect. Don’t forget to improve your skills in writing all the time and become a better writer. Don’t stop on your way to your dreams and goals, even if there are many complications.
After the hook, you want to give the reader a greater sense of the scene. When writing a narrative essay, you don’t have to reveal everything about the place or be too blunt about the setting, but you should at least give a few hints.
Typically, the purpose of the thesis statement is to provide a digestible summary of the main point or claim you’re making in your essay. Using the same pasta example, you could draft a compelling sentence about how making pasta at your grandmother’s house in Italy inspired your passion for the art of cooking.
A narrative essay is one of the four main types of essays you will be asked to write throughout nearly every level of education.
Say, for example, you’re writing about a time when you made pasta with your grandmother who lives in Italy. You could start the essay off with a fact about how many pounds of pasta come in and out of the village where she lives.
What should you do before writing your outline?
These skills can all be related back to other things in your life. For example, if you’re writing a narrative essay for a college application, maybe point out how the skills you’ve developed from cooking translate to the subject you’re interested in majoring in. Explaining how cooking has helped you improve is a great way to naturally express your love for it, and, in turn, reinforce your thesis.
Remember, you typically will only have about 500 or 600 words to tell your story. So, consider which details are necessary and which you could leave out.
Yes, those reading your essay do want to know what problem you’ve solved. But, more importantly, they want to gauge how you react to and overcome adversity. So, take the extra step to make sure your narrative essay serves a purpose and has an overall theme. This theme will serve as your thesis statement.
Think hard about the story you want to tell. Try to remember all of the events and details. Jot everything down in a notepad and begin to separate your notes into categories.
Now that your introduction is complete, you get to proceed to write body paragraphs. This is where all the magic happens, it’s the part wherein you start, develop, and end the narration. The number of paragraphs in this section depends on the type of narration or event you want to write about and the plot itself.
Besides important details about the subject and event you’re going to describe through the narrative essay, it’s highly practical to introduce characters or people that are involved in some particular situation. Describe their physical and personality characteristics. However, ensure that characteristics you include are relevant to the essay itself. This is yet another point where narrative essay differs from the short story. When writing a short story, you get to include all sorts of personality traits to develop your character. Here, you only mention those that are important for your thesis and narrative. Instead of listing characters one after another, introduce them through the story. The best way to do so depends on the type of the subject or event you’re going to write about, different kinds of topic require a different approach. Regardless of the approach, you opt for to introduce characters, always stick to the “relevant characteristics” rule.
A narrative essay is defined as a type of writing wherein the author narrates or tells the story. The story is non-fictional and usually, deals with the writer’s personal development. Unlike in other essay forms, using the first person is acceptable in these papers. Narrative essays can also be anecdotal, experiential thus allowing writers to express themselves in a creative and more personal manner.
- Short
- Precise
- Interesting
- Relatable
Narrative essay structure
After every climax, there comes the resolution good or bad. This is the part where you write how everything resolved. Without this segment, the narrative would seem incomplete and your hard work would be ruined.
The introduction of the narrative essay is written either in the first or third person. It’s recommended to start off your work with a hook including some strong statement or a quote. The sole purpose of the hook is to immediately intrigue your professor, client, audience, and so on. As seen in the diagram above, after the hook you have to write a sentence or two about the importance of the topic to both you and the reader. Basically, this part has to be written in a manner that readers of the paper can relate to. You want them to think “I feel that way”, “I’ve been through that” etc.
Just like with other types of essays, a functional outline is essential. That way you know what to include in different parts of the paper and everything it entails. I have created diagram below to help you out.
An intro isn’t just a small paragraph that you have to write in order to get to the “real stuff”. If an entrance of some amusement park isn’t interesting, you’d feel reluctant to go in. If the first chapter of the book is boring, you’re less likely to ditch it. Essays aren’t exceptions here, the beginning or starting point is essential. Introductions attract reader’s attention, makes him/her wonder about what you’re going to write next.