Some Dos and Don'ts for Introductions
The introduction sets the stage, stimulates interest, and focuses the reader for what lies ahead. Here are some quick dos and don'ts for writing introductions.
Do...
Example:
The first paragraph in the following article "Reinterpreting John" is a successful introduction: it gives some background information (thoughts about the origin of John before discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls); gives the contemporary ideas ("Today"); and concludes with the author's major idea for this article.
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, many scholars considered the Fourth Gospel-the Gospel According to John-to be a mid-to-late second century composition inspired by Greek philosophy. Today, forty-five years later, a growing scholarly consensus finds John to be a first-century composition. More surprising still, it is perhaps the most Jewish of the Gospels. Elements that were once thought to be reflections of Greek philosophy were all there at the time in contemporaneous Palestine (Charlesworth 19).
Don't...
Example: Think about how much weaker the above paragraph would be if I were to use a trite expression, apologize, and be too obvious (in bold print).
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, many scholars considered the Fourth Gospel-the Gospel According to John-to be a mid-to-late second century composition inspired by Greek philosophy. Today, 45 years later, a growing scholarly consensus finds John to be a first-century composition. More surprising still, it is perhaps the most Jewish of the Gospels. I may not know much about this, but in this paper I will talk about the fact that the elements that were once thought to be reflections of Greek philosophy were all there at the time in contemporaneous Palestine. Not even the writers of the Gospels invented the wheel! (Ibid.)
Last, but certainly not least!
After you finish the first draft of your paper, go back to your introduction and make sure that the details in the body expand and "prove" your thesis.
Charlesworth, James. "Reinterpreting John: How the Dead Sea Scrolls Have Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Gospel of John." Bible Review vol IX (Feb 1993):18-26.