How to Write Introductions for Informative/Explanatory Texts?

Do you know students at the age of school are assigned the task to write informational or explanatory text? This assignment helps in polishing their reasoning and inferring skills. However, writing these texts might become a difficult task from the beginning as it is essential to hook your readers.

This article will be a thorough guide about what are informational or explanatory texts along with writing tips for a powerful introduction.

What are Informational/Explanatory Texts?

Informational or explanatory texts involve content related to a particular subject. The write- up requires you to examine, analyze and describe complex concepts, ideas and details about non-fiction topics. This type of write-up includes information about a topic comprehension, concept understanding, processing and procedure building, and a conclusion.

How to write an introductory paragraph for Informational Text?

An introduction paragraph is the attention grabber of the readers to hook them for an entire write-up. Follow these simple tricks to construct a powerful introduction.

Don't be vague: Never start your introduction with vague statements like "This essay is all about animals". The generic statement will instantly get your reader's attention shattered. Rather opt for an interesting way out.

Hook your Reader: In order to hook your reader to the informational write-up. Start using the rhetorical question as your biggest tool which instantly asks your readers to ponder. For instance: Are you aware of the animal types in Brazil?

Answer your Question: Developing a curiosity for long may result in loss of the reader's attention. Thus, a right after asking any question, answer the question for your reader to get them hooked to your essay. For e.g. "Approx. 10 famous types of animals are found in Brazil".

Support Evidence: After answering the question, back up your statement with valid proof and evidence. Logical facts and figures from reliable sources give your write-up an authenticated look. For E.g. "Three-toed sloth, Piranha, Capybara, Armadillo, etc. are found in Brazil as per Google".

Explain Significance: After providing evidence. Share the significance of your informational text explained. It helps your reader understand the worth of your paper.

Hint for the next chapters: Finally, the last few sentences would refer to the lesson your reader would find and learn by the end of the entire informational text.

How to Write Informative Text Introductions

Informative texts or essays contain information regarding specific topics. They are known to enhance the knowledge of the reader. Here are some tips to keep in mind while writing information text introductions.

Begin With Attention Getter

One of the best ways to begin the introduction of an informative text is by grabbing the attention of the readers. This step is very important because the first few lines of your introduction will decide if the reader will read the entire text or not. So, be more creative during this part. You can start your introduction with an alarming situation, some stats regarding the topic or by asking a question. A question usually provokes more interest. Make sure that your readers can relate to the question. Dedicate the next few lines to answering the question.

Decide Upon A Thesis

The thesis statement usually comes at the end of the introduction. You must decide on the thesis statement earlier in the process so that it becomes easier for you to organize the text. The thesis statement is the information that you give your readers regarding your topic. You let your readers know what topic the entire text will be covering.

Don't Give All Information Upfront

One of the most important tips to keep in mind while writing the introduction is to not give all the information in the beginning. You might have conducted some research before writing. It is best to save most of that research for the body. Too much information, in the beginning, does not look good.

Explain What Readers Will Learn

The introductory part of the essay will contain a brief introduction of the topic along with the things that the readers will learn about in the coming sentences. Explain in a few lines the significance of your topic and what the readers will gain from it.

Writing an Informative Introduction

The introductory part of the content is very important since it provides information about what will be discussed further in the content. An introduction should be informative and accurate because, after reading the introduction, readers decide whether they want to continue reading or not.

An introduction is usually provided in the first paragraph called the introductory paragraph of the content and it contains the most important information about the content. It is a little tricky to make your introduction informative and interesting at the same time.

Given below are some tips to make the introduction of your content informative:

State Thesis Statement

A thesis statement can be looked at through the introductory paragraph as it appears in the beginning. This gives away a brief summary of the key point in an essay, a research paper or any other piece of content. Providing a thesis statement will make introduction informative and will help the reader a lot in understanding the text.

Avoid Insignificant Information

To make introduction informative, focus only on the most important point. Useless information will make introductory part boring and can annoy the reader.

Answer Questions

Imagine yourself as the reader and ask yourself questions like "why should I read this content?", "what is this content related to?" etc. Answer all your questions briefly. These answers will act as the introduction of your content and will be informative too.

Avoid Repetition

The introduction is considered insignificant if it contains repetition either of ideas or words. To write an informative introduction, discuss every point of the content briefly and uniquely.

Use Figurative Language

Use similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification to make introduction informative and interesting. The figurative language will capture readers ' attention and will provide information necessary to the reader easily.

Provide Background Information

Begin writing your introduction with brief and relevant background information of your topic. This will capture readers ' attention and will persuade them to read more.